Velile Masked Up

 

I had to go meet with a factory manager which Velile had organized to meet with the potential Chinese request of a million face masks in the next 2 weeks. This CMT factory was built by a gold mine for the miner's wives and daughters. Crunching the numbers this factory can produce for us about 400,000 face masks in a week.

30 Years Difference

I had two birthday celebrations to go to, one in Pretoria and the other in Westonarea. Now my situation has not improved and I was hoping just to lay low and hopefully no one would miss me. The Pretoria one said that they would miss me when I gave my excuse. Now the Westonarea one, well did not take my excuses, so after putting the pool cover back on, I jumped into the shower, and grabbed a bottle of wine and headed for Westonarea.

Oh how we age? It is Velile's birthday, I won't give away his age other than that he is slightly older than me, indoda engcolile endala. Oh my isiZulu is not that good but I know I can't say that, I better leave out the engcolile part. Anyways here is Velile with a photo of himself 30 years ago. Can you see a difference other than much more wrinkles. 

Unlikely Tourists

While I have been many times to Vilakazi Street, a tourist trap in Soweto with guests wanting to see the house still behind bars, 8115 Vilakazi Street Orlando West Soweto. The unlikely tourists were Viandre and Velile with me as tour guide. Oh dear I am sure Just Vel will have something to say about him being a tourist in his own back yard, at least he was impressed with my knowledge of the historic places here, thanks to my time spent as a Joburg Photowalker.

Do you know that Veilie still hasn’t even being to the Kliptown Youth Centre in the middle of the Kliptown squatter camp or to be more PC the informal settlement at Kliptown. What a bunch of unlikely tourists we are. Oh and above is a photo of our traditional lunch of a kota bought from a local spaza shop just to prove that we have what it takes except for any smileys.

Humble Ubuntu

We have a saying here in isiZulu that goes like this, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. Directly translated it means that a person is a person through other people, and one needs to stay humble.

Today Velile and I, interviewed some of the staff at Metal Cross Vehicle Makeover Clinic because next week Friday they turn 10 years old, and we were blown away about how this very saying rings so true in the staff, the managers, and the owners of this scratch and dent repair centre that is tucked away between Randburg and Fourways. Both Velile and I spoke afterwards how we noticed the difference between the god-worship of the supreme leader at our old company compared to the genuine humble words coming from these staff members about ubuntu, their family called Metal Cross with their father Frank and mother Liz.

Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu.

So I will leave you with this truth and remember don’t shine so others can see you, shine so that through you others can see God.

Pop goes the Bubble

Finally the bubble chair that was ordered from Italy in April arrived today with our team all excited but wait isn’t there made in China on that box? Oh well lets be like an iPhone which is I hope designed in the US but made in sweat shops in China. So without popping anyone’s bubble, this bubble chair must have been designed in Italy and manufactured in China.

Musical chairs anyone? Because of the long wait, great expectations was built up and now is the time to test ride this baby.

Ahhh about time - Nomanangaliso

This is comfortable - Kay

Let me think - Velile

I can just plop into it - Lesego

Get me out - Malibongwe

Quiet Contemplation - Ilana

Uhmmm - Paballo

As much headroom as a Ferrari - Desmond

No, no, this freaks me out - Julius

Yes my child - Terrence

Lol - Adam

61 Today

61, old man Velile, how could I get that so wrong? Okay 50 then and all that sweat on Velie’s brow is not because he is in a flat panic but because he has just stepped in from outside in the rain to a SURPRISE Happy 50th Birthday song...

Why was he born so beautiful?
Why was he born at all?

Choco Break

Yip it is that time of the week, Friday afternoon team meeting and as usual yummy snacks to go along with the seriousness that is part of these meetings.

Here is Velile discovering the magic of Choco Break biscuits among the biltong, Oreos, Iced Zoos, Jolly Jammers, and Sweet Chilli coated peanuts.

What a biscuit, so now let the weekend begin.

Feel Like Dancing

Terrance, Velile, and I spent most of the morning assembling brand new communion trays for this evening’s Praise and Worship. Later Velile and I took the hundreds of new glasses to wash in the kitchen and what a mess did we make. During the wash process, both our partners phoned and both answered "hello babes, just washing some glasses". I think it was hard for them to believe that they found us in the kitchen, washing nogal.

In the end water was everywhere, Velile took his cellphone, put on the Leo Sayer's song "You make me feel like dancing", grabbed a mop and well, I'm a little embarrassed to say he started dancing. With moves like Jagger, Velile made short work of the wet floor. Let's hope his wife doesn't get to read this post, as she would now know his achilles heel and start playing 70s music to get him dancing around their house with a mop.

Doesn’t look so Good

And here readers, is Velile not looking so good. But why isn’t he looking so good you may ask. To answer I need to start with a joke, a Van der Merwe joke. You see in Ireland we have Kerryman jokes and here in South Africa we no different with our Van der Merwe jokes, although I must say I haven’t heard of a Van der Merwe joke since the 90s, we have Zuma jokes now. Sjoe so this is an old one then.

