Wearing a cape of good hope

Elizabeth du Toit is the owner of Consign Etc. in Costa Mesa. She

first came to the Newport-Mesa area in 1975 and decided to stay

permanently in 1982.

Du Toit is a native of Arniston, a small fishing village in South

Africa. She first made her way to America from her quaint village

when she was only 21. She’s an independent, down-to-earth woman who

enjoys life.

The 52-year-old businesswoman sat down with the Pilot’s Luis Pena

this week and talked about the past, present and the key to being

happy all the time.

Where did you grow up?

The southernmost tip of Africa, right where the Atlantic and the

Indian oceans meet. Arniston is also known for the little fisherman’s

cottages. People come and paint them from all over the world. It’s

also known for its caves. It has one of the largest caves in the

world. It was just a little fisherman’s village, and my mother had a

little hotel there, and I went to boarding school 14 miles away. It

was very quiet. There were only two families -- us having the hotel

and another family having a shop, like a convenience store-type shop.

And then of course there are a lot of holiday homes where people come

and vacation, but in the winter it’s not really that busy, but

weekends normally lots of people. The rest of the people that lived

there were the fishermen, and they lived in these tiny little stone

cottages.

What kind of childhood did you have?

Very happy, very different than most American kids. My grandma had

bought a little church in this little village, so all my family got

married in this little church. And I mean, at 12 years old, we surfed. I was the first girl surfer in South Africa. ... So it was a

very different childhood, very much different than the kids here. And

I mean we had no television, so that will tell you, and no

electricity. All electricity was generated by a generator [gas

powered]. And they wanted to keep it that way because it’s very

remote. That’s what the place was known for, because it was so

desolate in a way. And yet, all the wealthiest people had homes

there. I went to a private boarding school where there were about

only 12 children. And so your parents would drop you off on a Monday

and come and pick you up on a Friday. It was difficult. I mean, 6

years old and you go away from home. It was fun because the school

that I went to in that town only has about 5,000 people, so you know

everybody. Never bored, we had an agenda on Saturdays. You would go

to the movies. And it’s a typical small little village -- everybody

knows everybody’s business, obviously, and goes to church on Sundays.

How did you end up in Newport-Mesa?

1975 was the first time I came here and then permanently since

1982. I think it’s probably because it reminded me most of home. I

think I felt comfortable because the climate was kind of the same and

yet I could see snow, because I’d never seen snow until I was 21

years old.

What are your greatest accomplishments?

Wow, there’s a lot. I can start when I was 6 and 8, I saved two

people from drowning, I thought that was pretty good. We lived 35, 50

feet from the ocean. And I started swimming when I was 3 or 4 years

old. I always got a spanking for going in the deepest. A couple of

times, you know, kids were in trouble. One time it was a kid and

another time it was an adult. My mother taught me survival skills. We

got taught that very young because obviously we didn’t have any

baby-sitters. I come from a very athletic family, so we all excelled

in sports in some way or another ... My uncle was the secretary of

the prime minister in South Africa, so I’m one of the only few people

that have slept, like in your White House, I slept in the Parliament.

Underneath they had flats, apartments. Now those apartments are

offices. I even spent my 6th birthday there. And that is something to

be proud of because no one else has done it. See, the little town

that I grew up in is like a farmer’s community, and so mostly if kids

leave, they go to university or army because it’s mandatory for boys

to go to the army or military. Very few people leave, so for me, at

21 to leave, it made like the front-page news because they couldn’t

believe that a little girl here from the country is going to go to

America and take it on by herself. I didn’t see any amazement in

that, but I guess people thought it’s gutsy, because my friends here

tell me that if they think of the hardships that I went through, they

shouldn’t complain about their trivial little things, because if I

could have done it, they could have done it. I care about people. I

did the same thing in South Africa, but go Sundays to Mexico and give

toys to the kids that don’t have any toys. It’s actually little

things that are more meaningful to me.

If you could redo one moment or incident in your life, what would

it be?

Probably not, because my life has been good to me and I’ve had

lots of highlights in my life. I just think when you’re older, you’re

more wise, don’t you think? I mean when we’re young, we think we know

it all and when you get to my age, you think you knew it all. I don’t

want to go backward.

What profession other than yours would you like to have tried?

I would say an architect, to leave a legacy behind with beautiful

buildings. I have a love for old buildings’ architecture. I think

it’s great. The feeling you get when you go into these old cathedrals

and you see like Michelangelo, the paintings, and you think, wow, and

it’s been here for so long. I mean if it wasn’t there, we wouldn’t

even know who he was. He would be in the books. I just think that’s

one of the greatest achievements, if you can build things that are

there for life, like a monument or a statue, and yet it’s not to make

me famous. It’s kind of like a background worker, because what will

be famous will be the name of the building, not who designed the

thing.

What are some differences between a typical day in your life now

versus a day in your life 20 years ago?

Well, I think you have responsibility now. When you were younger,

you don’t. We all think that we can still achieve. When you’re young,

you have time to achieve, whereas you get to this age and it’s like,

‘OK am I going to live another 20 years to achieve something, or

should I just be happy with what I am.’ I think I was a lot more

carefree, because when you’re younger, you feel invincible.

What is the greatest lesson you’ve learned in your life?

Humility, honesty, communication, because they made me an

even-tempered person. I don’t have any highs or lows -- I’m always

the same. That takes a lot to learn, to be even-tempered and always

be happy. I’m very positive, never negative. To give you an example,

I’m alone but not lonely.

What do you treasure most?

Life, because you know how quickly it can be taken away. People

killing people, killing animals, people have no regard for a human

being. I’m not saying everybody, but you see it in the news every

day, so I think we should be grateful to be alive every day. That’s

why I think I live day to day, happy every day and grateful for what

I have.