The Altruists: Cape to Jeffreys Bay

Altruist Nr. 1

Gert
Age: 52
Favourite colour: Blue
Motto: The choices you make, are yours alone.

Every journey starts with the first step and Gert took that step wearing big shoes to fill. He spent the previous night watching the Springbok’s wipe the floor with the French at Newlands, and was on his way home to Bredasdorp, where he owns a sportspub and a restaurant. He doesn’t know a lot about soccer, but all three his daughters have flags on their cars, and he forced his whole staff to take the afternoon off and watch the opening match at a community centre. (He didn’t mention this, but logic dictates that he could have rather been making a lot of money during the opening match, him having a sports pub and all.)

According to him he picked us up because we looked like we needed a ride. He said that he did consider us being dangerous, but that he preferred to not live with fear.

Thanks Gert!

Altruist Nr. 2

Cedric
Age: 18
Favourite soccer team: Congo
Motto: We’re all one, man. We are all ONE.

Returning from Friday’s World Cup festivities in Cape Town, Cedric was just thinking to himself how he needed good conversation for his long ride home, when he saw two scruffy guys next to the road offering just that.

Back in France Cedric once attempted to hitchhike to his favourite surf spot with his surfboard on his back. No one picked him up, not even the giant corporate Quicksilver Bus headed to the same beach. He vowed he would never do the same thing.

Thanks Cedric!

Altruist Nr. 3

Jacques
Age: +/- 60
Claim to fame: Driver of the Magic Bus



Jacques lives on a 48-hectare property in Wilderness. It is a vastly untouched area, consisting of scrubs and forest that stretch out right onto the sea. Jacques welcomed us with open arms in to his fully self-sufficient home. His little house is equipped with solar panels, generators and water filtration systems.

We spent the evening huddled around his fireplace watching the football and drinking beers. Jacques entertained us with stories from his past ranging from the time he “scraped” his colonel with his bayonet to leaving South Africa, joining the Israeli army, dropping out and then driving a busload of hippies from London to Kathmandu.

After the night’s festivities we spent the night in a caravan, overlooking the ocean.
Thanks Jacques!


Altruist Nr. 4

Annie/ Beach house Backpackers

On our second day, the rain and the wind came and we could feel ice forming around our bones. We found shelter from the storm in Beach house Backpackers, which is both comfortable and budget appropriate.

Annie, the manager, welcomed us warmly and was very accommodating to a film crew that lugged in all their equipment.

Annie also mentioned that if we were going to Jeffery’s Bay, we should stay at Ubuntu backpackers, which is definitely in sync with our altruist investigations. This little bit of advice had joyful consequences, which appeared later in the journey.
Thanks Annie!



Altruist Nr. 5

Chris
Age: 53
Favourite Band: “Have you seen how old I am? It all just sounds the same to me.”
Motto: “You can’t polish a turd.”

Chris came swooping down the Kaaimanskloof pass in a rental car, becoming our quickest pick up yet. We spent the first part of the ride slightly doubting the legitimacy of his claims at being a slightly famous journalist and documentary filmmaker.

Chris was the funniest and most cynical altruist, we have met so far. He took us to his house, made us coffee and showed us all his articles. Chris has quite a name in the industry: we worked at the Berger, was one of the founding members of the Vryeweekblad and the producer of Not quite Friday Night.

What a guy!

Thanks Chris!

Altruist Nr. 6

The Rastas
Age: N/A
Favourite word: “Appreci-love” (any words ending with the sound “hate” gets replaced with “love”).
Motto: One Love

Chris dropped us off right in the middle of Judah Square, a humble little area in the middle of the Knysna valleys. As we arrived, we felt immediately comfortable. Members of the community would walk up to us greeting us with “Jah Love” and inviting us into their homes. We spent a fantastic day chatting, learning and feeling the good vibes!

Thanks Brother Maxi, Sista Kerry, Sista Leah and Brother Ras Mau Mau!

Altruist Nr. 7

The Rothschilds
Motto: “You are as young as you feel.”

Standing outside Knysna, the lift we few and far between. Eventually a fancy looking 4x4 pulled over.

We climbed into the car and were greeted by the Rothschild family. Lance Rothschild pulled because his wife took pity on us. He said that he had hitched many times in his youth but feared that those days were now over.

Lance had originally worked as the station manager for 5fm and entertained us with anecdotes of his past.

Thank you Rothschilds!



Altruist Nr. 8

The Israelis

We were getting a little worried about obtaining a lift outside Plet. However pretty soon a car with a bunch of Isrealis student pulled over.

It seemed that in their eyes hitchhiking was a pretty normal pastime and saw no big deal in giving us a lift. They shred numerous hitchhiking stories and shared some of their ideas of Hitching etiquette.

Thanks Guys!

Altruist Nr. 9

The Germans
Age: 20
Favourite colour: Red, Yellow and black.

Getting dropped of under a sign reading “No Stopping – R500 fine” made us feel pretty hopeless about getting to Jeffery’s bay. However after half and hour a tiny little car, with German flags erupting out of its sides, pulled over to pick us up.

