Sam & the bus

One part of our trip that bothers me more than any is our transportation. I love the idea of going into a new place and trying to adapt to the culture and way of life. However, our group moves as one-- on one bus. Everywhere we go, I see the locals staring back at us through the giant picture windows. It sometimes feels like we're scientists on safari studying some alien species.

It is hard to ride through areas that are obviously so underdeveloped and deprived of opportunity in a vehicle that represents the exact opposite. However, our fearless leader, Sam is an amazing bridge for us. Sam is the son of traditional leaders in Zulu society. His father was an Inyanga (herbalist). His mother was a Sangoma (witchdoctor). Due to his position, Sam's father had twenty wives. Polygamy and concurrent partners are common in the Zulu tradition. Sam told me that the first time they were able to count the siblings in his family was when his father died and they all came together at his funeral.

Sam started driving buses at the age of 18. To this day as a 57 year old man, husband of six, and father of many kids, Sam drives his bus fearlessly. He quite literally "floors it" down roads too narrow to safely pass a motorcycle on the other side.

He's tried to teach me some Zulu, but I have to say that I'm pretty bad with it. I would like to think that I am pretty good at understanding languages-- pronunciation, grammar, and tone. However, the language here is more difficult than anything I have ever encountered. The clicks, tones, and other noises are not natural to me and integrating them into a flowing sentence has been less than fruitful.

Sam never went to college, and hasn't been formally educated outside of a high school level. This is a major way in which he and many others are kept from reaching a higher status in the mixed western and indigenous culture which is uniquely South African. Education dictates all here. However Sam is an amazingly smart man. He can speak and communicate in more than 7 languages including Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Shangaan, Venda, and Tswana. Because of this he has carved out a pretty good life for himself (though he spends a fair amount of time away from his family).

Sam continues to amaze me with how frank he is. He is not afraid to say what he thinks. He lived the majority of his life under the system of apartheid here in South Africa. It seems now that he feels free to say those things he would not have been able to as a young man. He has told me that even though apartheid is gone, he still feels it in his life. Yet, every morning he greets me with a big smile and a new phrase in Zulu or Shangaan. He calls himself my Shangaan father now.

 

 

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