I have come across various people in life….different cultures, religious backgrounds, status and race etc. Some of them just cross my path with no real meaning or impression left. Then there are the few that makes me sit back and take a few minutes out of my life to reflect.
This is the case with one of our volunteers who helps us on a regular basis - let’s call her Gloria. She straight off is a remarkable woman; she is in her mid fifties and she speaks about 4 different languages. Is originally from Germany but relocated to Namibia before coming to the Mother City. She has traveled the world and has had a book store in the family for generations. She never watches television yet her knowledge on life around her is outstanding. When she speaks you, you linger on her every word.
Gloria is nothing short of amazing; she has blown the lid on child abuse and survived her late husband taking his life after enduring a long and painful battle with Cancer. She later discovered she had Cancer and moved back with her parents whilst receiving chemo treatment. She told me about her struggle with Cancer…how the worst part was others seeing her slowly die. Despite it all, she has survived.
She now embarks on a new journey of love, which seems to be a scary and uncertain path. She tells me how her first kiss with her new love interest feels natural – this said as she squirms like a little girl. I enjoy watching her blush and burst to tell me new developments on the blossoming of their love.
How the first experiences feel as though she had never done it before. How to be sharing a house with a man after so many years of solitude feels like a brand new experience. We have many long talks about his 3 children and their discovery and acceptance of their relationship. Not forgetting his horrid ex-wife we call the ‘Rottwieler’. She is beyond entertaining as she mentions how she would go ‘Jungle-Jane’ if the Rottweiler stepped out of place.
This is the case with one of our volunteers who helps us on a regular basis - let’s call her Gloria. She straight off is a remarkable woman; she is in her mid fifties and she speaks about 4 different languages. Is originally from Germany but relocated to Namibia before coming to the Mother City. She has traveled the world and has had a book store in the family for generations. She never watches television yet her knowledge on life around her is outstanding. When she speaks you, you linger on her every word.
Gloria is nothing short of amazing; she has blown the lid on child abuse and survived her late husband taking his life after enduring a long and painful battle with Cancer. She later discovered she had Cancer and moved back with her parents whilst receiving chemo treatment. She told me about her struggle with Cancer…how the worst part was others seeing her slowly die. Despite it all, she has survived.
She now embarks on a new journey of love, which seems to be a scary and uncertain path. She tells me how her first kiss with her new love interest feels natural – this said as she squirms like a little girl. I enjoy watching her blush and burst to tell me new developments on the blossoming of their love.
How the first experiences feel as though she had never done it before. How to be sharing a house with a man after so many years of solitude feels like a brand new experience. We have many long talks about his 3 children and their discovery and acceptance of their relationship. Not forgetting his horrid ex-wife we call the ‘Rottwieler’. She is beyond entertaining as she mentions how she would go ‘Jungle-Jane’ if the Rottweiler stepped out of place.
She mentions how at the fifties they are all of a sudden young at heart and playful as he does the Charlie Chaplin and she laughs the night away. She recalls the evening where she drew a heart with her lipstick on his car mirror and how hard she found it not to tell him it was her who did it. Listening to her is the kind of thing that makes your heart warm and smile at how delightful life can turn out. How amazing it must feel to find love at their age and find another reason to live.
I ask whether she is at all weary of being hurt, or being left alone again. She casually replies that she has spent her life cautious and has died once before…now is the time to start living.
I ask whether she is at all weary of being hurt, or being left alone again. She casually replies that she has spent her life cautious and has died once before…now is the time to start living.
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