Family Circus

Things just sort of happen here in South Africa. Call it a benefit of constantly failing bureaucracy—you can get away with a lot. Me for instance—I showed up at the clinic and without even handing over my letter of recommendation I was soon in my own office, counseling people about HIV/AIDS. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that The Powers That Be of Walter Sisulu University noticed my existence and wondered how I had come to be there? Of course there is the other side—if you do actually get submitted into that constantly failing beurocracy you are bound to first get lost a few times, and then once someone finally remembers your existence even then you will have to wait until all the proper people can be pacified and exhibit some of their power over you. But pardon my tangent, rants about bureaucracy are far besides the point of this post.

Things just sort of happen here, and a few days ago ‘things’ came in the form of a giant red and yellow striped tent plopped down in the field in front out our house. We were kept up all night by the loud circus music for about a week before finally venturing over to the ticket booth to experience it for ourselves. Promising a family circus, we invited Pookie (yes Kate, like your dog that died) and the domestic worker, Sibongile. Oh what a night…there was a midget-clown, and a ring-master, and a contortionist…some dogs, a couple snakes, jokes, laughter...but the star of it all was a 50-something woman appearing throughout the night in about 5 versions of gloriously sequined THONGS. Apparently old-lady butt cheeks are family approved in South Africa. I will try and attach a video of her snake dancing in one of the less-disturbing fringe-thongs…