Our second Home

This last week we spent time at our "second home" in Zandspruit. Our friends, Thabo and Dikiledi, opened up their home and their lives to us. I have to say this experience was much different than the last time Trev and I stayed in Zandspruit. This time we had Keira, previous relationship with Thabo and DK and other relationships within the community. However my eyes were still opened even wider.
Our time last week had a strange dichotomy of comfort and discomfort all at the same time. Being with Thabo and DK's was easy, from the moment that we entered we felt at home, there wasn't that awkward couple of hours or days where you are figuring out what to do with each other in this space. They welcomed us showed us the ropes of how things work in their house ( i.e. bathing in a small plastic tub, heating water for bathing and washing dishes etc.) It all felt very natural, even Keira took to calling them " My Thabo and My DK" ( she sometimes calls us My Mommy and My Daddy)
The uncomfortable part came once we were outside their place. I felt comfortable walking around, greeting people, but some days I just felt like a spectacle, I have written before about how some people can just tell I'm not from here or just choose to stare at me. And with Keira, it kinda felt like she was an exhibit, as adults and children would come and talk to her or stare at her or want to touch her hair. Now it is one thing to experience these same interactions every once and a while at the store or where ever, but in Zandspruit the streets are always pretty full of people walking or standing around so its like every other step or turn.
And then we would be home again, arriving at someones home we were visiting or back at Thabo and DK's.
When I think about the amount of fear that people, including myself, have about squatter communities, my mind continues to blare RELATIONSHIP! as the answer. I am only uncomfortable when I don't know the person staring at me, once I am in a home of someone I know I feel safe again. Or even as I walked up and down those streets, toward the end of the week some people would return my greeting and not just stare. And just like anyplace, there are normal people trying to get by and then there are people who are out for no good. Usually the previous out weighing the latter.
Another thing I realized after coming home was how much luxury that I live in. I never thought of sitting in a hot bath in the quiet and privacy of my own home as a luxury (OK maybe the privacy part, Keira is tall enough to open doors !) Or turning on a hot water tap in my house, or not having to share a toilet with anyone but those who live in my house, or having a toilet inside my house, or . . .having a house, where you can't feel the wind blow through the cracks and wholes, where you don't have to worry about rats eating your food or anything else. Or having control over the noise.
I have privilege, and i live with privilege. . .
And . . .I have the privilege of having a second home in Zandspruit. It seems like not having all the conveniences and extras in life make relationship all the more valuable. And time, time and more time, is how you built the relationships. Sometimes I feel like I don't "Do" a whole lot, but my days seem very full, in Zandspruit, if you don't have a job, you are probably going to be sitting chasing the sun to stay warm and just being with the people around you. For us "doers" that can be hard to do, but that time can be time very well spent.
I am thankful that we got to spend time with Thabo and DK and be a part of their everyday for a week, and I am happy to have friends that are willing to walk this journey with us!