Van der Merwe saw a horse for sale in the local newspaper for only R100. So Van goes and checks the horse out. The horse looks okay so he asks the farmer, why is he selling the horse for so cheap. The farmer replied “’cause it doesn’t look so good”. Van thought this was strange because to him the horse looked fine but he paid the farmer the R100 and took the horse home. The next day Van stormed back to the farmer, and angrily demanded his money back because when he tried to ride the horse, he found out that the horse was blind. “I told you”, defended the farmer, “he doesn’t look so good”.

So now back to Velile, no he is not a horse but he doesn’t look so good. Early this year he had some operation to replace the corneas but is still having problems and now he needs even oversize text on his phone.

Looking through New Eyes

Quite a while back Velile had a cornea transplant and for a few years now he hasn’t been looking good. His sight became worse and worse, talk about the blind leading the blind. Anyway, the week before last Velile had another cornea transplant, this time with a synthetic cornea made in the Netherlands.

Today Velile arrived back to work looking much better through new eyes and with a new perspective on life.

Raining Indoors

Help! It is raining indoors. Yes it is starting to drip from the ceiling of Velie’s office from different places including the ceiling spotlights. Yesterday the air-conditioning people replaced the air-conditioner in the New Media office and where working in the ceiling but not over Velile’s office surely not.

Although Velile phoned maintenance to report this new weather phenomenon, he was concerned so to counter the indoor rain he opened up an umbrella while waiting for a maintenance team to source the leak and start the repairs.

While the weather happening in the office next door, on a side note for all those following the mishaps of my Italian Greyhounds, Maxy and Jade, it is not raining everywhere. Today both got their stitches removed and thank goodness all is looking good, much to the relief of my bank manager.

His Master’s Salon

Never again, never again. Velile and I have this cultural exchange program going on and today Velile announced that we are going to Master’s Salon for a “Cheesekop” and shave. So off we went, two brave little souls to Kagiso for a cultural haircut and shave.

I went first for my “Cheesekop” haircut or as it was advertised on a board behind me as “Chiscop” for R10 and a shave for R5. I was seated by the barber’s apprentice as Master himself was busy with a lady client. Wow wrong move as the apprentice took to my head with the clippers as one would take a steel brush and started scrubbing my scalp over and over again.

I was just praying that when he finished a sensitive area that he wouldn’t go back, but my prayers weren’t answered. At times I was nearly in tears as the apprentice went over and over a now very raw scalp but being a big boy I wasn’t going to give Velile that satisfaction.

One part I remember Velile telling Master that this apprentice is a little heavy handed which the Master then chastised the young man who must then renewed his scrubbing with vigour. Afterwards the apprenticed sprayed spirits onto my now raw scalp and started polishing, eina. That was me over, forget the shave as if it is the same as my poor head then no ways.

So now it was Velile’s turn and I was sure that I would rather enjoy watching Velile’s torture than what I just endured it but sadly I didn’t get to see Velile suffer as he must be so used to this kind scalp torment by now that even even started falling asleep.

So now as my scalp is still on fire and am thinking where can I find a Mediterranean barber close by to show Velile how a shave is supposed to be done, with a cutthroat.

Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful head of mine will again experience the clippers of the Master's apprentice.

Jazzed up Velile

The creativity makeover of our offices continue with Velile putting a bit of soul into his office. Osho once said that "to be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it".

So as we get older we find that life is not all that it seems. "We need to jazz it up a bit" pronounces Velile. Here at eKayaMedia, we don't want to conform but to take the lead, and just get up and dance to the alluring sounds of the saxophone.

And what brings music to my ears is that Helkom aka Telkom finally delivered a week late their promised LTE interwebs and now as a result I am surfing the web at 35.89Mbps. Yay, this is way better than a big fat zero from Cell C.

Velile and the Beloved Country

In the office next to mine sits my work colleague, Velile, who is the Senor National Content Coordinator here at the Bosasa group of companies. Velile is slightly older than me, by slightly I mean only a few months, but we lived worlds apart as he grew up on the other side of the Apartheid railroad, so to speak.

Sitting down and getting to know him, we could have been friends in a life time before, as both our hearts ache for the plight of people, if it wasn't for the fact that he grew up in Soweto during the Troubles whereas I grew up protected from all what was happening while our country burned. In our late teens, I was sent to the Army to protect the people from the Rooi Gevaar, or the Communist Threat, were I eventually ended up on the border. All the while majority of the people including Velile struggled against the police and Army in the township.

After twenty years of democracy, we are both going to vote tomorrow in the 5th General Elections, most likely differently, nonetheless we will still be friends. So whatever your colours are, blue, red, yellow, or even green, Velile and I, both pray for a safe, peaceful, and corruption free day tomorrow.

South Africa, the Beloved Country.