Aunty Netta opened her small two-bedroom apartment to Rachel and I for one week. It is located in a rundown apartment complex that is dangerous and loud at night. Despite the outward appearance, once you step foot inside her apartment it feels like home, a safe sanctuary.
Netta was forced out of her home near the ocean during the apartheid and sent to the ironically named community of Ocean View; ironically named because they forced people from their beautiful homes near the ocean to a township far from any view of an ocean. Much of the community has tried to move past the oppression but many issues still linger. Since jobs are near impossible to find, drugs have ravaged the community, with meth being the drug of choice since it can be bought for so cheap.
Netta moved into this community and the same tiny apartment over four decades ago with her husband and five children. She raised all of her children in this same apartment that I have been able to spend one week in. All five of her kids shared the one small bedroom that Rachel and I are sharing, I imagine the kids giggles at night and all the memories that were made in a room we will only grace for one week.
While it is hard for me to imagine sharing this small room with five siblings, I am beginning to see that with the deep love of a family the amount of space and things a home is filled with is only relative. Less joy is often found in homes where kids get their own bedrooms and nice possessions are plentiful. As Netta said, we had the Lord, we had each other and we had great joy, what else did we need?
Her family still stops by; a son-in-law comes to replace a broken shelf, a grandson stays the night, her daughter spends the week visiting. While her kids have grown up and moved out she still opens her quaint home to others, sharing with them all that she has; it may not be much but it is more than most people share in a lifetime.
Aunty Netta
Nettas Apartment Building
The small bedroom we shared
Shark Diving!
Shannon and I went shark diving last Saturday. It has been something I’ve wanted to do since Shark Week came on T.V. and I was lucky enough to do it in the Great White capital of the world!!
