I Survived 2015

Tumie Modise | Monday January 11, 2016 14:30

This time around personal circumstances (and my wallet) forced me to abort my planned holiday and like many Batswana, I then opted to go home to my home village instead. Owing to its close proximity to my place of work, unlike many others, I get to go home on a regular basis and most of the time I don’t even plan such random trips.

This time around though,  I delayed my departure and like many other nervous city dwellers, the thought of coming back home afterwards to empty houses  is enough to even send chills down the spine of a hardened war veteran! On the eve of Christmas though, I reluctantly made the trip home after two days of discreetly loading stuff in the car while neighbours were either asleep or distracted. By this time, my mother was now threatening to come and get us!

Speaking of mothers, I have been wondering for ages now; but why is it that our ‘Tswana’ parents always expect us to all go home for Christmas and some other holidays? Heck, our parents couldn’t even care less whether we have families of our own, never mind even our own children! Not that I am even complaining, its great to be with your people and even act like a child sometimes, but is it still not awkward?

Two weeks later we are back to our usual places and city lights. I recall the day I left town for Christmas; how I struggled to find parking at the malls and even how I waited for what seemed like eternity just to ‘fill up” the car.  Fast forward to today, malls are virtually empty, bars are deserted but curiously church parking spaces are full.

I know I am not alone. I know many people are at this point in time now stressing over how they are going to get by this month and worse, even  in the coming two or even three months too! If you didn’t know better, you would be excused for thinking that Jesus was born in January, what with all church parking’s in town now filled to the brim!

We have all started narrating our usual January tales now.  Mine has to be the worst by far.

Because nowadays you cannot even trust a bank with your money, shortly before Christmas I decided to ‘evacuate’ my money (or what was left of it) from my account. I proceeded to divide the loot into four different mini bundles (according to the weeks), before stashing the bundles in four different secret places. I should have recorded everything in writing because 10 days later, I still have no idea where I stashed the last bundle!

When you are a parent of school-going children, this month becomes even unbearable! It becomes even more harrowing if like many of my friends, you were among the crew that chose to be generous to the president’s levy fund the whole festive season.

The bad news is that, whatever we all did in December, bad news for most is that there are school fees to pay, transport to consider, lunch supplies, not to mention groceries, fuel and utilities.

Thanks to the often generous festive season servings and endless roasts and stews, most of us have come back from the holidays a little on the bigger side with very obvious extra pounds around the waist.

I am one of those. Bad news is that gyms are not free but the best part is that science has it that under tough conditions, a human body is able to survive only on its ‘reserves’ for a couple of months!

So what is my New Year resolution this year? Mine is simple this time around. My resolution is that I won’t be making any resolutions this year. What good is a resolution really when by April last year I could not even recall what my last year was? Staying alive and surviving seems like the only safe option for me at this very moment.

Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone who survived 2015 a fruitful and exciting 2016. There must be a reason why we were spared in the last year and by God’s grace, we shall make it even through this one. I know I am not alone when I say that last year was really good riddance. Staying focused and being a good citizen is going to be my main goal this year.