My arrival in Cape Town was on 28th December 1982 and after I settled in at Woodstock Nurse’s Home, I had a few days before my first day of student nursing orientation, which was Saturday 1st January 1983.
One of the other new student nurses was asked to show me around the home and let me know the house rules and meal times etc. She was a friendly, bubbly girl and happily gave me the guided tour. It was so helpful and I really appreciated it. I felt very welcome and quickly became known as the girl who had just come from Zimbabwe.
It was such a massive step. I was 18 years old, had left all that I had known and moved thousands of kilometres to a completely new city in a very foreign (to me) country. Here they were serious about their Afrikaans. I had done Afrikaans at school but was certainly not tuned into the language. That was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to differences. I had no idea of the lay out of the city. I was absolutely clueless to the politics of the day.
But the exhilaration of being independent knew no bounds. People would take me for what I was – not who my friends or family were – not who I knew or which school I had been to. It was a completely new start. All I had to recommend myself was me! As I pondered this wondrous thought, another quickly entered my head. It made me think ‘who am I?’ What really does make me tick? I had been a Christian for 4 years and following God was important to me. Now in a new land with no expectations put on me to go to church, read the Bible, not drink, not smoke, not swear – no dictation of what to wear, what to buy, what to read – I was a completely free agent. Wow! It challenged me. What were my values? How did I want people to know me? Who was most important to me?
As my new friend completed her tour of the nurses’ home, we ended sitting in a courtyard in the warm December sunshine. “So,” she said, “tell me a bit about yourself.”
I surprised even myself when the first words out were,
“Well, I’m a Christian and that’s very important to me.”
I went onto speak about other things, but inside me, I knew that right there, right then, I had nailed my colours to the mast. There was now no turning back. I couldn’t declare my Christian convictions and then be seen living a more compromised life.
It was one of those watershed moments – poignant with significance – once those words were out, there was no going back.
They set in stone the values that I hoped to maintain in this new and exciting city.
Romans 1: 16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek”
I am grateful.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