This evening I stopped at the DVD store to pick up a movie for tonight. I've had the past two days in Bloem and Welkom for work, visiting schools. The downside is that because teleportation is a no-go, we drove - and covered 1120km over the two days. I'm bombed and so in the mood for a good movie.
Walking out of the store a tall, slightly overweight young guy stops me. When he started with 'a story', I flat-out asked him, "Tell me straight what you want? Money?". You know the 'usual' hit for taxi money, money to feed three children etc.
In essence, yes, that's what he wanted.
Although I rarely hand out money (I prefer to give food, like to the people at the traffic lights) I was irritated. 20 minutes back in Jo'burg and I'm being hit for money already! And, the thing is that my heart goes out to every person on every street corner who begs for money because the reality really is that in most cases they haven't got a hope in hell of getting a job. And while some become successful entrepreneurs out of necessity, too many more can't make ends meet.
The only money I had in my wallet were two R2 coins and one R1 coin and a few 5c and 10c. I gave them to him. He thanked me but really looked distressed and out of place. I listened.
David said he was in Jo'burg, from Cape Town, because a guy offered him a job and he came up here to meet up with him and to start work; but the guy hadn't shown up. He asked me if I knew if there was a shelter in the area. I didn't but I suggested that he ask the nearby car guards.
As I type this next part you'll probably think, "Geezzz, this chick is a sucker". Maybe, maybe not.
He says he doesn't have a place to stay and now this job-promising guy hasn't shown up (would have been yesterday or the day before that the guy was meant to meet David). He wants to go home to CT, where he can return to his old job (cleaner), but travelling by bus is more expensive than the train, which is R280. He has R60.
My mind was working double-time because I just had this heart-wrenching feeling for this guy. I was thinking how hard it would be to try to get five Rand and 10 Rand from untrusting Jo'burgers at a shopping centre when he has no place to stay and no job. It could take days; and where would he stay and get food? I decided to give him the balance of the money.
To add here that David is a tall, big guy with a kind face. This face also was very distressed and while talking to me he was very hesitant, on the verge of tears and his eyes were scared. Just as I trust my ability to choose a team for Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge from superifical written applications, so I trust my judgement of people in person.
I get very emotional about situations like this because there are things about this world that I so hate and that distress me greatly - like people in need. I hate that by necessity I say no to people too many times each day when I pass them on roadsides, outside malls, inside grocery stores (yes, I'm accosted in-store occasionally too!); I hate that there are so many people who are desperate; I hate that people don't help each other because they've been scammed so many times that they don't trust...
Needless to say, I was in tears and I told him that I would give him the balance he needed because I wanted him to go home to Cape Town and to get out of Jo'burg. I told him to stay where he was. I went to the ATM in the complex and returned with the balance for his train fare plus a few Rand extra.
I told David to go home; not to ever again leave his job and home and head to a Province where you don't know a soul, without a cent in your pockets to get back if it doesn't work out, just because some guy has said he has a job for you (he agreed and said he'd learned a lesson here); that I was giving him my money because there have been so many people in my life who have been kind to me; and because I may have been the one in his shoes and that I would hate to be in the position where I needed help and noone would help me.
He asked where to get a taxi to Eastgate, to get the one going to the train station. I gave him a lift as Eastgate is nearby and on my way. We chatted in the car. I was no longer in tears, but he was teary. He said he was offered a job (no, I didn't ask by whom or how he had initially met the guy) that paid more than what he was earning in Cape Town. He said he's a cleaner and he earns R900 there; but that he realises that the R900 he earns is better than nothing and it pays for food. He wanted to earn more (who doesn't!) so he came here. I get the feeling that David and his mom live together. He's 26.
David reminds me a bit of those pretty, young women who flock to Hollywood to be models or actresses; they are spotted by 'agents' in their home towns who promise to make their dreams come true and they arrive with nothing but their clothing to find no agent and no work...
We also spoke about his job and I suggested that he stick with the job he has in CT for now and also look at other avenues like working double jobs - cleaner by day, waiter by night - to earn more. It means working double jobs but that this may present him with other opportunities. He hadn't considered this.
We also spoke a bit about trust - in the sense of people helping a stranger. I think he had been at the shopping centre for much of the day. He has probably been brushed off by so many people. It is soul destroying. He noted how people won't stop at all and I commented how they're asked so many times a day for handout or such like that they're just not interested and that they've been scammed before so they don't even want to go there.
Anyway, I dropped David off at the taxi stop and said that I didn't know how it worked here; he said he'd ask one of the people standing around. I wished him luck and safe travel home as he retrieved his large togbag from the back seat.
The train leaves in the morning and David will be safe in the waiting room tonight. I've given him my number with instructions to call me from an 021 (Cape Town) number to let me know that he has arrived home safely.
Sure, there's that little nagging feeling - born of learned distrust of people in need - that I may have been scammed. But, I also have this feeling that David is a decent guy who made a bad decision, lured by the glimmer of something better, something more for his life - offered by a dishonest stranger. And for this error David ends up stranded in an unfamiliar city with no place to stay and no way to get home... It is anyone's worst nightmare. And he isn't a man of means with cash in hand to solve the problem.
So, I'm holding on to my belief in people and my judgement of this decent, young chap. The train arrives in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon; I'll be waiting for his phone call.
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