The Gift of Gift

I have to tell you all about the most amazing African I've met to date. His name is Gift, and he was the cook on my Joberg to Vic Falls Overlanding tour. Gift is the happiest most joy-filled person I've ever met, and I learned a lot by the example he sets every minute of every day.

Getting to know Gift over the many days we were on the truck with him, I learned he's not really a cook at all. He's a welder who used to build trucks like the one we were on. With things getting dicier and dicier politically & economically in Zimbabwe, however, the company he was working for closed up shop this past August. The owner wanted to help find Gift a new job, and being in the Overlanding circles, he was able to hook Gift up with a job offer for a cook. Gift didn't know anything about cooking, but with unemployment rates so high and continuing to climb, he happily accepted the post. It's lower paying, and means he's on the road 100% of the time, so it can't be considered a step in the right direcltion for him career-wise, but you would never know any of this given his attitude. He approached his cooking responsibilities with such pleasure (and the food was good too -- for which we credit his mom & wife who he must have been picking things up from over the years!).

So since August Gift has been on the road. Once a month he passes through Zimbabwe on one tour or another, and his wife will take up to a 9 hour bus ride from their home in Harrare to see him for one night. He has two sons at home, and he misses them terribly, but again, you'd only find this out by asking direct questions. And even then, he speaks happily about his responsibility to provide for his family and about the opportunity to have a job.

Talking to our tour leader, we learned Gift made $50 USD for being the cook on our 12 day tour. That's 12 days of being at work 24/7 for $50 USD! She also told us he sends every bit of it home where it supports not only his wife and sons, but also his wife's parents and his parents. WOW! Made me feel so guilty about all the times Gift watched us quickly throw decent amounts of money to waitresses, bar tenders and the like. But then again, Gift doesn't begrudge his place in life. He is totally content with the joy he gets from his family, his church, his health....all the things I seem to find it so easy to take for granted!

And then there's just the fun of being near Gift. He's as skinny as a bean pole with a huge, bright white toothy grin. He dances like Bill Cosby and has the best laugh you've ever heard. He teases everyone, gives people nick names, and cracks a great joke every now & then.

So tonight, I'll say a prayer of thanks for the gift of Gift.

Mere