Villeria, Pretoria

In February 1952 we arrived as immigrants in the Union of South Africa and settled in Villeria on the outskirts of Pretoria. Ours was the third-last house in Pretoria and next to it was open veld; the road paving stopped a block before our house. Shortly after our arrival my siblings entered the school system and my parents returned to work. At the age of four, I was too young for either of these scenarios, so I was placed in the care of a nanny.

My nannie belonged to Matabele tribe, whose village was just outside Villeria, and their tribal territory stretched northward as far as Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. It didn't take long for me to figure out that the nannie did not speak Dutch, nor I Matabele. I was totally intrigued by her looks, her decorations and all I could do was stare, to which she responded with a smile.

The women of her village decorate their huts with homemade paints in bold geometric patterns and in primary colours. These designs and colours are carried through into their beadwork. With their tiny beads, they create bracelets, necklaces, hairbands, earrings and bracelets on top of bracelets. The brass rings around their legs were permanent as were the bead covered straw bands.

Neither my mother nor my sisters had pierced earlobes and I was captivated by the beauty of my nannie's earrings. I asked her if she could pierce my earlobes as well, to which she agreed. She hauled out some grass and formed temporary earrings, then she grabbed a cork and the huge safety pin from the closure to her coat. The cork was placed behind my lobe and she start pushing on the blunt safety pin. I screamed, she stopped and my ear piercing session came to an end.

It took another thirty-five years before I found enough courage to walk into the ear piercing shop in North Vancouver's Lynn Valley Mall. The sterile process was quick and painless. I left with a pair of shinny gold loops and the start of my earring collection.