Conversations with my uber-driver

The slightly scratched Toyota pulls up to my house
I wave to the driver: a young black man, with an easy smile.
As I get in, I notice the isiphandla, a band of animal skin
hanging from his rear-view mirror.
So, I greet him in Zulu:
“Sawubona”
(Knowing I probably butchered the pronunciation
even though I’ve lived in South-Africa all my life.)
He repeats the word and we start driving.

He asks about my life and I ask about his.
He tells me that he is working for a hotel-chain
Ubering on the side, to support his family.
He used to study electrical engineering after getting a scholarship,
but had to work and ended up dropping out.
He says all this, without any hint of self-pity or regret,
as if he never expected more from life.

I ask if he wants to go back to university one day.
He replies that he probably won’t be able to,
but hopes to do a math-course and become a tutor
since he used to help tutor his friends in school and enjoyed it.

We arrive at my destination. I thank him and leave.
I wonder at the unfairness of it all:
This young man, with his positivity and intelligence
has had to give up on a dream
just because he was born on the wrong side of Apartheid.
(which lives on 30-years after it was ended)
And I have everything I need in life
just because I wasn’t.

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Lydia la Grange is a South-African poet and playwright. Her work includes: Afskeid ‘n Musiekblyspel, Liewe Anna and F-Woord. She has published poems in Die Helpie Flitse and has had slam poems performed at the National Eisteddfod Academy’s national competition.