Posts in category: Lighthearted

South Africa By Candlelight

 

Africa, sometimes described as the "dark continent" was never darker than on the evening of 17 April 2012. More specifically at 7 PM at the Endless Horizons Hotel in Umhlanga.

The electricity went down about 3 PM that afternoon and as the minutes became hours the realisation began to dawn on me that there was a real possibility that as the hotel did not have a generator, I might not have electricity for the seminar that evening.

Notwithstanding the advice from the electricity company that it would only take a couple of hours for the fault to be remedied the electricity did not come on line and I had to present a seminar by candlelight. I have been to some remote places to present seminars [including Zimbabwe] but that was a first for me.

I found out subsequently that there was a fire in one of the transformers and a large swathe of northern suburbs Durban was without power.

The candlelight glow did add a nice ambience to the seminar. Little consolation for those seated in rows 2 onwards who had to view our dvd and PowerPoint presentation from my laptop. I think the audience’ sentiment could loosely be translated as “now you see what we have to put up with".

I don't need to travel abroad to do my job. I can effectively communicate with clients from within Australia by Skype and e-mail and I specifically travel to present seminars so that audience members can get an idea as to who I am. This irony wasn't lost on me as I had to shine a torch on my face so that the audience could see what I looked like.

I started every consultation in the days following the seminar by introducing myself as Myer Lipschitz, the guy who presented the seminar.

Thanks  to the HP Probook S Series laptop’s battery I managed to present the  DVD and PowerPoint presentation with about 60% of its battery life. Imagine what this kind of technology could do for South Africa?

For one person who attended the seminar and had a subsequent consultation with me the power cut presented some relief. At the consultation she confided to me that she attended the seminar with some trepidation and was fraught with anxiety as so many patriotic South Africans are who almost reluctantly attend these migration seminars.

She was praying for a sign that she was making the correct decision in considering immigration to Australia only to find that the seminar had to be held by candlelight. It was just fortunate that the sign was in the form of a power cut rather than hijacking!

I was touched by the spirit in which the audience embraced the concept of a seminar by candlelight and accepted the experience as part of life in Africa. This generosity of spirit is part of the reason why I enjoy my trips to South Africa.

I’m just about to return to Melbourne after a two week trip to South Africa and although I miss my wife on these trips if she does have any notions of a candlelit dinner on my return she can forget it!

As South Africans are fond of saying “tot later” (until later), more precisely 14 June when I will be back in South Africa for another round of seminars, this time with torch in hand.

Will the real Mr Lipschitz please stand up?

It's often the little things that make one feel at home in a new country. Yesterday I was at the local pharmacy waiting for a prescription to be filled when the pharmacist said "prescription for Mr. Lipschitz". I approached the pharmacist at the same time as another gentleman of a similar age. We looked at each other, smiled and then burst out laughing.

What are the chances of two people with the surname of Lipschitz being at a pharmacy at the same time? After spending most of my life in a small town in South Africa and then in New Zealand I had grown accustomed to the fact that I might very well be unique in terms of my surname. In my early years I had come to think of it as God's cruel joke and longed to meet someone called Bumface who would be lower on the surname pecking order than I.

When I moved from Vereeniging to Johannesburg to attend university I did come across a few more Lipschitz’s and one also got to hear of those that could not bear the heat such as Ralph Lauren who changed his surname from Lipschitz to Lauren. To be fair "an original Lipschitz creation" does not have the same sophistication as "an original Lauren creation".

Whilst on the subject don't bring up my father's cousin who incurred the ire of the Lipschitz clan by changing his surname from Lipschitz to Lipworth. I suspect every Lipman, Lipworth and Lipton is a turncoat. But please forgive me if I digress, I am carrying 49 years of baggage in this department.

The other Mr. Lipschitz must also have been carrying a fair bit of baggage judging by his reaction. It was a cathartic moment for both of us. I felt like putting my arms around him and shouting, "Landsman what happened to you?”

I don't imagine that this kind of experience is unique to only those with the surname of Lipschitz. Melbourne has such a rich diversity of cultures that I'm sure the same thing is happening to Mr.Dung from Vietnam , Mr Wang from China, Mr Dick Ramsbottom from England and Mr Haasbroek (rabbit pants) from South Africa . It is one of the things that I love about Melbourne and made me feel instantly at home.