Andile is back in town for Easter holidays! After some more repair work at Enyanyeni I pick her up and we all meet at Raza’s for his home made chicken tikka. Damn it’s delicious, and we all chat with him as we eat with our hands. Afterwards he lets us into the kitchen to wash our hands — it’s not bad, but it wouldn’t pass inspection back home. I’m beginning to think that dirt must taste pretty good.
After that we split up and just chill out. Andile and I watch some videos, goof off with photobooth, listen to the CD she brought me, and make fun of each other’s attempts at dancing.
The CD she brought is Yvonne Chaka Chaka and includes her hit Umqombothi. It’s a hopelessly catchy song that I end up humming for days to come.
Eventually we go pick up Andile’s niece (9 years) and nephew (2 years), whom she’ll be watching for the next few days, and bring them over for dinner at Alan & Donna’s. They’re fairly privileged kids for these parts: they live in a small but nice house, both their parents are working (not to mention alive and together), and the family even has a car.
Still, the kids haven’t really used a computer before, and the girl says “I can’t do it” at first. Alan convinces her to try playfully “You think you can’t, but I know you can…” and a few minutes later she’s drawing in kidpix with a huge smile on her face. The little boy is too young to do anything directed, but he reacts happily to the sounds and images that he gets by mashing buttons.
Alan suggests we send them home with one of the little black and whit Mac SE’s. So I take one and set it up in the girl’s room. She only has a nightstand, but she happily moves the radio off and on to the floor so she can have the computer there instead. She seems delighted. The only downside being that now her and her little brother start to clash a bit over who gets to use it. But she’s a sweet girl and gives the little tyke a turn now and then.