Not sure if this should go in the intro thread since it's kind of a re-intro. I've been lurking a bit yesterday until my internet crashed, see many familiar faces kicking about. Anyway, for the sake of those wondering why I went dark, I'll drop the TL;DR version (yes, this is the short version, should've seen my first draft), and if anyone wants to ask more about my sojourn in the wilds, feel free.
My life took a second turn for the worst, this one unrecoverable. I take some responsibility due to lack of financial backups and how I tend to burn bridges faster than building them. So when I ended up income-less, nobody was there to catch me. I was forced to sell up most of my stuff and place my "life" into two tote boxes which one of my few friends agreed to store. Then I moved into an "informal settlement" commune. "Informal settlement" is the official term for "squatter camp", or in the US, "shanty town" in the middle of nowhere. This one was started by a crazy woman and her fiance. They invited people to come basically to take advantage of SA legislation that makes it neigh-on impossible to evict large squatter communities from non-private land. Oh, and to make money out of them - although it's still the best option if you're desperate since 1400 ZAR (~80 USD) gets you a roof-ish and 3 square-ish.
So the gist is: It's out in the middle of nowhere; bush all around an a couple of small holdings. 2km from highway, 15km from town. It's run by the couple an a handful of muscle-heads. There's a small monthly fee towards rent, food, and transport. Now rent is well, not legal, but still, they'll give you a shack (unclad wendyhouse with corrugated roof, holes in it, the works to be classed as a shack). Food is, well, mealie porridge every morning. For lunch, two liver spread sandwiches. For supper, mostly a spoonful potato and carrot stew with an occasional chicken fiber on a mountain of overcooked rice or overcooked globs of macaroni stirred up with some soy & soup "sauce". But you ate it - gratefully - coz you had no choice. Transport: once per week with supply runs and be ready to leave at 05:30-06:00. No electricity or sewerage. There's a borehole run on a solar config for the pump. There's just enough juice that residents may book a 1-hour phone charging slot now and then. I brought a portable solar charger with, but it was stolen. The water is unfiltered and not drinkable, it's for washing. You need a 25L jerrican to refill at various municipal draw point within the area (they take your can once per week on water runs). I took mine with on my town run to fill at the shops. 2 Portable toilets for 130+ folk, so it takes more bravery to use than I had, so I stuck to the bushes and risked the snakes. Shower: once per week and the cubicle was an outside hut or corrugated iron and also shared with 130+ folk (water heated over open fire in boiler). So, I decided to stick to using a bucket. All cooking done on open fire -- a massive one located in the "community hall" (rafters and corrugated iron). Rules were there, but didn't apply to the higher ups (for thee, not me). You could be ejected along with your stuff immediately without notice. If you got into an argument with someone who outranked you and you refused to back down, you got a fist in your face, and if you fought back in self-defence, you got threatened with eviction and a beatdown from the rest of the muscle - and these weren't empty threats, people ended up being ejected and beaten senseless. Two choices: take the beating, or learn to zip your lip, no matter how unfair things are.
Anyway, it wasn't all bad. I did odd jobs for folk around the commune and between that and a 500ZAR (~30 USD) stipend from some family overseas, I worked my way up to my own 5KG gas & cooker top, an 80w solar panel & 7ah 12v battery & charge controller & wires and bolted it down to my roof (else it'd be stolen). So I had power for full-time phone use (my signal was crap though). I did miss my PC, but it'd have been nicked or the dust and moisture would've killed it. That all said, having no real internet, no responsibilities other than chores, total freedom, lots of time for yourself, and being away from the urban/suburban buzz was nice. Honestly, I'd choose to buy a small holding and live off grid again (sans the commune and with a proper structure and, obviously, my tech).