We squeezed into the car with the excited Germans and were on our way to J-Bay!

Thanks guys!

Road Stories (The First Week)

Wilderness - Knysna - Jeffery’s Bay - Port Elizabeth

We left Jacques’ little paradise later that wet afternoon and headed to the Beach house Backpackers to dry off and perhaps claim a shower. This budget accommodation is situated right near the sea and has a fantastic bar under the leafy branches of a Milkwood tree.

We stayed in a dorm room on the top floor, which had a view of the entire 18km coastline. We cleaned up, warmed ourselves up, and (because of the previous night’s excessive “chats”) had a nap. It refused to stop raining for the whole day and so we just huddled up and relaxed.

The next morning, there seemed to be a break in the clouds and so we got back on the road and stuck our thumbs out in the air. We didn’t stand for longer than 30 seconds when a little white rental car pulled up, and so we met our next, and most cynical altruist, Chris.

Cynicism doesn’t always equal apathy. Chris took us to his Knysna home, gave us coffee, showed us the many articles he has written in his life, and gave us each a CD of his old 90’s blues band, Die Radiators.

He then drove us in the rain right to Judah Square, a little Rasta community in the valleys of Knysna. Chris, despite believing that altruism is dead, went out of his way to make sure we got safely to our destination.

The community of Judah Square is made up of about 40 families and lies in the middle of the township. The valley is scatter with RDP houses, cows, pigs, chickens and children.

We spent the night at Sista Kerry’s B & B. Judah square is festively painted with motifs ranging from the classic Haille Selassi portraits to the more off the wall: Bob Marley in a suit of amour on a white horse slaying a dragon.

We feasted on a lentil stew, and Brother Ras Mau Mau’s garlic rolls. Brother Ras is from Kenya and gets his nickname from the infamous Mau Mau guerrilla warriors. This brother does not live up to the terror of the title; he is a freethinking travelling man who believes in Ubuntu, knowledge, love and brushing his teeth with ash (which he promptly taught us).

The night proved quite heavy on our minds and so we spent the next day doing a little as possible. In the spirit of the World Cup, Ayoba and what have you, we took a walk to the local soccer pitch and watched the children play “beach soccer”. We then took a taxi into Knysna to go and watch Bafana Bafana destroy Uruguay in a game of football!

This was the first time since we left Cape Town that our expectations were dashed on the floor, and ended up with the beer puddles and cigarette stompies. Bafana had a horrific game and were trampled by pretty-boy South Americans.

A night that was supposed to be filled celebrations quickly turned; leaving us feeling the lowest we have ever felt. The night ended with us contemplating Life, The Universe and our project in the bathroom of the Backpackers ‘till 3am.

There was, however, only one cure for our blues – to get back on the road. So the next morning we took out our “Friendly Students”-sign and weaved our way back to the N2. We stood next to the Knysna hospital for about a hour and a half, before a friend of Beer’s grandmother, Tannie Coreen and her daughter, Jeanne, stopped to give us each a pie and a coke. Things were looking up, even though people weren’t stopping for us.

Just as we were about to move to a better spot, a luxury SUV pulled up and offered us a lift to Plettenberg Bay. Inside the SUV sat the friendly Rothschild’s from Johannesburg. Lance picked us up because his wife said that we looked nice enough. We shared the backseat with their son, Brady, who is quite the sportsman.



The family dropped us outside of Plet and we waited near the hitchhiking zone. Apparently we weren’t pretty enough because about 6 other hitchhikers seemed to get easy rides. After an hour, however, a sedan containing two Israelis guys pulled over.

They were currently vacationing in the Wilderness, but had driven through to Tsitsikamma that morning to go bungi jumping. Only one of the guys jumped, and they returned to Wilderness. After some contemplation the other friend decided that he also wanted to jump and so the two drove the 250km back to the bridge (lucky for us).



En route we stopped at something called Monkey Valley to pick up another one of their friends.

We found out that hitchhiking is something of a national pastime in Israel, and the three regaled us with numerous funny, scary and some pointless hitchhiking stories. We were even given some pointers on the etiquette of hitching.

We got dropped off outside a toll gate, as one of the Israelis thought that it would be a good place to get picked up, as cars have to come to a complete stop. Unfortunately for us, there’s a large No Stopping sign (R500 fine) right by the booth and so we struggled to get anyone to pull over.

We were saved by the fact that Germany was playing Serbia in Port Elizabeth the next day and a tiny car with red, yellow and black flags pulled up in front of us.


We squeezed into the car and met Sam, Miriam and Anja: three German volunteers. They were travelling to the game and were heading passed Jeffery’s Bay.

Early that day we called the folks at Ubuntu Backpackers, who agreed to have us stay at a really reduced rate. We were really taken aback by their generosity, especially during this World Cup season. But the universe has an interesting way of working out; the three Germans had not made any plans and really needed a place to stay for the night. We called Liz and Jamie (the owners) who incidentally had three open beds that night. So it would seem that altruism seems to flow in all directions: we got a lift right to the Backpackers, Ubuntu filled up their empty spaces and the Germans had a place to rest for the night.



