Wednesdays are by far my favorite day of the week. Mostly because Debra comes to make my flat all nice and orderly and calm. Now that I work from home on Debra Days it’s been even more cool, we have coffee and really interesting chats.
Debra is a non-practicing sangoma, who feeds all the township dogs and has majorly progressive views on many things. For someone who has so little, she is one of the most giving people I know, who worries about street kids and teaches her grandkids to not hurt animals. She overcame her fear of cats and used to carry around my sister’s kitten Minao around the house when he was a baby, and cried when he got run over. She even loves my crazy cats, even Tiger who has a bad habit of jumping up at people like a dog, with very sharp claws that he uses to hang on to your leg. She works for my sister’s best mate’s family too, which is how I inherited her – my sister took her on when her mate went to London, and I took her on when my sister went to Picketburg.
We never had a maid growing up, so having someone look after me is all still a bit novelty for me, but having someone as cool as Debra makes it all the more awesome. My mom put it really well, she said that she’s glad that Debra is there to be another mother. Debra calls us her babies, so I guess it is a bit like having a once a week extra mom.
Whatever the case, Debra really is an inspiration and a legend, and god knows how I got by without her.
Nkosi sikele iDebra!
She said whaaat?