PARKING THE BUS

After two years of living in a mobile home, the Jooste family have swopped it for a conventional house - but it won't be forever

- LESEGO SEOKWANG

ADJUSTING to a home that doesn’t have a handbrake is going to be quite something for this family.

For the past two years, Liezel and Jacques Jooste have been living in a converted 32-seater bus with kids Colby (19) and Calisra (14) and miniature pinschers, Koda, Tehya and Blade.

Things were going well – so well, in fact, they were considering upgrading to a new mobile home. But then life and its speed bumps came along and put a spanner in the works.

“Jacques was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes so we had to start getting that under control and he’s had to go on insulin,” Liezel (43) tells YOU.

“And Colby was saying he wants a little bit more space. He’s finished high school and he’s at the point where he wants to start looking at getting his own place.”

Another factor was Liezel’s mom, Yvonne Botha. Liezel’s dad, Neville, passed away in June and they wanted a bricks-and-mortar house so Yvonne could stay with them when she wanted.

And so last month the Joostes bid farewell to their trusty home on wheels, handed the keys to a new owner and are now settling into a new four-bedroom house in Scottburgh near Durban.

But it’s likely to be temporary, Liezel says. “We were all happy with the space we had on the bus. We had everything we needed. I can’t say there was ever a time any of us said, ‘I wish we weren’t in here’.”

The kids are pleased to have more room – especially Colby, who has a lot of computer equipment – but they know it’s not a must-have.

The children learnt a lot of lessons living on the bus, their mom says, such as being creative when it comes to using what you have.