Keep on Walking And Working

By Shemica O.C.

Shamzeni is a young person whose life is not going well. Recently, in a very short space of time, he lost his younger brother during a matric dance, his parents in a car accident, and his sister and his niece when they were gunned down. His first lover left him for another man, his second lover was killed by a stray police bullet and his friend was run down by a truck because of a woman. But Shamzeni keeps on walking and working hard because of his belief that when one door closes, another one opens. And Shamzeni’s life is beginning to change

This book will inspire anyone who is thinking of giving up on life. Shamzeni’s story will make you shed tears of joy and tears of sorrow as you realise that your greatest gift lies next to your deepest wound. If your soulmate has rejected you for someone else, don’t let it kill your faith in love. If your work contract has not been renewed, don’t lose hope in the working world. If you fail an examination, don’t give up on education. If you fall, don’t give up and stay down. Just pick yourself up, dust off the dirt, and keep on walking and working. Never give up, because everything happens for a reason. Know that for every sun that sets another will rise.

This gem of a book presents a philosophy you can live by and you will return to it time and again.

About The Author
Shemica OC is the author of ‘At Long Last’ and ‘Who Feels It Knows It’. He was born and raised in Buxton-Norlim, and presently resides in Pudimoe - North West Province. He totally believes that as much as we enjoy life’s pleasures, we also have to endure life’s pains.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shemica O.C.
• Release date: Sep 9, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005033651

Book preview

Keep on Walking

And working

Shemica O.C.

Copyright © 2020 Shemica O.C.

Published by Shemica O.C. Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Shemica O.C. using Reach Publishers’ services,

Edited by Susan Hall for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my family, for their kindness and devotion, and for their endless support when putting the pieces together. Deus esteja sempre com você.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my very great appreciation to those who since we’ve known each other have pushed me to the limit, unaware that they were unleashing the best in me. You all know who you are. I am grateful for what you have done.

Thanks to my wife, Keitsile, for always being the person I could turn to during those dark and desperate times. You stood by me during every struggle and in all my successes.

To the entire family, I hope this book will inspire you more.

I would like to express my gratitude to all Reach Publishers staff members for their professionalism and for enabling me to publish this book. You deserve more than you think.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

1. Joy, Pain and Suffering

2. That’s What Friends Are For

3. Behind the Scenes

Also By the Same Author

1

Joy, Pain and Suffering

Shamzeni woke up early on Saturday morning to the sound of the big trucks on their way to the gold mine. His house was about 200 metres away from the road that led to the Golden Deep Mound Mine, where he was employed. He nearly stumbled as he got out of bed; he was feeling dizzy and had a slight headache. There were bruises on his fist, and his right shoulder was very painful. Looking at himself in the mirror, he was surprised to see bruises all over his face. Opening his wallet, which was on his bedside table, he was equally amazed to find only coins in it amounting to eight rands and eight cents. He was mathematically lost because on Friday night when he went to the tavern with one of his friends, Ayodezi, he had eight-hundred-and-eighty rands in his wallet. He wondered how his rand had turned into cents – from 880 rands to 880 cents. Is this because of alcohol? he asked himself.

He recalled the words of his father (may his soul rest in the house of the Lord for eternity) after finding out that he was drinking alcohol:

My son, if you find yourself on the undesirable side of life, don’t succumb to alcohol because it will exacerbate things. Alcohol will drain you mentally and physically. Your pockets will lose money like waste going through the sewage system, and you’ll wonder why, because your pockets have no holes. Know that the days of our lives are just like sand in our eyes and water in our ears. Drink alcohol occasionally, responsibly, wisely and just for pleasure. Don’t ever drink it to solve your problems or to please your friends or to appear glamorous to your enemies.

With the amount of R8,80 in his hands, and still struggling to subtract it from R880,00 to see how much money he had wasted during his drinking spree last night, he remembered his school days, and the way mathematics had given him a tough time. At school he could hardly subtract or add small amounts when coming to financial mathematics. Questions like How much is left when we take seventy-three cents away from one rand and fifty cents? were a pest to him.

It’s true that mathematics is sometimes a funny subject. He always laughed whenever he saw his former Grade 4 mathematics teacher, who was now a pensioner. The teacher once asked him how he could make seven an even number. His answer was that he would remove the letter s from the word seven and be left with even. The whole class giggled and applauded him, but the teacher was not impressed; he gave him two lashes.

Two days later the teacher asked his classmate Adeleyo: If your uncle buys thirteen bottles of beer and you accidentally break four, how many will be left?

You don’t know my uncle, Adeleyo answered him. If I had broken one, he would understand, but four! I’d be running for my life with no chance of counting the remaining ones.

The whole class erupted into laughter. Adeleyo was given three lashes for what was really a correct honest answer. That’s how tough mathematics questions are at primary level, where teachers are not well prepared for their lessons, so they are unable to give their learners examples or questions that are suitable for their level of understanding. They ask questions like: If five birds are sitting on a tree branch and you knock one out of the tree with a slingshot, how many birds will be left on the tree? The teacher expects the learner to give four as the answer, but the learner can honestly say that there will be none left because the other four birds will fly away. These types of questions have given primary learners a negative attitude towards mathematics. That’s why today there are very few mathematics learners at matric level.

