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Life is not a Bed of Roses |
| Written by BHUNGA ENOCH NOYILA | |
| Thursday, 24 April 2008 | |
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Share it:      LIFE IS NOT A BED OF ROSES BY B.E. NOYILA All things considered, the man was satisfied with himself and for what he had achieved. He sat there in the park and thought about his life with a smile on his face. His name was Velaphi and he had just graduated from college with a B. Admin Degree, but the sad part of it was the fact that he had nobody with whom to share this proud moment. He was homeless, his wife had left him and he no longer drank nor did he smoke. All in all he was alone in the world with his thoughts to keep him busy. Life for Velaphi had not always been like this. He was born and bred in a little village in the former Transkei. His father owned a shop and, as the only child, he was spoilt rotten while growing up. His mother had tried in vain to intervene in his upbringing but his father always told her in no uncertain terms to keep her mouth shut. Velaphi bunked school as and when he felt like it and this never bothered his father. He learnt to drive at a very tender age and when he was doing Standard Six his father bought him a car. He was never short of pocket money and he soon mixed with very bad friends who taught him to smoke and drink. He financed his friends’ smoking and drinking habits and he also transported them wherever they wanted to go. Velaphi also learnt another habit which up till then he had never dared do- stealing. Off all things the child found himself stealing in order to make sure that he never ran out of cash. He had to steal in order to keep up with his commitments, which were to finance his friends’ smoking and drinking and make sure that the car is always full of petrol for their journeys. One summer his father and mother decided to go on holiday to Cape Town and left everything with Velaphi. On the way to Cape Town his parents were involved in a car accident and they both died on the spot. Velaphi was then aged 17 and had to fend for himself from then on. He soon drank away all his father’s assets and the shop was closed when he could not make payment to his father’ creditors. He eventually had to sell his car in order to make ends meet but this was also not enough. He left school in Standard Ten and went to Cape Town to look for work. That is where he met his wife, Nomsa who was also from his village. He was however still drinking and the work he had found he soon lost and had to rely on his wife for financial assistance. She was a nurse at Groote Schuur and she loved him. That is why she tolerated his drinking. She had bought the house they lived in but fortunately for her they never had any children. Velaphi soon became abusive and hit his wife when he was drunk. This was the last straw for her and she kicked him out of the house.
He stayed with friends for some time but they also got tired of his habits and threw him out. He was looking for work one day when he went past an Alcoholics Anonymous building and decided to turn back and go inside. What he witnessed inside made him to go back the next day. He was sitting there and listening to the other members telling their stories when he heard his name being called. It was the group leader asking him to share his story with the others. He began his story of tobacco and alcohol abuse, of homelessness and woman abuse and saw the effect on the others who were sobbing shamelessly as he recounted his story of woe. He felt relieved after this and he never missed the sessions in that building. He also got to kick the habit and began to study with the help of a Non Governmental Organization which helped people referred to it by Alcoholics Anonymous to study. It placed them in jobs after graduation. That was then. Velaphi had now finished studying and this was his last day in the park where he slept everyday for the past three years. Tomorrow he was going to be placed in employment by his benefactors and he looked forward to a new beginning and he vowed never to make the same mistake of taking everything for granted. His had been a long and uneven road to whatever fate had in store for him. As he slowly drifted to sleep on the park bench he thought about his wife and the life he had planned for her when he got a better job.
THE END Copyright 2008 BHUNGA ENOCH NOYILA |
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