In December, Mr. Vos had submitted a request asking if we could help him clean his guinea pigs’ cage. He had a nasty fall and had badly bruised his arm and leg. After posting the request, we quickly received a response from one of our volunteers; he was happy to help him with this. When I called Mr. Vos to share the good news, he reacted enthusiastically: “You are the first ones to help me!”
I temporarily took over from the volunteer. On Saturday morning, February 14, I visited him. Upon entering, I was immediately offered a cup of tea.
During our conversation, he mentioned that he had contacted the municipality and other agencies several times and eventually ended up with us through the Red Cross. I asked him if he found it difficult to ask for help. He shook his head. It turns out that it’s not the asking, but actually receiving help that is more difficult.
When I first called him, he told me that we were the first ones who were actually going to help him. It’s wonderful that he is getting help, but at the same time, it’s frustrating that something so small takes so much time to arrange. Ideally, you would just knock on your neighbors’ door or call someone to ask if they can help. But what if that network isn’t there?
After three cups of rooibos tea and chatting about the past, the cage was clean. What was actually a job of fifteen minutes at most ended in a lovely two-hour conversation.
