3D REFLECTIONS OF LIFE

If you see a well-dressed, cropped-haired woman walking from Retreat railway station, bending and pausing every few meters, don't despair. She is not doing a new form of exercise nor is she suffering from backache. This woman, Naomi, is busy collecting plastic bottles that people have discarded along the road. There is not a single plastic bottle that misses her eye. By the time Naomi arrives at her home, she usually has a bag load of plastic bottles that will be rinsed and flattened.   The Million Plastic Bottle Project   Naomi is raising funds for Operation Smile, the Not-for-Profit organisation. Operation Smile South Africa provides free surgery to children who suffer from facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate. One operation costs about R5,000, a hefty sum of money that many of the parents of such children cannot afford. Recycling One Million Plastic Bottles can pay for one surgical operation and that is where Naomi fits in.   Naomi's fundraising ...

Sometimes the strangest of triggers can occupy one's mind. Just the other day, I was driving behind a Nissan bakkie heavily laden with I think, a car carcass and a massive white plastic bag in its trunk. This strange contraption became my chief focus. I didn't see any 'abnormal load' sign nor any protective strapping to ensure the bakkie doesn't lose its load. Rather cheeky, I mused. The Nissan bakkie just before it turned off into Lavender Hill Obviously the driver of my obsession was oblivious of the intrigue he caused. We wound along the coastal road and the uneven road surface was somehow amplified during this journey. At every turn in the road, I kept my eye on my fellow road user, almost seeing the white bulging bag to fly off to continue its journey as flotsam in the Kalk Bay harbour. Coasting along Boyes Drive Oh well, I thought, I suppose the driver would continue his winding trip down the coastal road all the way to Muizenberg, and I would be re...