In my last blog there were a couple of photos referencing the monthly supplemental food parcels that each gogo receives. I suppose those photos put the (shopping) cart before the horse, because first there had to be quite a grocery shop for about fifty gogos. So I tagged along to help Myriam on what I thought was a rather mammoth shopping expedition, but which she does regularly without batting an eye.

18-month old Omphemetse practices her new high-5 moves

Also tagging along was 18-month old Omphemetse, one of three little girls Myriam and Vicky have been fostering until their birth certificates can be secured (a very lengthy process in S. Africa). Omphey sat on my lap, seat belt securing the two of us, while Myriam drove us the hour to Nelspruit. Omphey learned to “high-5”, to clap “Patty Cake”, and finally dozed to my warbling of “Hush Little Baby” in her ear.

However, before getting groceries, there were a few stops to buy hangars for the Clothes Bank, three cans of varnish for new shelves, and a big plastic bin for food storage – the assortment of bugs in cupboards is quite extraordinary. Then we arrived at Macro, a Walmart type store where Vicky and Myriam have arranged a 10% discount on all purchases for the Ubuntu Centre, and the shopping began in earnest.

Myriam navigates the aisles as Omphey serves as look-out for blue light specials … or as delightful hood ornament

Well! I hadn’t quite imagined what 50 times every item on the list would look like. An hour and a half later, with four laden trolley loads and two shopping carts (one containing an increasingly irritable Omphey), we were done.

Shopping for 50 gogos fills four trolley wagons and two shopping carts

As we went through the cashier, everything was left unbagged on the trolleys and carts. The carry-out guys rolled it all out to the little bakkie (pick-up with a canopy) and I would have placed bets on not getting everything in.

But will it all fit in the little bakkie?

But let me tell you, in their next career move these guys could be designing 3D cube puzzles. Fifteen minutes later, and a few re-arrangings,  it was all packed in. I skeptically snuck a peek at the tires and off we went to Sabie, uphill all the way over pot-holed roads. On arrival, the after-school Homework Program was still in session, and about 20 kids were pressed into service unloading everything. Apparently this will happen once or twice more throughout the month! Joy Comley, mentioned in the previous blog, has tentatively lined up a volunteer to take over some of the shopping – a Godsend. More news as it unfolds …