“Living in South Africa is basically a permanent camping trip.”
Johannesburg, South Africa (23 January 2023) – A post written by Charlene Morrison is going viral in South Africa, reminding us that somehow we are able to find humour, even in the toughest of times.
Morrison is a proud South African who writes for Mom That Wines. From pregnancy “shenanigans” to the hood of being a mother (and the ins-and-outs of living in South Africa), the mom shares “real, raw and crazy words” on her personal blog.
Read the original post that is going viral below:
“Living in SA is basically a permanent camping trip.
You need a 4×4 to dodge potholes. Last week I hit a massive one and the gravel shot out as if I was attending my own surprise party.
You need a shit ton of matches, batteries, candles and torches.
There is no internet connection in the wild, so we are constantly on the prowl for at least 1 bar of signal.
You need either a skottel or gas stove to survive otherwise you spend the electric hours cooking madly, who says cold spag bol isn’t nice?
When you boil the kettle you fill a flask as if it’s a family trip to Durbs, except there’s no Wimpy stop in Harrismith and your milk is probs iffy coz the fridge been off for so long.
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Mozzies are the biggest enemy as they sit on the fan blades in silence because, heat wins.
Cold showers are fine if the geyser hasn’t heated up yet because it’s 600°C in Gauteng all the damn time. So it’s basically like cleaning yourself under a waterfall.
You can’t top up data because by hour 3 the cell phone towers have emigrated.
When the power does come on, we basically put our entire campsite at risk because we plug every single thing that has a plug, in. You also need sunglasses because your house suddenly turns into a soccer stadium as you cannot remember which lights were left on. And that’s only because it’s a distant memory.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed by technology when we see a working traffic light. 4 way stops vs a traffic light, is a gamble, no one really knows what to do except all go at the same time.
Forget the fact that we actually do have a Tiger in our “backyard” life out here is wild.
#sendhelpandwine”
Morrison told Good Things Guy that she wrote the post because as much as the nitty gritty that goes on, on a daily basis, and we literally live ten hours without power, water, and roads, she still loves to make people laugh!
“I love to write, when the moment strikes and I can already make myself laugh, I like to make sure it’s out there! This was my first public post shared from my personal profile, I normally share real, raw and crazy words on my public page Mom That Wines.”
There is another version of the post doing the rounds on social media written by an “anonymous” source using Morrison’s words but edited slightly. We’ve added it here as it’s been sent to us a couple of times via email and WhatsApp.
Read it below:
“Living in South Africa is basically a permanent camping trip.
You need a 4×4 to dodge potholes. Last week, I hit a massive one and the gravel shot out as if I was attending my own surprise party.
You need a sh*t ton of matches, batteries, candles and torches. Yup, Loadshedding. When the power does (eventually) come on, we basically put our entire “campsite” at risk because we plug every single thing that has a plug, in. You also need sunglasses because your house suddenly turns into a soccer stadium as you cannot remember which lights were left on. And that’s only because it’s a distant memory.
Cold showers are fine if the geyser hasn’t heated up yet because it’s 600°C in Gauteng all the damn time. So it’s basically like cleaning yourself under a waterfall.
You need either a skottel or gas stove to survive otherwise you spend the electric hours cooking madly, who says cold spag bol isn’t nice? When you boil the kettle, you fill a flask as if it’s a family trip to Durbs, except there’s no Wimpy stop in Harrismith and your milk is probs iffy coz the fridge has been off for so long.
Mozzies are the biggest enemy as they sit on the fan blades in silence because heat wins.
There is no internet connection in the wild, so we are constantly on the prowl for at least 1 bar of signal. Actually, you can’t top up data because by hour 3 the cell phone towers have emigrated.
And sometimes we are a little overwhelmed by technology when we see a working traffic light.
4-way stops versus a traffic light is a gamble, no one really knows what to do except all go at the same time – we need to start teaching these skills in schools.
Life out here is wild but you know what? We are happy here.
We don’t listen to the noise our politicians make and ignore the hate created by toxic people on social media. We put our heads down and get on with it. We work hard. We play hard. We buy batteries. We store water. We fix potholes. We look after our neighbours. And we laugh. And we braai. And we drink wine.
Living in South Africa may be wild but we love it.”
Either way, both versions are a reminder of our resilience and our ability to have a little laugh… even in the most trying of times.
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