Capetown Countdown

We leave for Capetown in a couple of hours. The scene in the picture is what we leave behind and then come back to in December. The rocky outcrop is known as Simon's Seat. Bit of a climb but the views from the top are stunning. In August the hillside is clothed in purple heather for three weeks, in spring a lovely light green. Shortly it will be brown before turning white in the wintry weather. You get a sense that Simon is casting a watchful eye over everything that goes on down here below!

On our very first visit to Capetown I was strolling around the city when a young woman approached me. She asked me for some money so that she could get some food to eat. I bristled at being confronted by a beggar. "I am not begging", she said, "I am hungry". In a moment I decided to get her some food to eat from a Kentucky chicken place across the street. "Could we go to the supermarket instead", she asked. "There are children at home". I agreed. In the next few minutes she led the way around the aisles. She selected a bag of rice, frozen chicken pieces, tins of beans, bread. She looked to me everytime she picked something up seeking a nod. We filled two bags. It came to about a tenner. We walked out holding one bag each and stopped at a junction. I left her with change to get on the white mini-bus that would take her back to Khayalitsha out by the airport. She hugged me and thanked me and left.
As I watched her disappear in to the crowd I wept quietly with the realization that I had just met a very beautiful and dignified person. Her name was Nisa. I will never see her again but in those few minutes we had together she changed my life. Forever. In the bible somewhere it says "be good to strangers, some of them are angels".