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The Refuge Seekers #3
2 August 2008
Brave Stories from Claremont Seventh-day Adventist Church, Cape Town, South Africa
Single Mom Survivor
Odette remembers the soft sand blowing into their eyes as they tried to sleep by the side of the road. They were waiting for the next vehicle, anything, army truck, bakkie, bus, tank, anything that would take them in the right direction: south. Odette’s father, a mathematics teacher, and his wife, a shop owner, were sick to death of the long civil war raging in Angola. A war between north and south, between Kimbundu and Umbundu, between the political parties of the MPLA and UNITA, a war for power, for control of the diamonds and the oil. Odette’s father was sick of seeing his pupils’ legs blown off by landmines and of hearing bullets whizzing through his wife’s shop. He was taking his family to the Osire refugee camp in Namibia. Odette was the eldest child, 14 years of age.
The other two children, Domingos and Azenaith, were much younger. It took them three weeks to reach the safety of Osire. The Ndala family had survived. The year was 1993. Things were very different at Osire. They lived in a tent and instead of hearing the familiar sounds of Portuguese and Umbundu, the officials spoke English and Afrikaans and the local people spoke Herero and Damara. There were several thousand refugees of whom about 60 were Seventh-day Adventists. They had permission from the authorities to gather branches from the surrounding bush to form the framework of a church, and bundles of grass to form the walls. The United Nations gave them a large tarpaulin for the roof. According to Namibian government policy the refugees could not leave the camp without a pass, could not be employed or integrated into Namibian society. The director of the Bible Correspondence School in Cape Town at the time, received a request from the refugees for Portuguese Bibles, literature, clothing and, if possible, a Portuguese-Umbundu hymnbook. Staff from the Bible School at the time visited Osire three times and were happy to fulfill the requests. The Ndala family, except Odette, moved to Cape Town after one year.
Odette remained at Osire under the care of friends of her family because, before she left Angola, she had been engaged to a fine young man. According to custom, when they were old enough, they would marry. But the separation brought problems. The young man wanted Odette to return to Angola, her parents wanted her to come to Cape Town. Odette remained for another year at Osire without the problem being solved. Instead, she was now expecting a child. The father of the child, from Osire, had promised to marry her but even after the birth of their second child in Cape Town, the marriage did not take place. Odette was a teenager with two babies, Zachariah and Maria. The Claremont church had helped the Ndala family to find a place to stay and also for the father to find a good job. After the war Odette’s mother felt a strong calling to return to Angola to care for the hundreds of orphaned children in the southern part of the country. Eventually her father and sister also returned. Her brother lives in a distant part of the city so Odette is virtually on her own. Odette found temporary work and rented a small home in one of the townships surrounding the city. As time went on she was able to slowly acquire a stove, fridge, TV, DVD player, radio, furniture, beds, blankets, duvets, wardrobe and care for the needs of her little family. During this time she, Zachariah and Maria still faithfully attended the Claremont church. Somehow, however, this small foreign family did not blend in easily with the neighbours around their home. They greeted each other but that was about all. They did not speak each other’s African languages and a number of the neighbours did not speak English, which Odette had been slowly learning. When she would open her front door after coming home from work Odette would feel conscious of neighbours looking in to her home to see what was inside. Even her shopping bags of groceries were looked at keenly.
Odette felt a little vulnerable. A few months ago xenophobia broke out all over South Africa, especially in the major cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Unemployed South African black people were not happy that foreigners came along and found work, or made work for themselves by opening small shops or trading along the street. They were especially angry when foreign blacks would cheerfully accept any wages – happy to find work, and working with a smile. During the worst phase of the xenophobia, foreigners were set alight in the street, shopkeepers were put to death and shops looted. Odette was frightened and one of her Xhosa-speaking friends from church offered her a place to stay until the attacks were hopefully over. That was on a Friday. On Sunday the friend took them home to see if things were OK. Odette’s small home had been broken into and there was nothing left. The TV, the books, the DVD player, the radio, the stove, the fridge, furniture, beds, duvets, blankets, clothes, wardrobe – there was absolutely nothing left. Even the groceries and Maria’s new boots that Odette had saved for for some time to buy for her daughter were gone. It was a sad day, but, Odette said “We are very thankful to have survived alive and unhurt! I remember the text that says ‘Don’t lay up treasure for yourself on this earth where thieves may break in and steal.’” It was time to wipe the tears and to look for another place to stay and other employment as the temporary employment time had ended.
Since the xenophobic attacks, several Angolans had gone back to check out the possibility of returning home. The husband of one of her friends from Osire was one of these, so the friend said “while my husband is away you are welcome to come and keep me company at my little home in Capricorn informal settlement.” So that is where Odette, Zachariah and Maria are today, August 3,2008. The transport is expensive for the three of them, by taxi to Retreat Station and by train to Observatory – R30 per day but they are more than thankful to have a room to themselves and a friendly roof over their heads. Observatory Junior School, where the children attend, have given Odette a temporary job as librarian three times a week which brings in something. She hopes to find permanent employment as a cashier or as a children’s nanny or housekeeper or waitress. Furthermore, since Odette (now 29) has a friend to be with the children in the evenings, she has enrolled in an adult education programme. Since her own teenage years were somewhat disrupted, she has only completed Grade 10. She hopes to complete Grade 12 and then her dream is to become a nurse. Claremont church has given her rent money, food parcels and blankets.
“God is my refuge and strength”, she says smiling, “a very present help in time of trouble."
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