Waiting – 9 June 2008

90km short of Francis town, a woman stands on the side of the road, swinging her arms, waiting for a bus at a crooked stop sign. A crackled hardware store sign stands in front of seemingly empty mud huts. The only signs of life are this woman and some wandering goats. We lie on the dirt on the other side of this road, baking in the soft afternoon sun. I am listening to Phil Collins’ Just Another Day in Paradise, with a sad irony.

On the other side of the road, the woman sits down next to her canvas bag. Both of us are waiting for transport but we are going in different directions. I am trucking on to Francis town with the prospect of returning to this crusted sign tomorrow to complete the distance. I have no idea where she’s going… there is not much where we have come from.

Just as I am about to stroll over and sit down on the tarmac next to her, and am wondering about what it is I want to say, a wheelbarrow and its owner park next to her. The owner, an old woman with a royal blue dress and hardy footwear, sits in the wheelbarrow and joins the wait. It is a small thing, this waiting, that we share. But there is a simple beauty in sitting on the side of the road watching the world pass by and willing some being behind a windscreen to stop. Life is slow here. And its beautiful.