The First Random Acts
Crowell Majavu, our driver and guide picks us up at 10 a.m. and takes us away from Johannesburg’s city life to an Ndebele community where we’ll get a taste of South African culture that is more traditional.
About an hour into the trip we in a rural area called Moloto. Juanita is getting excited.
“I’m feeling some love out here in the countryside,” she says. She’s feeling a random act coming on begins to huddle with her crew to determine the best plan of action.
She looks out the window of the bus and sees four women walking along the road. It was hot so their movements were slow. She asks our advice about what she should do. Her first thought was to send Danielle out to greet the women and give them a gift. Since it’s Juanita’s party we felt that she should make the first move.
She wonders aloud whether to give each of the women one of the fancy toiletry packets that we received during our flight. She has more than 50 of them, given to us by the South African Airways flight crew when they heard about her project.
“Blow the horn at them and see if you can get their attention,” Juanita tells Cromwell who promptly complies. He blows the horn and beckons them to stop. When he pulls over Juanita bounds from the bus and the rest of us jump out behind her eager to play our respective roles in helping her commit her first random act.
Juanita approaches the woman who is wearing a blue house coat and white cotton hat. Her name is Annah. When Juanita greets Annah her American accent disappears. It is replaced with a melodic tone that is slightly higher pitched and sounds similar to a patois. She speaks in abbreviated sentences. Robin and Danielle who are Juanita’s longtime assistants, have heard her ‘foreign accent’ on other occasions and are amused by it.
“Hi. What you doing? ” Juanita says to Annah. “What is your name? I have something for you. Come here. I want to tell you something. That I love you.”
After Juanita finishes greeting Annah she gives her a handful of South African currency that is worth $50. She does the same with the others.
The women are visibly moved but it is Juanita who is crying.
Annah is puzzled. “You are crying,” she says to Juanita, not understanding her tears. Juanita was having an emotional reaction to their expressions of gratitude when she gave them the money.
“I am crying because you are happy,” said Juanita, who is back to speaking like an American. “This is called a random act of love just for you.”
“We love you too,” Annah tells her. “Wonderful God has blessed us. God sees that we are poor women.”
Star of Hope
Telvin Walker is the ‘youth component’ of Random Acts.
At 12 years old, he is the youngest member of Juanita’s traveling entourage. Telvin lives in Woodland Terrace a housing project not far from Juanita’s art gallery in Anacostia. Juanita invited Telvin to come and visit her gallery a few years ago and he came so frequently that she became his mentor. She bought Telvin on the trip to experience Africa and to experience sharing.
He got his first opportunity to do that when we arrived at The Star of Hope Independent School. The private school was another impromptu stop on our way to the Ndebele village. Under Juanita’s watchful eye Telvin handed out coloring books, crayons and other supplies to a classroom full of students. Following Juanita’s instructions, he told each one of the students that he loved them and they thanked him for his gift and returned the greeting.
Ndebele Community
After the two random stops we finally make it to the Ndebele community and the home of acclaimed artist Esther Nikwambi Mahlangu. Ms. Mahlangu is internationally known for her freestyle painting and preservation of the Ndebele cultural tradition through her art. In her earlier years she was commissioned by BMW to paint one of their motorcars for their Art Car Collection and has painted the home of the Ndebele royal family.
When we walk into her compound we are surrounded by traditional images—from the full Ndebele tribal attire that Ms. Mahlangu is dressed in to the colorful patterns painted on the buildings in her yard. But the first sounds we hear are contemporary. It is the music of Beyonce emanating from a nearby radio (“you must not know ‘bout me . . .”).
But Beyonce’s music did not dominate the visit. This was Ms. Mahlangu’s show. For the next hour she regaled us with stories about the artwork that she creates as well as the art that she wears. We left with our heads full of information and bags full of souvenirs.
About an hour into the trip we in a rural area called Moloto. Juanita is getting excited.
“I’m feeling some love out here in the countryside,” she says. She’s feeling a random act coming on begins to huddle with her crew to determine the best plan of action.
She looks out the window of the bus and sees four women walking along the road. It was hot so their movements were slow. She asks our advice about what she should do. Her first thought was to send Danielle out to greet the women and give them a gift. Since it’s Juanita’s party we felt that she should make the first move.
She wonders aloud whether to give each of the women one of the fancy toiletry packets that we received during our flight. She has more than 50 of them, given to us by the South African Airways flight crew when they heard about her project.
“Blow the horn at them and see if you can get their attention,” Juanita tells Cromwell who promptly complies. He blows the horn and beckons them to stop. When he pulls over Juanita bounds from the bus and the rest of us jump out behind her eager to play our respective roles in helping her commit her first random act.
Juanita approaches the woman who is wearing a blue house coat and white cotton hat. Her name is Annah. When Juanita greets Annah her American accent disappears. It is replaced with a melodic tone that is slightly higher pitched and sounds similar to a patois. She speaks in abbreviated sentences. Robin and Danielle who are Juanita’s longtime assistants, have heard her ‘foreign accent’ on other occasions and are amused by it.
“Hi. What you doing? ” Juanita says to Annah. “What is your name? I have something for you. Come here. I want to tell you something. That I love you.”
After Juanita finishes greeting Annah she gives her a handful of South African currency that is worth $50. She does the same with the others.
The women are visibly moved but it is Juanita who is crying.
Annah is puzzled. “You are crying,” she says to Juanita, not understanding her tears. Juanita was having an emotional reaction to their expressions of gratitude when she gave them the money.
“I am crying because you are happy,” said Juanita, who is back to speaking like an American. “This is called a random act of love just for you.”
“We love you too,” Annah tells her. “Wonderful God has blessed us. God sees that we are poor women.”
Star of Hope
Telvin Walker is the ‘youth component’ of Random Acts.
At 12 years old, he is the youngest member of Juanita’s traveling entourage. Telvin lives in Woodland Terrace a housing project not far from Juanita’s art gallery in Anacostia. Juanita invited Telvin to come and visit her gallery a few years ago and he came so frequently that she became his mentor. She bought Telvin on the trip to experience Africa and to experience sharing.
He got his first opportunity to do that when we arrived at The Star of Hope Independent School. The private school was another impromptu stop on our way to the Ndebele village. Under Juanita’s watchful eye Telvin handed out coloring books, crayons and other supplies to a classroom full of students. Following Juanita’s instructions, he told each one of the students that he loved them and they thanked him for his gift and returned the greeting.
Ndebele Community
After the two random stops we finally make it to the Ndebele community and the home of acclaimed artist Esther Nikwambi Mahlangu. Ms. Mahlangu is internationally known for her freestyle painting and preservation of the Ndebele cultural tradition through her art. In her earlier years she was commissioned by BMW to paint one of their motorcars for their Art Car Collection and has painted the home of the Ndebele royal family.
When we walk into her compound we are surrounded by traditional images—from the full Ndebele tribal attire that Ms. Mahlangu is dressed in to the colorful patterns painted on the buildings in her yard. But the first sounds we hear are contemporary. It is the music of Beyonce emanating from a nearby radio (“you must not know ‘bout me . . .”).
But Beyonce’s music did not dominate the visit. This was Ms. Mahlangu’s show. For the next hour she regaled us with stories about the artwork that she creates as well as the art that she wears. We left with our heads full of information and bags full of souvenirs.
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