We spent two chilled days at Ubuntu, chatting to Jamie about ideas of community, altruism and conscious living. We even got to use two boards and did a little surfing…



…well, when we say surfing, Marc caught all of one wave and Beer floated around the ocean for 30 minutes. Still it was great to be out in the sun and not huddled in a dark corner avoiding the rain.

The days flew by and we were back on the road again. Jamie gave us advice on the best location to grab a lift and headed down with our signs in the air.
Many people drove by, some waved, some laughed, and some just ignored us. Eventually a taxi pulled over, and we ran up to explain to the driver that unfortunately we couldn’t pay. Milton, a 70-year-old man from PE, said he didn’t need any money and we were welcome to catch a lift with him.



Milton’s altruism didn’t stop with us; he pulled over for about 5 other pedestrians, and refused any payment. He drove us right to the middle of the industrial area of Sidwell, where we were supposedly spending the next four days.



We had arranged to stay with a university friend of Marc’s Duryn. Duryn met us outside one of PE’s numerous KFC’s and escorted us to his house. At first we were filled with unease as we walked passed burnt out buildings, cigarette smoking ten year olds, and a million bottle caps.



However, we were amazed at the sense of Ubuntu in this poor urban area. Duryn, as usual, welcomed us with open arms into his immaculately clean house. We sat on the roof watching the sunset and drinking Castle quarts; it felt good to be with friends…

Day 1: And we're off

We handed ourselves over to the road yesterday. It was quite a rush for ten minutes, but after about an hour, the doubt set in.
Most of the cars slowed down to look at our signboards and at us; we got an abundance of smiles, laughs, and waves, but no one seemed to actually stop.


An hour passed and eventually a silver bakkie slowed down. We ran up eagerly to chat to the driver, and that’s when we met Gert.



Altruist Nr. 1:

Gert
Age: 52
Favourite colour: Blue
Motto: The choices you make, are your’s alone.

Every journey starts with the first step and Gert took that step wearing big shoes to fill. He spent the previous night watching the Springbok’s wipe the floor with the French at Newlands, and was on his way home to Bredasdorp, where he owns a sportspub and a restaurant. He doesn’t know a lot about soccer, but all three his daughters have vuvuzelas, and he forced his whole staff to take the afternoon off and watch the opening match at a community centre. (He didn’t mention this, but logic dictates that he could have rather been making a lot of money during the opening match, him having a sports pub and all.)

According to him he picked us up because we looked like we needed a ride. He said that he did consider us being dangerous, but that he preferred to not live with fear.



Just after he picked us up a local traffic official informed us that Sir Lowery’s pass was closed. This meant that we had to drive around the mountains, putting Gert near his destination but us 70km from any real highway. Gert being the altruist he is, decided to drive out of his way and dropped us off in Caledon.



We waited alongside the highway of the one horse town for three hours, with nothing but crickets, raisins and a rogue baboon. The sun began to dip and feared that we would have to spend the night in the nearby forest. Eventually, another small silver car appeared. It pulled over and the driver, a tall French student with a mop of curly hair, leapt out and made some space for us in his boot.




We spent the journey to Wilderness listenening to a variety of excellent tunes, and discussing the nature of an interconnected universe. The altruism was not over: Cedric drove more than 25km out of his way and dropped us off safely in Wilderness.

Waiting for us at a local petrol station, was our host for the evening, Jacques.



Jacques is an older gentleman, who has had a variety of jobs including, a soldier, a magic bus driver, a tree feller, and veggie burger salesmen. Jacques drove us up a steep dirt road and to his little wooden house looking over the eastern coast. He invited us into his home, shared his liquor and told some of the most fantastic stories. When he realized we would be camping out in the cold, he opened his home and luxury caravan for us to sleep in.

The next day he gave us coffee and took us on a 4X4 trail through his beautiful property.

We klapped some Afrikaans for JIP

"Beer Adriaanse en Marc Dey begin eersdaags ‘n baie eiesoortige reis reg oor Suid-Afrika. Kom Sondag en die twee vat die lang pad, met net ‘n duim, ‘n gebed en net 'n klein bietjie geld tussen die twee van hulle, om hul doelwit om reg oor die land te ryloop te verwesenlik. Alles in die gees van Ubuntu, die sokker, en omdat hulle kan."

Click here to read the rest of this interview by Rozanne Els.

The kids are allright

Since we're beginners to this whole Soccer World Cup/Altruism thing, we thought it would be a good idea to get some opinions from other beginners. Enter Pinehurst Primary, a school that has more diversity than a potjiekos, and more colours than all of Africa's flags together.





Even though the school was in the grips of Soccer Fever, the kids shot straight from the hip and gave us honest answers about South Africa, Ubuntu, Altriusm and the World Cup.

After spending the day with them, we are forced to agree with The Who, because "The kids are allright".




Click here for more photos.

So we took the last proposal and gave it an iron...

Open publication - Free publishing - More readwrite

The Mighty Thumb