My being disabled with the healing shattered left leg made the trip interesting in ways that would not have happened under normal traveling circumstances. We had many folks helping us. In our two & a half week sojourn to southern Africa we had many flights. Sometimes there was more than one person to push my wheelchair, assist & get us through customs, immigration, security, boarding & deplaning. But wow, we sure rolled past long lines. On the ground at various sites we also had help. The long time spent talking with these local folks gave us a peek into their worlds & they into ours. The people we met, for the most part, seemed to enjoy their jobs, meeting us & appreciating how far we had traveled to visit their country. Many were passionate about their vocations (especially the guides & trackers in the game preserves) & multilingual; speaking as many as 11 languages. They were family oriented (frequently with 3-4 children) & often quite enterprising.
Being disabled is another world. When one is in a wheelchair, you are more vulnerable & often overlooked with conversations carrying on over your head like you are not there. I did love, in South Africa, listening to conversations in Xhosa. That’s the language with the clicks. For those who remember, think Miriam Makeba’s ca. 1967 “The Click Song” (“Qongqothwane“). I could have listened for hours to them talking. Sometimes I would be parked in a spot that I did not like & the wheelchair person disappeared. So, I moved myself to be around fewer people or have a view of the tarmac. '
Two of our looong flights were on a Boeing airbus. This behemoth held about 500 passengers & crew on two levels. That’s almost the population of our son Nathan’s village of Saoû in France. Nomi said we paid a premium for a shelf for our feet (that sometimes would collapse down if one wasn’t careful). I had to clamber over the person in the aisle to get out. But, I could hide my cane between my seat & the wall. On some flights they made me put in the overhead storage bin. On out flight to San Francisco from Heathrow, there were six of us needing wheelchair assistance. There were othersfrom the floor above & other flights. The attendants at SFO were overwhelmed, delaying our return home by about 45 minutes. Some assistants just disappeared leaving us stranded at baggage claim! When we had arrived at Joburg on an airbus, Menzies was the group dealing with wheelchair assistance. They were smooth & efficient.
The books that I had read; Michener’s “The Covenant” & Bernstein’s “The World That Was Ours” gave me a closer insight into the people. Nomi & I read Kobie Kruger’s “Mahlangeni: Stories of a Game Ranger's Family” (1994) which revealed what it was like to live in a game preserve & the people she encountered. That prepared us for our visits to game preserves & gave us an understanding of the jobs of the people who took care of us.
This blog posting is dedicated the The Africa Adventure Co. When we told them about my broken leg, they got their staff working to make sure we had assistance with wheelchairs, rooms close to the center of the hotel or resort & that our guides were prepared for us. Awesome. CHEERS!
