I traveled with a friend one day to visit a woman healer in a village at the edge of the Kalahari. She received us eagerly as we chattered about her late father, a prominent bishop whose mantle she had taken up. She set out some hand-crafted folding chairs slung with strips of cowhide of a kind frequently seen at the village court. Then she began to pour cups of a local herbal tea, rooibos, with goat’s milk and generously sweetened.
As we sipped the tea, the healer apologized for the scant furnishings in her home: bare walls, a small kitchen cupboard, a single candle in the windowsill, a wash basin and small stove. She herself sat cross-legged on the floor. My friend reproached her for her embarrassment with a homely story: on a drowsy afternoon in the shanty town where he lived, a snake was seen slithering into his living room. Jolted to full wakefulness, the household set about feverishly to evict this unwelcome guest. But first they confronted a wearisome task – to drag from the cluttered room every bit of overstuffed furniture where the snake might be hiding. He could never again take pleasure in an over-furnished house, my friend concluded.
Better – far safer – to live in uncluttered surroundings.
Love it, great story, Jonathan! Life is in what’s essential.
Like the old southern figure for whatever is problematic, complicated: ”S like a snake in a wood pile.’
i especially love your stories from Botswana, Jonathan–thank you! That snake is a useful reminder to live simply!
Yes, somewhere in there is the ‘original’ sin, right? More …
I love this! So true! The pandemic has taught me many things. I don’t need to shop so much. I need to clear out & give to those in need♥️
Very well put! Thank you, Caroline
Anecdotal corollary to Parkinson’s Law: The amount of “stuff” expands to fill the available space.
Mike – do I sense an imminent move to a ‘tiny house’?
Hahaaa. Tanki Rra. As a Motswana from Ramotswa I’m humbled by the simple life style, the warmth and the love this family has. Thank you for having introduced me to the Bolokwe family. I love your strories.
Nthati
For his faith, the bishop once told me, the village authorities placed him under prolonged house arrest. Rich in spirit, even if poor in things.
Thanks for the story and timely reminder of the value of simplicity. It brings two memories to mind. One of the things I hold dear about Botswana is sipping smoky tasting tea by the fire. The other, not so dear, is my encounter with a young mamba in my living room in the Congo .I survived, the snake did not.
Good point. Probably very applicable to many other things that clutter our lives, especially our homes.
When I first moved in to the house that would become my adoptive second home in Nepal, it was one room with an adjoining kitchen (too narrow to extend both American arms side to side) and an attic (just tall enough to stand up in). A few years later, a new “big” room was built with a few beds and a dresser in it. One day Aamaa and I were cleaning for the Festival of Dashain. She looked around the big room with all its piles of surwals and discarded doctors notes and grain sifting pans and suddenly exlaimed: “NO MATTER HOW BIG THIS HOUSE GETS, IT FILLS UP WITH CRAP AND GETS TOO SMALL!!”
It still tickles me as one of the most universal, re-locatable moments in 18 years of rural-Nepal-ing. 🙂
I love this story. We are currently getting rid of items in our home. I don’t like clutter and this story has encouraged me more. I’m also thinking how we allow spiritual clutter, things can sneak in and hide. We have Jesus to wash us clean.
♥️The Glover Family
Bless you, LaDell! No matter where you go – there is a hunger for cleansing. A hunger we’d do well to attend to.