Four. Five. Seven kids make their way across the street. Not bothering to look for oncoming traffic. Their ages? Between five and seven. Their mission? To gather a their next bundle of wood for their galley they’ll be cozying around tonight.
Further along the way another group of kids are singing and dancing in the road. The songs? Their own versions of pop songs. “Now watch me whipp, now watch me nae-nae” is “Hie kom ie bus met die kinners, ie kom ie bus bus met ie kinners” .
Even further down the way a few kids are running around tackling each other to have a go at scoring the goal of the week. Each shouting at the other. “Nai man djy speel ie kwai nie!” “My bru pass ie ball hiento!”
A ways off I observe cows on the corner of my road and I have to walk past it to get home. Yikes! I breath. Contemplate turning around and taking another route home. If so then my twenty or so steps home will be multiplied by a gazillion. Stand still for a few seconds before I brave my way past the cows. Hoping like crazy that since they’re in my residential area, they are domesticated enough to understand Voetsek ! Twenty steps multiply by two as I take shorter but faster steps towards safety.
I don’t take a walk down Sesame Street daily. There are no Cookie Monsters either. I walk around and see our future with their runny noses and dirty feet. I see their enthusiasm. Their carefree laughs. The kids who are still kids. The lucky ones who are allowed to be free. The beings who make my heart smile.
Let us love them. Nurture them and show them kindness. Teach them what respect is by leading by example. Let us listen to their voices. Let no one go unnoticed. Let’s grow our nation.
When I was a kid, I was enamoured with Elmo and the gang of Sesame Street. As an adult, I am more amused with the animated way in which kids can still be kids living in the world we live ☺ And with cows roaming our streets, I totally get why some foreigners still believe lions roam our street.
This was part of a weekly tandem blog series where 3 bloggers collide with 1 title.
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Thank you for reading ☺
Surviving Jonkersville 