service...with a soapy basin

Nthombekhaya, one of the mothers of the students in children's classes, had suggested she wash our car a few weeks ago. It's something we rarely get around to doing, and it was a mess. She must have wanted to wash it for months! When she proposed the idea, she explained that she does a very good job washing cars, and that all she wanted was a 2 litre bottle of Sprite. A 2 litre bottle of Sprite costs R14.95 which is about $2.00. We knew it was worth more to us, so we had planned that in addition to the bottle of Sprite, we would also offer some cash if she accepted.

We parked outside of Siboleke's home where we meet to hold children's classes every Saturday morning (the photo shows the front tip of our white Golf polo). The big blue basin was full of soapy water and cloths as the children helped Nthombekhaya prepare to wash our car. It was the coolest production line I've ever seen! Some were soaping up the car; others were using newspaper to clean our filthy hubcaps; 2 were inside the car brushing out the sand and crumbs; while others were scrubbing our floor mats and hanging them on the line to dry. Then many dry cloths were used to dry and polish the car in every possible spot they could reach. It brought me so much joy to see how eager the children were to help wash our car -- they were doing it purely for joy and excitement, not for any material compensation. :)