It takes a village to build a community - so the saying could go once the said village has raised all their children. Here in South Africa we have a much loved expression: Local is Lekker. This loosely means to; "embrace wholeheartedly in order to enable local economic growth". The few times I have experienced true community has been in more rural areas where desperation combined with ingenuity to ensure survival.
Today we visited a delightful rural Mall. Community focused. Community supported. Community driven. Not far, as the crow flies. By exceptionally bad dirt road; half a day away. Van Wyk's Dorp Mall is like a time warp. Revolutionary recycling. Solar power. Rain tank fed. Supporting local. Green in every sense of the word. Homesteaders who have survived the long drought but not the last couple years of international chaos with added inflation, sell their fresh produce there. A widow without a pension sells her jam there. An optometrist (disillusioned with his cut throat profession) now grows heirloom seedlings.
The Mall is always a buzz. Like the constantly working hive. Locals meet. They barter. They exchange news. Farming concerns and advice. They speculate on the unpredictable weather as well as the skyrocketing price of fuel.
Poorer locals with large extended families, clear areas of invasive trees and then sell the wood. It is mutually beneficial as the farmers cannot afford labour and yet the workers feed their families off the wood sold.
The Mall is tiny, filling the space of a small house. The shelves are loaded with farming supplies, gardening equipment, books, paintings, kitchen appliances, schooling necessities as well as locally grown and produced food plus preloved clothing.
Although off the beaten track the locals come from all around to support each other. Tourists also mysteriously flow through, risking flat tyres and non existent internet for the experience. Local is Lekker!!
Jingle goes the door bell as the door slams shut for the umpteenth time. Cheerful banter as the newcomer is greeted by name and furious arm pumping. "How about coffee after you offload your crates of bread? We didn't get to chat at the security meeting yesterday. We may have a total crop failure with that plague of locusts last month."
The outdoor restaurant is only open 3 days of the week. The guy running the kitchen must be escaped from a Michelen restaurant. The coffee is sublime. The cake indescribable and the salads, locally grown, should grace a foodie magazine.
Children squeal on the grassy patch under a magnificent coral tree. A puppy yaps as it bounces around their feet. Indigenous succulents decorate all sorts of recycled old milk cans and wheelbarrows.
Jingle goes the door bell and again the door slams shut. I look at the face of a beaming stranger. The camaraderie and genuine concern of the locals for each other is contagious. Just the type of place that would be perfect to sip coffee and enjoy fresh cake with our very own #MarketFriday's community minded 