It was early in 1981, the year I wrote my O-Levels, that I decided I wanted to enter the noble nursing profession! I was hoping to be able to get into the Registered Nurse’s course on O’Levels alone. I wrote to three hospitals to ask if this was possible. They were Jo’burg General, Addington in Durban and Somerset Hospital in Cape Town. I chose Somerset over Groote Schuur because I had friends who were moving to Somerset West, and I presumed that Somerset Hospital would not be far away. No Google in those days! Jo’burg Gen and Addington both wrote back with outright rejections. Somerset Hospital wrote back to say I had to have M-Level, but they enclosed an application form. Filled with hopeful enthusiasm that they may change their mind, I filled it in and returned it. They responded saying that I could come and do the Staff Nurse course on O-Level, but if I wanted to do the RN course, I’d have to wait another year.
So that’s what I did.
1982 flew by. It was a happy year for me. I had sailed through my O-Levels and now was in a far more prestigious stage at school AND of course there was the 6th Form common room which made me feel very elite.
Throughout the year, I was planning my big move to Cape Town. I read Joy Packer novels and bought books on the city. I was SOOOOO excited.
Eventually, exams were written and school was over. I spent Christmas in Harare and then on 27th December 1982, I left Zimbabwe and flew to Johannesburg. I spent one night with my sister and brother-in-law and then very very quickly, I found myself on a plane bound for the Mother City.
The friends who I knew in Somerset West were three in number. Oupes and Wyn Beale and their daughter Rowena – who we knew as Weans. They became an incredibly important family in my life…taking over the role of other parents and hosting me for endless weekends and holidays. I will forever be indebted to them for the huge role they played in my life. They weren’t friends to me alone, but walked along side many other young people. In the photo below is Keith (on left) and Peter who they also befriended. Weans at the front and Oupes and Aunty Wyn laughing merrily. This is how I remember those days. Lots of laughter! Aunty Wyn is now in her 90s and still has that sparkling sense of humour.
Weans picked me up from the airport and took me to my new digs. At the end of 1982, Somerset Hospital’s nurses’ home was not yet complete, so we were housed in the Woodstock Nurses’ Home. I had no idea the difference in neighbourhood or status between Woodstock and Green Point. But I was quickly told to never catch a train from Woodstock station!
There’s more to be said of my early days in Cape Town, but I’ve got work to do right now, so I’ll end here and take up the story tomorrow. It’s such fun going down this memory lane. God’s faithfulness to me knew no bounds. I was alone in this huge city, with no family and only the Beales out in Somerset West.
One verse that was often in my mind was one I had learned a year or two before…
Joshua 1:9
Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