I eventually got out, a whole other saga, managed to get a job repping (October marks my 1-year anniversary of going live), the job's also another saga, and have clawed my way back to my own place, and having a PC again. I'm learning Python (second try, still because of time permitting) in the hopes of a better job. I would've come back sooner, but, TBH, I wanted to only return as the regular contributor I once was, not very on/off. See I get like a some total of ~13 hours a week to myself (I work above my paygrade, and have to do lots after work and on weekends -- and I'm tryna study). Anyway, I'm here now coz I have another issue that I cannot solve alone: https://www.linux.org/threads/suspend-wake-issue.53099/
My life took a second turn for the worst, this one unrecoverable. I take some responsibility due to lack of financial backups and how I tend to burn bridges faster than building them. So when I ended up income-less, nobody was there to catch me. I was forced to sell up most of my stuff and place my "life" into two tote boxes which one of my few friends agreed to store. Then I moved into an "informal settlement" commune. "Informal settlement" is the official term for "squatter camp", or in the US, "shanty town" in the middle of nowhere. This one was started by a crazy woman and her fiance. They invited people to come basically to take advantage of SA legislation that makes it neigh-on impossible to evict large squatter communities from non-private land. Oh, and to make money out of them - although it's still the best option if you're desperate since 1400 ZAR (~80 USD) gets you a roof-ish and 3 square-ish.
So the gist is: It's out in the middle of nowhere; bush all around an a couple of small holdings. 2km from highway, 15km from town. It's run by the couple an a handful of muscle-heads. There's a small monthly fee towards rent, food, and transport. Now rent is well, not legal, but still, they'll give you a shack (unclad wendyhouse with corrugated roof, holes in it, the works to be classed as a shack). Food is, well, mealie porridge every morning. For lunch, two liver spread sandwiches. For supper, mostly a spoonful potato and carrot stew with an occasional chicken fiber on a mountain of overcooked rice or overcooked globs of macaroni stirred up with some soy & soup "sauce". But you ate it - gratefully - coz you had no choice. Transport: once per week with supply runs and be ready to leave at 05:30-06:00. No electricity or sewerage. There's a borehole run on a solar config for the pump. There's just enough juice that residents may book a 1-hour phone charging slot now and then. I brought a portable solar charger with, but it was stolen. The water is unfiltered and not drinkable, it's for washing. You need a 25L jerrican to refill at various municipal draw point within the area (they take your can once per week on water runs). I took mine with on my town run to fill at the shops. 2 Portable toilets for 130+ folk, so it takes more bravery to use than I had, so I stuck to the bushes and risked the snakes. Shower: once per week and the cubicle was an outside hut or corrugated iron and also shared with 130+ folk (water heated over open fire in boiler). So, I decided to stick to using a bucket. All cooking done on open fire -- a massive one located in the "community hall" (rafters and corrugated iron). Rules were there, but didn't apply to the higher ups (for thee, not me). You could be ejected along with your stuff immediately without notice. If you got into an argument with someone who outranked you and you refused to back down, you got a fist in your face, and if you fought back in self-defence, you got threatened with eviction and a beatdown from the rest of the muscle - and these weren't empty threats, people ended up being ejected and beaten senseless. Two choices: take the beating, or learn to zip your lip, no matter how unfair things are.
Anyway, it wasn't all bad. I did odd jobs for folk around the commune and between that and a 500ZAR (~30 USD) stipend from some family overseas, I worked my way up to my own 5KG gas & cooker top, an 80w solar panel & 7ah 12v battery & charge controller & wires and bolted it down to my roof (else it'd be stolen). So I had power for full-time phone use (my signal was crap though). I did miss my PC, but it'd have been nicked or the dust and moisture would've killed it. That all said, having no real internet, no responsibilities other than chores, total freedom, lots of time for yourself, and being away from the urban/suburban buzz was nice. Honestly, I'd choose to buy a small holding and live off grid again (sans the commune and with a proper structure and, obviously, my tech).
I eventually got out, a whole other saga, managed to get a job repping (October marks my 1-year anniversary of going live), the job's also another saga, and have clawed my way back to my own place, and having a PC again. I'm learning Python (second try, still because of time permitting) in the hopes of a better job. I would've come back sooner, but, TBH, I wanted to only return as the regular contributor I once was, not very on/off. See I get like a some total of ~13 hours a week to myself (I work above my paygrade, and have to do lots after work and on weekends -- and I'm tryna study). Anyway, I'm here now coz I have another issue that I cannot solve alone: https://www.linux.org/threads/suspend-wake-issue.53099/
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