True Southern Hospitality

We call Masealama an island for a reason. Not only is there no running water and the electricity is hit or miss, but communication is also a major challenge. There are no landlines in Masealama, so the only possible means of communication is via cell phone, but network coverage is very rare. You are lucky if you can get two bars standing over the stove. So how do you stay connected with the outside world when you are stranded on this “island”??? The answer is—you don’t.

This past week I was supposed to attend a workshop on HIV/AIDS in a hotel two hours away in Mokopane. Monene (a lady I work with) and I left on Sunday night to Mokopane to check in to our rooms which we were very excited about—a week of running water!!! So we arrive at Oasis Lodge around 6 o’clock on Sunday night, only to be greeted by a receptionist who told us she didn’t have any reservations for our conference… Through many calls and speaking with the coordinator of the workshop, we came to find out that the date had been changed to next week, and everyone else who was attending the workshop was apparently informed, but those of us from Masealama were left off the radar. So now we are in a town 2 hours away from home with no car and no means of transportation because the taxis had already ended for the evening, and no place to stay for the night. Luckily, we were blessed with a very kind receptionist at the hotel named Sibongile, and she was nice enough to give us a room free for the evening! If I was in the States and stranded in a random town late at night, I am pretty sure I would have to pay for a room, but here we experienced an act of TRUE southern hospitality coming from the SOUTHERN hemisphere in SOUTH Africa. I look forward to returning next week for the actual conference J