The Kindness of Strangers

If I was in the U.S. planning a trip, I would Google the address and plug it into my phone. I would use the directions given through the Maps app on my phone to drive to my destination. But I’m not in the U.S. I am in South Africa and Michelle and I had to find our way to our friend’s house who lives a considerable distance from our home. To tell the ending of this story first, we made it to our friend’s house and we had a blast spending time together. Now, to share how we made it to our friend, Michelle and I also have to thank the people who helped us get to her.

Michelle and I wanted to visit a friend of ours, Patty, who lives a couple of hours away. Since we’re not allowed to drive, we needed to take public transportation. This is where the first instance of kindness comes in. After school one day, I walked to the taxi rank, which is the hub for all of the taxis going out of our village, to ask the manager how we would get to our friend’s shopping town. (Virtually all Peace Corps Volunteers in South Africa do not live in cities, or shopping towns, but, instead, live in villages outside the towns. This basically means that Michelle and I were trying to get somewhere remote). The manager was great because he told me the times the taxi runs, where we would need to transfer, and how much we could expect to spend. Michelle and I had the information we needed, so we were set for our trip.

At the end of the school day on Friday, we loaded our backpacks with clothes and other essentials for the weekend and we headed to the taxi rank. Things were smooth sailing: we got to the rank, confirmed we were getting on the correct taxi, and we left. Not having travelled outside our village before, we made it a point to tell the taxi driver our final destination and we asked him to help us find the taxi we would need to make the transfer. When we got into the next town, the driver asked a couple of people to find the taxi we would need to continue on our trip. He found the taxi, we paid the taxi fare, and sped off in the new taxi.

As we neared the final town, Michelle and I again told the taxi driver where we were trying to go and asked if he could help us find the taxi we would need in order to get to our friend’s village. This is where our trip got more complicated. Our friend lives outside a fairly large town, so there are lots of taxi ranks with each having taxis heading in different directions. The taxi driver was great because he asked other drivers in the main taxi rank which taxi we would need. The other drivers pointed him in the direction of a smaller taxi rank where they believed we would find the taxi. He drove us to the next rank and asked drivers there. There was a little confusion because some of the drivers hadn’t heard of our friend’s village. After a few minutes, though, our taxi driver said we were in the right place. He said we would have to wait for the next taxi because one just left. Michelle and I thanked the driver, paid the fare, and got out to wait for the next taxi.

As we waited for the taxi, Michelle and I couldn’t help but notice that this taxi rank was merely a parking lot. There were a few taxis sitting there. However, if it had not been for the driver, we would have had trouble finding this rank. We realized how kind the driver had been to us. He could have left us in the main rank and we could have been on our own.

Waiting for the next taxi seemed to take a while. Fortunately, though, there were some vendors selling fruits and vegetables in the parking lot. We approached one of them and asked if we were waiting in the right area. The vendor confirmed and she said she would see a taxi soon. Thirty minutes went by before the taxi came, but, when it did, the vendor got our attention and told us to get in. Apparently, she used the same taxi to go home, which I learned when she got in with us.

Along the way to our friend’s village, the vendor, along with her business partner, made conversation with others in the taxi. Some of the others bought steamed corn on the cob from the vendor. The vendor’s partner said something in isiZulu to Michelle, but we didn’t understand. The next thing we knew the partner pulled out a couple of ears of corn and handed them to us free of charge. We smiled as we thanked her for the corn. As I was sitting there, I thought I should give her something. Before Michelle and I left our house, I baked chocolate chip cookie bars to give to our friend. The cookie bars were sitting in my bag, so I pulled out the container and offered one to the vendor. She was flattered. Another passenger in the taxi was curious so she asked for a cookie bar. Michelle and I smiled again as the two ate the cookie bars and were amazed at not only how good they were but also that I made them. They couldn’t believe a man could bake let alone bake something good.

After a bumpy ride along the village road, Michelle and I made it to our friend’s place. We were grateful for the journey to be done. Our friend was beginning to tell us where we would sleep for the weekend when her host family approached us to introduce themselves. During the introductions, the host mom told us that we could sleep in their spare bedroom so we could have a bed instead of sleeping on the floor. Icing on the cake. Michelle and I were prepared to sleep in sleeping bags on the ground, but we were grateful for the bed for a much more comfortable night’s sleep.

The next day, we wanted to go to the mall in our friend’s shopping town. The three of us were planning to catch a taxi to get there; however, the host mom said her husband would give us a ride. We said he didn’t have do drive us; especially because he would have just finished working the night shift and would probably be tired. The host mom said not to worry because her husband would get joy out of driving us. When our friend’s host dad got home, we hopped into his truck and off we went. On Sunday, when Michelle and I were leaving to head home, the last act of kindness happened. Our friend’s host sister accompanied us to the road to make sure we got on a taxi.

There were several acts of kindness in just a few days. Taxi drivers, vendors, and host family members who all helped us get to where we were trying to go. Michelle and I were confident that we would have had a much more difficult, and longer, time getting to our friend if it had not been for them. We were, and still are, incredibly grateful for the kindness of these strangers.