Remembering Adeleyo’s antics brought Shamzeni’s thoughts back to last night. What had really happened to his dough? He could hardly remember a thing. How he got home last night and how he got all the bruises were still a mystery to him. He admitted to himself that these were the repercussions of a night of drinking. He and his friend Ayodezi had met their other friends Arufa, Abdelia and Adeleyo at the tavern. Ayodezi was a teacher at a secondary school in the neighbouring village. Adeleyo was his colleague at the Golden Deep Mound Mine. Abdelia, who normally called himself Valdez but whose friends called him the Clown because he was always joking even about serious matters, was the PA (Personal Assistant) of the municipal manager, and Arufa was still looking for work after completing his BA Degree in Strategic Brand Communication a year ago.

They usually went to Chilala tavern during the month-end weekend after working so hard during the month, just to relax with the guys, sipping beer and catching up with the latest local and national news from the non-working daily beer drinkers, whom people nicknamed Bomapepeza (those who talk too much). These were the people who lived to eat and drink while other people were eating and drinking to live.

He and his friends told themselves that they would never drink at another tavern in Bathobonge, where they lived, after what had happened the last time, they were at Phuza tavern, which was three streets away from Chilala tavern. On that night a secondary school girl had thrown beer in the face of her teacher and hit him with a beer bottle when the teacher tried to reprimand her.

Young lady, your intelligence is not a privilege but a gift from God and you must use it to the best of your ability, the teacher had said. What are you doing in the tavern? You are supposed to be at home studying."

"Ngilapha ukuphuza ubhiya njengawe (I’m here to drink beer, just like you), said the young girl in a disrespectful tone, holding a glass full of beer in her left hand and a half-full bottle in her right hand. Young lady, mind your words, and better go home now, said the teacher, cool and collected. Uzokwenzenjani, unayo i-tavern? Angihambi ndawo (What will you do? Do you own a tavern? I’m going nowhere.), she’d responded. Hi, guys, nyika iri kusvika pakuguma (the world is coming to an end). Musikana wechikoro achitaura nemudzidzisi; zvinonyadzisa (A schoolgirl speaking to a teacher like that; it’s a disgrace)," a Shona guy (whom most people thought was in the country illegally) said loudly while sipping his beer.

************************

Now, Bathobonge is one of the biggest locations in the Northern Cape province. It has five secondary schools and eight primary schools. It is commonly known as Kasi by its residents, and it accommodates people of different religions, beliefs, races and cultures, and different languages. The people of Bathobonge deal with all the drama, joy, suffering and heartbreak life throws at them. Most of the people, if not all of them, speak and understand the Setswana language, but most of the men when they are at the tavern and getting woozy start speaking in their mother tongue whatever that is.

Out of the blue while you are busy enjoying your beer, you’ll hear a heated argument from one of the drinking groups that begins like this: "Ngiyeke mfethu, mina ngizomshaya lo Mosotho, lo, angimesabi (Leave me, my brother, I’ll beat this Mosotho guy. I’m not afraid of him), as said by a Zulu guy. Ke tla mo otla Mozulu ona hore a hopole mmae kwana kwa KZN (I’ll beat this Zulu boy so that he must start thinking about his mother in KZN), comes the response from the Mosotho guy. Ek is nie bang gemoer ek nie (I’m not afraid of a fight). Geen hond kan voor my staan nie (No dog can stand in front of me), chips in a coloured guy from nowhere, with three of his front teeth missing and a cigarette in his mouth. The guys are not talking to him or about him, but just because he has drunk more than his mind can control, he interferes in what is none of his business. Ntwa ga e age motse gents, a re nweng ka kagiso (Stop the fighting, guys. Let’s just drink in peace)," says a fight-fearing Motswana guy, picking up his glass and moving away from the chaotic situation.

That’s what happens at the tavern when men are woozy. Most of them behave like real animals. Some are noisy and howling just like dogs and are busy minding the business of others. Some are quiet just like donkeys, minding their own business. But don’t ever step on their toes because you will regret the day you were born. Others are always in a hurry just like goats; they just drink your beer and when it is their turn to buy, they run away.

There is a story about these animals that goes like this: Once upon a time, the goat, the donkey and the dog got a lift on the back of a van on their way to town. When the van was about 500 metres away from town, the goat indicated to the driver to stop. The goat climbed off the back of the van and went to the driver, but instead of paying the R2,50 fare for his ride, he told the driver that his big friend would pay for him, referring to the donkey. Reaching town, the driver demanded his money from the other two animals. The dog popped up R2,50 while the donkey gave him R5,00 and waited for his change. The driver refused to give the donkey any change, telling the donkey that his friend the goat had said that he would be paying for him. Since that day whenever the goat sees a car, it runs away thinking that the driver is seeking his money. Whenever the dog sees a car passing by, it chases the car and howls at it because it wants the driver to pay back the money he owes to the donkey. The donkey doesn’t get out of the road when the car is coming because it wants the driver to stop and give him what is due to him. If a driver makes a mistake and hits the donkey, his car will be taken to the scrapyard and he will be hospitalised. So, some drunk people are just like these three animals.

That is Kasi for you when the guys are high and speaking in different tongues and behaving like animals. If you are not familiar with this kind of behaviour, you will keep finding yourself involved in physical fights.

Bathobonge is not a xenophobic location. Xenophobia means having a phobic attitude towards strangers or the unknown, and Bathobonge encourages all the Kasians, as the people of Bathobonge call themselves, to respect one another, to live together in peace and harmony, and to respect