honey, sugar & beer

The little Tanquana's are flowering now. Sweetest of honey smells - best enjoyed on hands & knees with the tip of one's nose covered in pale golden pollen. An autumn ritual, in remembrance of the dear friend who created this part of Kyloe. His life was in crisis, his world crashing around his ears - and he did this unbelievable thing. In a blustery, unmerciful, sad wind he came and quietly made us this karoo garden - full of life & hidden treasures. Like the Tanquana's now reminding me of just how much people can bear, and the grace with which they can do it.

Some years ago we were filming in the Eastern Cape - a documentary about people living & coping with diabetes. One day we were working with medics & patients in an East London hospital, and arranged to film with one of the patients in her home in Duncan Village. She'll go with us and show us the way. All very sociable for the first few minutes in the combi - until it became clear that the lady was giving completely random directions. We were criss-crossing all over, in&out of the city - and let me add that the cameraman had turned up that morning with a hangover, and an attitude of thunder & vitriol. And he's driving.

It was complete farce, especially when the penny finally dropped. Our lady was an advanced diabetic, and years of neglect had brought the inevitable consequence. She was virtually blind. She was trying to direct us from memory.

When we eventually got to her home, I was staggered & humbled. The interior of the little house shone with jewel colours. Everywhere. The palette of an extraordinarily happy & cheerful artist. And in the corner, the most massive chest fridge I'd ever seen. Our lady, realizing that her "Sugar" was robbing her of her sight, her mobility & her ability to continue to work, had found a way: she would supply the local shebeen. Now she had an income, and even more importantly - secured by a giant padlock, and at the perfect temperature - a place to store the key to her survival. Among the hundreds of beer bottles, her precious supply of insulin.