Her dainty handbag transformed into an African mother’s handbag: a repository of unexpected need. Over the years, that leather sack accumulated tissues, nappies, dental floss, condoms, panties, a bra, a clip-on tie, tampons, sugar packets, ketchup packets, lozenges, mints, sweets, toothpicks, an interesting toy, an interesting book, bottles of perfume and of rubbing alcohol, plasters, scissors, and a sachet of sharp and tiny tools – paperclips, safety pins, tacks and staples. As a stewardess, anticipating needs was how Thandi had served people. Now it became how she loved them. Her
