I, like most people, wanted the best for my family. I worked extremely hard for the ones I held most precious in my life. I grew up with the notion, which I inherited from my father, that a man is the provider for all his family's needs. We were never rich, but we also didn't lack anything. It was all about hard work, giving it your all. Day in, day out. Making ends meet.
So, you must understand how we felt (after losing everything) when the bank demanded that we hand our car over, when we had only eighteen months until it was fully paid. We explained our situation to them and the blow we suffered as a result of Covid-19, and promised to make a plan to pay. Yes, we were behind in payments, but the car was our means of earning an income. We used to pride ourselves on our good credit record and how easily we could acquire a lone, if necessary. Now, we were blacklisted for something which was out of our control.
Long story short, we drove right into a trap while Tanja was doing a job on a farm in Stellenbosch. Will you believe, the sheriff of the court had been monitoring our route through various traffic cameras and waited for us. I was sitting in the car when I heard Tanja speaking to someone. I could hear by the tone in her voice that she was panicking. I put my prosthetic legs on and got out of the car to see what the problem was. By this time Tanja was crying and pleading with this unsympathetic man and I was ready to beat the living crap out of him. But there was no way out, and they took the car.
How on earth would we survive now? The job Tanja was doing was only two days a week, a meagre income, but better than nothing. She was devastated. What now? She approached her brother-in-law and asked if he would be willing to finance a second hand bakkie (truck) for us. He willingly agreed, but we still panicked. With her income we were barely feeding ourselves, not to speak of paying a vehicle loan. Two amazing friends heard of our predicament and said they would sponsor us until we could afford to pay it out of our income.
Now, all we had to do was find a vehicle. We found something suitable, but had to drive all the way to St. Helena Bay which was a three hour drive from us. The seller promised that the vehicle was in tiptop shape and provided proof of its service history. Taking him at his word, we drove through with a friend to pick it up. At first glance, all looked as promised and we took the vehicle. However, within a very short period, we realized that the seller had covered up a cracked cylinder head problem. Well, we had no money to repair it and in my cripple condition, I was unable to repair it myself. The quotation we received was for almost R26 000-00.
We decided to resell the vehicle as is. Cover up the problem like the previous guy and say nothing. After all, it wasn't our fault. We quickly found a buyer who immediately paid a holding deposit into our bank account. That night, neither Tanja nor myself slept a wink. So the next morning, we called the buyer, explained the problem and that we would return his money immediately. He called us back within a few minutes and said that he appreciated our honesty and still wanted to buy the vehicle, but that we should have the repairs done. With the deposit he had paid us, we repaired the vehicle. We took a huge knock and had to settle for a much older and cheaper car, but our consciences were clear.
Life is filled with hard knocks and a lot of slap-in-the-face moments, but you can't repay evil with evil. We chose the better option, the honest one, and we can walk down the street without shame knowing that we made the right choice.
PS: There are rewards when you do the right thing. It doesn't always happen immediately, but it happens. It's been just over a year since we got the car. In December my brother and sister-in-law came to visit on my birthday. Just before they left, Nik handed the car's registration papers to me and said: "Paid in full. Happy birthday!" What???? Our gratitude knows no bounds!
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