there are many websites that we use to decide on the names to take for whatever we want to name. Some of us even go as far as google the names online when we are pregnant. This is how the naming process is, a name is permanent you don’t want to have a name that you will regret having tomorrow. Hell, most black people have names that they wish they could change now, names like Piet, etc (can’t think of other names, but you know what i mean).
So this is not about such names, this is about my company name and why i chose to use this name. Why Connecting The Dots? Because it means something. Because the dots got connected and when i was starting this company i felt i was there and wherever i was, they had connected. I could trace back to those moments when i met people in my life only for them to change my life completely, those moments that were never meant to be. That day when i went to the bar even though i did not drink THEN(now i drink).
i remember one particular incident when i travelled to Pretoria to meet up with Prof Jansen to talk about how we could assist the University to deal with the issues they were confronted with then and now. It must have been 20o9 or so. I had called his office to ask for an appointment and they called me the day before i was meant to meet him in Pretoria even though he was the Rector of the University of the Free State and i was also in Bloemfontein. So when they called i said yeah, i will meet with him, in Pretoria at a restaurant in Brooklyn. Myself and Andre were to meet him there to present our case which had been presented before to some people there before he came on board, which was during the times they were trying to deal with the Reitz issue.
Anyway, got the call, made a flight booking with all i had and made the trip. The plan was that i would get a lift with one of the guys that would be there to pick up somebody else. So as i went down the escalators at OR Tambo international, there they were lined up with boards with names on them, some typed so hand written. I was spoilt for choice, it was like a buffet of possible lifts to my meeting which was about to change my life (so i thought). All i had to do was go to one of them and ask for a lift. Guess what i did the obvious and chose the guy with the african name, i think a zulu name. Went to him and he agreed. We both waited for his passenger and he came, a serious looking man.We walked to the car, i made small talk with my new friend and we left the airport.
Just to share a bit about what was going on then in the country, we were under construction, getting ready for the world cup. It was literally very hard to get around.
back to the lift, i sat in front with the driver and continued to make small talk, we were on the R21 moving towards Pretoria, when suddenly the guy in the back broke his silence and spoke to me and asked who am i? and what do we take him for? I could not respond and then he went on to make a phone call before i could respond. The next thing he was speaking to the owner of the taxi, i think on the other side the owner asked to speak to the driver. while he was speaking to the owner the passenger was again on me, swearing at me for thinking that he is a fool. i just kept quiet.
on the R21, the driver was instructed to stop immediately and tell me to get out of the car. I got out and hiked.
I got to the meeting on time……….Prof Jansen seemed to have had it all covered(sort of).
the fact that we are black does not make some things automatic.
So it is when one thinks of such incidences that it becomes clear that you can only connect the dots to the back like Steve Jobs said.
By the way, i am still connecting hey, i thought i was done.
http://www.connectingthedots.co.za
Given SHINGANGE 