Yesterday I met with the Ngunghunyani Dancers from Lulekani a village near Phalaborwa in South Africa.  I was asked to come as they needed some things very badly and didn’t know how to get them.

As we sat outside in the shade of Jeffrey’s house, we needed a translator to help us communicate. The group of Tsonga Boys have carried the legacy of Jeffrey’s father to great hights. Their traditional dance group is well known in the local area and are even invited to regional areas to participate in celebrations and to showcase the Traditional Tsonga Dance Style.

During our discussions someone said that it was sad how much time has been wasted and that they should have been much more successful by now as the group has been going for many years.

This is something I’m hearing quite a lot in the recent months. That you’ve wasted time and you could have been further if you’ve done this or that differently.

I respectfully disagree.

I’ve learnt this last year that you are exactly where you need to be right now. That what you’ve done in the past has brought you to where you are at this point in your life.

Trying to explain through a translator is an interesting thing, so you do it in a way that might make sense.

Sometimes, even when it rains, the soil is not ready.

That doesn’t mean that that the soil will never be ready, will never be fertile.  It means that at that moment, the soil might still need something to get ready. You might need to bring in compost or reseed. It might rain too much or not enough.

But when the time is right, the growth will come.

Our responsibility is to learn from what we’ve done, to prepare and to watch out for the right time.

So that when the rain comes, we are ready.

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