Story 4 - Instant Noodles
I remember the first time I ate instant noodles as a child, I literally convulsed thinking about eating it and the flavour wanted to make me throw up every time. A very visual memory for sure, and definitely worth sharing, I promise. I tried hiding the cardboard taste by covering the instant noodles with blobs of tomato sauce, and I can honestly say that it didn’t help much.?
What I did not realise then, was that a few years later instant noodles would be the only thing we could afford to eat, and tomato sauce wouldn’t be able to cover the bitter taste of life. 18 months before my dad passed away he was retrenched, and for many months he struggled to find employment. He however never told us how bad things were, and that he was no longer able to pay for things such as medical aid, the bond on our house, not even his life cover. It was perhaps his attempt to hide the horrible taste of life, with a few drops of denial. Perhaps he also did not want to say something because he did not want us to lose the image we had of him, as being the provider for the family.?
After losing his job, what was left for him to do but to still try and provide for us. As a Caucasian male in his early fifties, my dad put his pride in his pocket and asked for food parcels from our local church. Every week after church, he would come back home with a food parcel. The parcel would contain many basic essentials and perhaps one of the least expensive of these, instant noodles. This time there was no money for tomato sauce, and so I became accustomed to the taste of instant noodles. Perhaps it was due to me maturing as a teenager I hoped, or simply because I was thankful of having something to eat.?
Things got slightly better financially and my dad was able to earn a steady income as a food delivery driver. I can only imagine how humbling it was for him, however for his family he would provide. A few weeks before he passed away, an old army friend reached out to him and offered him a sales position with a basic salary, which my dad gladly accepted. Surely things would get better now for us as a family, and especially for my dad? Sadly it would not.
The months of excessive stress and lack of healthy eating would take its toll on my dad’s body, and eventually his life too. No amount of tomato sauce could cover the pain we felt as a family due to his passing. The months afterwards weren’t easy either. Micheal my brother was earning a small salary that could not sustain us, my sister Rozanne was still in school, my mom had not formally worked for years, and I was still in my second year of university on a scholarship programme. Our church would still send us food parcels, and yes, there would always be a few packets of instant noodles packed away in the corner.?
21 years later, I have finally become used to its taste and often whip myself up a packet or two when feeling peckish. Often sitting on the couch, wishing that my dad was around, instead of the bowl of instant noodles I held in my hands.