Wednesday
About a week or ten days ago, a car appeared on our street about 4 or 5 houses down. It was parked outside a house where there are a number of people living. About this house, we’ve heard the owner rents out rooms and has crammed as many people in as possible. The garage is now taken up by a resident. The stoep has been partially built in and I think it is not unlikely that someone sleeps there as well. We were told the owner had rented the lounge out. All the residents share a single bathroom and kitchen. It’s an interesting place to say the least, so you can imagine our surprise and consternation when a car arrived and parked outside this house. The first thing we noticed was that both the front and back tyres on the driver’s side were flat. The car also has a cracked windscreen. An unlikely couple were spending an inordinate amount of time in this car and we soon discovered they were living in it. What relationship they have with the house or each other, I am not sure. The woman is probably in her 50s, with short grey and is fair with blue eyes. The man looks much younger and is dark-skinned.
This morning as I drove past, another car had arrived and reversed back close to the lived in car. The woman jumped out and greeted the two men who had arrived. Later today, I went to see if the car had gone. It was still there. I decided to go for a walk and when I got to the car, I noticed were the tyres were repaired. The lady was sitting on the back seat smoking. The man was sitting in the front passenger seat. The window was slightly open, so I greeted them and said I noticed the tyres were fixed. The lady was keen to talk. “Yes”, she said, “now we are just waiting for the locksmith to get the key cut.” She went onto say it cost R1800 to get a new key cut so they could drive the car. I asked what happened to the other key. She very vaguely said it was lost. “Oh,” I replied, “That’s why you have to hang out in the car so much.” The man was very quick to say yes. What exactly their story is I’m not sure, but they are living in the car.
I don’t know how you get to that position. Perhaps I’ll have more of a conversation with them in the days ahead, but as the sun sets this evening, it doesn’t make me feel good that there are people living in a car on my street in the middle of winter.
Nugget from my journey – one of the most significant events of my Christian life was getting involved in CCFm. Mike had started volunteering at Radio Fish Hoek from the get go in 1993. During that time, David was 2 and Stacey was 5. I was a busy Mom, by then working 8am to 12 noon at Serina Kaolin Mine as an occupational health nurse. I did some data capturing for Radio Fish Hoek during that year and while there, I remember seeing the presenter for the first morning show. She seemingly brimmed with confidence. I was in awe! I just would never have the confidence to do that. I used to arrive at Serina at 8am and listen to the Radio Fish Hoek news in my car. It was awesome! By the time I left Serina at the end of 1995 the new CCFm was up and running.
In 1996, I started my own little business. A friend had told me there was a restaurant that needed first aid supplies and perhaps I could supply them. From that grew a steady income. I learned so much about selling. I learned about networking, dealing with difficult people, seeing deals fall through, managing admin. And also during the course of that year, I thought how fun it would be to do a radio show on health topics. I didn’t know how it would work, but if I got involved in any on air stuff, that could be a show I may be able to do. By now I had completed my degree in nursing education and community health and I had access to a wealth of information. Of course the internet was just in its infancy at that stage and it hadn’t really hit our shores. That would come in quaint dial-up fashion in 1997. But I had books, medical notes and a wealth of rich information on common illnesses. One day the phone rang and it was Avril. She asked me if I would be available to do a health show. I didn’t hesitate. The Lord had prepared my heart for this. As much as I may have feared going on air, this I could do. It was an instant yes. And so began “Learning Together” a short 15 minute programme aired Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10-45am.
I didn’t ad lib anything. Every single word was read, from the ‘Good morning, my name is Helga van Niekerk’ to the very last goodbye. It was all written down! I did it live in the CCFm studio and I loved it. I never ran out of topics. It got me into the station twice a week and I began to see that CCFm needed help in the advertising department. I didn’t know if I could sell advertising. But a tiny little seed was planted in my heart. I prayed about it. For three months I prayed about whether or not I should offer to help with advertising. At the end of 1996, after a year of learning how to sell, I offered my services to CCFm. I would try to sell on air advertising. Avril said I could start in January 1997. She tells me she gave me a bit of a pep talk, but I can’t remember her doing so. I just knew that the Lord had sent me off to sell first aid in order to prepare me for selling advertising. I knew nothing about radio. I knew nothing about advertising, but I had a done a tiny bit of selling. Many times I told the Lord, “I cannot afford to fail. Don’t lead me there if it’s not going to work.”
I credit the Lord for opening doors for me. I called the right people, had the right words and somehow sold some radio advertising. In the early days it would go like this: I would be sitting in the office and Sandy Day would be in the chair next to me, hearing me phoning one company after another. She would say, “Tell them such and such. Tell them this and that.” So on the next phone call, I would tell them such and such and this and that and voila, I would get an appointment to see someone. Once I had my foot in the door, I could be more persuasive. Unbeknownst to her, the Lord used Sandy in the sales department. In those days, adverts cost R30 for 30 seconds. It was cheap radio.
After four years, I’d sold R1 000 000 of advertising. It was probably early 2001 when I crossed the million rand mark. I could hardly talk about it. Emotion welled up inside of me. Even now, I am struck with awe at how God can take humble efforts and multiply them. If I hadn’t stepped out and taken the risk, I wouldn’t have reaped the blessing. And what a blessing it was.
Prayer works.
Matthew 18:20
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
A wonderful reminder.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
- I cycled 20km – the first 10km was on the spinning bike. It took me 22 minutes and 24 seconds and I burned 190 calories.
- The second 10km was on an upright exercise bike. That 10km took me 28 minutes and 50 seconds, but I only burned 119 calories.
- There’s something wrong there! The upright bikes you also can’t ride standing up, so an acute case of ‘numb bum’ is not uncommon!
- No prizes for guessing which bike I’ll go back to.
Braces:
Day 232