SASSA

 It all started on the 2nd of last month when my pension didn't arrive in my account. I phoned some friends and all theirs were in, so I contacted the lawyer who had helped me with the initial application and she said it means they have put me under review - What? No email or SMS notification? Just don't pay my pension? - So she kindly helped me do the Life Verification and said I would have to go into the offices otherwise they would stop paying my pension altogether and not just pay it a week late.

The thought of doing this filled me with dread. I remember the SASSA offices from when my children were small - it was absolute chaos.

A very good friend of mine - we'll call her M - took all the papers I needed copied and certified and brought them back all ready to go to SASSA. I filled everything in and set the day to go to the offices for today - I cancelled all my morning committments, thinking surely I would be back home for my 4pm class and beyond - but no! I had to cancel my 4pm and 5.15pm classes. I was the absolute last person they saw for the day!

M had been praying for me and my SASSA visit since last night and I also have been praying. I was very careful to organise everything right down to the last detail so that I would not have a disaster on my hands at any time during the day.

I decided to fast until my mission was complete and I was safely home. I told the LORD I would break my fast with a complete meal, containing red grapejuice & bread as well as the meat and veg of the actual meal so that I could say the complete Birkat HaMazon to say Thank You to Him for helping me with the day - which I did.

Back to SASSA. While I was waiting outside, there was a cute little boy who kept us entertained with his cute little antics. I was in the building quite quickly and was hopeful that I would be in and out quickly. The staff were friendly and caring and they all seemed to be busy all the time. The new building and the new system were all very impressive and I sat there thanking HaShem.

As I sat there wondering if they would ever call my number, I thought of what Rabbi Alon Anava always says: That if he ever finds himself stuck somewhere, He reads Tehilim or prays - and I thought "I should probably do something like that". I had brought by Rabbi Nachman book on prayer but I was too uptight to change to my reading glasses and read it - what if they called my number while I was relaxing with a book?

So I sat there and prayed for everyone who worked there, all the people who had come to the offices for their various reasons, for the department itself, for an eradication of fraud and corruption (if there was any) and as my eye fell on individuals, for them as well. I thought: "Isn't there more that I can do?" But truly, I was so tense, just waiting for them to call me, that I couldn't focus on anything - it was even difficult to focus on prayer - they were all short.

There were two little boys who had made friends while their moms attended to business and they made me smile with the games they played with each other. "Would that we could all remain so innocent and guileless," I said to the LORD.

The morning had passed by the time they called me for the first time. The lady who helped me seemed to have cerebral palsy in her one arm, but she was adept at her job. She asked me for all the papers she needed - and thanks to M, I had more than I needed!

Then she looked through my bank statements with seemingly great care. Every now and then she would trace a transaction with her finger and make funny little sounds. I fought the urge to ask her if anything was wrong and told myself if she had a question she would ask - something I learned from another friend who I'll call S - never volunteer information, only answer questions with as short an answer as you can get away with!

Turns out everything was fine, and she stamped and stapled my forms and told me to go down to the bottom section of the office. I sat there until 3.30pm - they close at 4.30pm - and was then sent down to Counter 3. I sat there for a long time, trying not to panic at the thought of being sent home and told to come again tomorrow. I tried to remember that God is sovereign and there is none but Him. and that my times - and everything else - are in His hand.

While I had been sitting there in the bottom section, 2 or 3 cute little old ladies would glide past me, smile and take up a seat at one of the free assistants behind the desk. Eventually I got wise to this and when one of them got up, I hastily approached the assistant who was free and was bluntly told "I didn't call anyone". Shortly after that I was sent to Counter 3. By now my nerves were a little shot.

Next thing, here come 2 of those cute little ladies, seating themselves beside me and smiling. I asked them which counter they were going to and they said "3". I said "I'm first." They smiled and nodded. But be sure if I had not told them that - and jumped up hastily when the person behind counter 3 became available - they would have made every effort to beat me to it! And I would have ended up coming back tomorrow!

It isn't my way to push myself forward or in front of people, but today, if I had not done so, I would still be sitting there! As it happened, the assistant handed me my proof of review at 4.20pm!

While I was waiting for him to finalise the paperwork I thought to quckly put my reading glasses on and open the Bolt app - for which I had made sure I had data on my phone - and as I walked to the entrance - which they were already closing - the app would not pick up the data! I had visions of being stranded on the street without a way home, all alone. So I phoned M, explained the situation to her (my airtime was very low and my battery was almost flat!) and asked her to please book me a Bolt and I would pay her back. She sent me a msg saying: "Ek kom jou haal". 

In the meantime, I moved onto the pavement, out of the building - where there were so many WiFis - and suddenly my phone connected to the data. I booked the Bolt ASAP - but then it told me there were insufficient funds in my account - But I had made sure before I left home that there WAS enough! - so I had no choice but to opt for cash. As soon as the Bolt was on its way, I phoned M back to tell her I managed to get the Bolt and that she shouldn't worry - turns out she was already in her car about to turn the key!

I prayed fervently for the car to come before they closed the office doors and I was left abandoned on the pavement. I checked the registration of each car coming around the corner but there was no KRK. Until suddenly a little car shot across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic to screech to a halt in front of me - my driver had arrived! 

He was a very nice young man and when I explained that I would have to draw some cash at Spar before I could pay him, he was very understanding and said it was "no problem ma'am".

He pulled the same kind of crazy stunt when he reversed out the parking at Spar and did a big U-turn in the middle of the narrow street with hometime traffic everywhere and when someone gave him either a dirty look or a dirty word, he just said "What, uncle?" and carried on driving as if nothing unusual had happened. I gave him a R20 tip and a chocolate to say thank you for being so kind to me when I was in such a frazzled state.

When I walked in my door at home, I thought: "I need to sit down for a bit and think about what HaShem wants me to learn from these experiences today."

Nevertheless, I was so glad, happy, overjoyed and relieved when I came home in one piece and with my Review Paper safely tucked in my handbag. Thank You HaShem.