Do it yourself

My good friend from childhood days in South Africa organizes a tour through Europe for her students every two years. This year one of their stops will be here, in our little town. They are spending two days here, the first day will be devoted to sight seeing, and the second day to culture. So my friend asked me whether they could visit our theatre and whether I could arrange something. Not being brave by nature, I gathered all my courage and emailed the director of the theatre to ask him what he thought. He inmediately wrote back, assured me of his full support and said that the project was a wonderful idea. Naturally I was very excited and my mind was brimming with ideas about how we could organise a memorable day for the teenagers. So far so good. Then reality set in. I dutifully went up to the admin and spoke to a few people of whom I thought that they would help me. After all, I am only a musician in the orchestra, and in no position to order anyone to do anything. I got sent from one person to the next, all claiming how wonderful everything was, but sadly they are not responsible. Finally I got to one lady, who said that she would make it her thing. Again much happiness from my side. I did everything she assigned me to do and......nothing happened. So after two weeks of waiting I contacted the lady and asked her what she had come up with. She replied in quite a cheeky mail, the typical "oh...that person is not available, this will not be possible, they have no time, this will cost money...bla bla" In fact she had done nothing and left me feeling like a fool.

Time was running short and I found myself faced by two possibilities: I could sit down and cry, which is great to clean out the eyes so that they shine brightly again, but it did not really help my case and gets a bit boring after a while, or to get myself together and do my thing. Out of the blue I suddenly remembered the slogans of the two different high schools I attended : "Wees Uself" (be yourself) and "Aanhou Wen" (keep winning). And then my path became clear. I will be myself and continue planning the project and by doing just that, I will keep winning. I have learnt that, if I want to get something going, I am the only one to do it. After all, these are MY fellow South Africans and I will organise a lovely day for them. And, funnily, as soon as I made my decision, things started falling  into place.

Of course the cat won't much like it because she will have to spend the day alone, but I will find a way to make it up to her. On that note: AANHOU WEN !