When Esme Erasmus retired at the end of June, she looked back not only on 33 years of service to Rand Aid Association but also on three decades of an unforgettable friendship.
Esme and Ayanda Matthews, Rand Aid’s GM of Compliance and the Social React Division, both started at the non-profit organisation in 1991.
“Esme was at Bramley House and I was at Wedge Gardens. We were not aware of each other’s existence until Esme came to work at Wedge. We had a boss, Mrs Duke, who ruled by fear. She ‘tortured’ Esme, and I didn’t exist as far as she was concerned,” said Ayanda at Esme’s farewell party at Tarentaal Lodge on June 25.
“I noticed Esme because she looked at me; she acknowledged me and she listened,” said Ayanda.
This was not common at Rand Aid at the time, she added. “I noticed Esme because the acknowledgement wasn’t just for me – she was like that with everyone who crossed her path. I am sure I speak for everyone who has ever been made to feel like nothing and then crossed paths with Esme, only to feel human again.
“I remember a trip to SARS one day. Esme needed to go to Rissik Street and we were both terrible with directions, so it fell on my husband to take her. My poor husband never knew what hit him. Es was chatting up a storm as if they were old friends.
“When my marriage fell apart, she picked up the pieces with such ease that our fate was sealed. She organised a place for me in the staff quarters and we became neighbours. She fed my children when times were tough. I fought off spiders and bugs when they invaded her flat, jumping out of the shower when I heard her scream, to the horror of the neighbours, with me going commando and all.
“Her children became my children and mine hers. We held hands through Micheline’s car accident and recovery. I sat at parties with Pere (Es’s father), telling war stories about being at ‘the Bridge over the river Kwai’. We laughed at Mere’s (Es’s mom) antics, the French in her was always coming out.
“We used to joke and say we were twins separated at birth. The last year has been a tough one, with Es in and out of hospital. I remember a visit with my son Makana to see her in the hospital. After the visit, on our way to the car, my son said: ‘You guys caused such a racket; you would never say Esme was sick’.”
Esme served as the complex manager for Rand Aid’s Thornhill Manor Retirement Village from the mid-2000s until her retirement.
Best buddies through thick and thin: Ayanda Matthews and Esme Erasmus.
