I was driving home today and saw someone begging holding this sign:
My cat has been arrested for eating my neighbour's chickens. Please help with bail money.
What a creative way to convince people to part from their cash! In Joburg, even beggers need to think differently about what they do.
I usually buy a copy of Homeless Talk and I try to get mine from someone I drive passed often on the way up to Jan Smuts avenue. He has the biggest smile and he always waves as soon as he sees my car and gives me a thumbs up. Service with a smile!
This blog reflects on life at work at comments on the latest news that shapes my 9-5 working day in a Corporate Communications consultancy.
About Me
- Susan Arthur
- I am a born and bred South African who has always loved to read and write. As a child my mother used to read to me and my siblings, from classics like the “Lord of the Rings” but later also from her own stories. She would write children’s stories and then use us as her test audience, but I loved to hear what she had written long after my siblings had tired of it. So I grew up in an environment of reading and writing, which inspired my love of these things. I hope to write a great book some day, and have learnt first hand the determination and will that it takes. My love of English inspired me to continue my study of it at university. I majored in Law and English in a BA degree at UCT where I found that I took to English much more than law. I enjoyed learning about South Africa’s history and the development of our liberal Constitution, which increasingly made me committed to the hope this country has for the future. Ideally, I’d like to find myself in a job where I am able to write; that allows a good mix of time spent with people and being able to work on my own.
Saturday, 21 July 2007
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3 comments:
At the encounters documentary festival I saw 'Jozi Rising', following the lives of three men who try to make it on the streets of the city: a car guard from rural Kwa-Zulu Natal, a hustler from Soweto and street vendor from Limpopo. The camera follows them through the day, their views on life, on what they do, their dreams and desires. It was impressive and the ignorance of the people in the cars (and with the money in their pockets) about them was a true indictment of the injust society in which we live.
Hi Sue,
Wow...I like the way you have put it. It's a matter of surviving in the growing Joburg. New strategies are needed in order to face new habits. With the rise of prices, people don't give as before. But you just remind me of an exceptional case which happen on thirsday 1pm around fourways on our way back to Joburg. We stopped at a robot with a white guy driving a common-car just in front of us. He called the robot's softdrink vendor and give him 20R, took one coke and told the vendor to give one to the taxi driver just behind us. All cars at the robot saw the scene and we were so touched. The taxi driver couldn't believe his eyes and was laughing with all his teeth. Coming from Sun City there was a big jam that day. May be the taxi driver drove safely and the white guy appreciated. Things are changing in Joburg for the better or the worst. Remember to give a small bone to your dog if he does what you expect. That encourages.
Adam
Hi Susan,
It is interesting to see how people become innovative under a variety of circumstances. Obviously business practices are applied in all sorts of 'business' scenarios. In Nigeria begging is a full time career for some and they make more in a day than some salaried workers. They're very aggressive as well. It's great to see some sign of humaness in the metropolis. People keep saying to me that people are nicer outside Jozi, I saw it when I went to Limpopo. My question is however, do peole completely forget what they were brought up with, the principles etc, once they move to the city??
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