Nelson Mandela's home town of Qunu.
A deceptive quiet prevails over the town of Qunu, near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape as Nelson Mandela's prolonged hospital stay stokes fears that he may not recover.
Mandela was admitted to hospital on Saturday to receive treatment for a recurring lung infection.
The only sign of unusual activity in the town where the retired former president was spending an increased amount of time is the swarm of journalists who have descended, interviewing obliging townsfolk about the town's most famous citizen.
Other than that, it is business as usual. The drilling from the construction work (on the N2 linking Mthatha to eDutywa) pierces the quiet winds sweeping the pastoral open plains.
But locals will be quick to warn about misreading the calm as a sing of aloofness or lack of compassion. "For me the sad thing is that journalists are expecting outward signs of worry, like the ones they are used to seeing in Johannesburg," said a local who would rather not be named. "Were this Houghton, you would be having bouquets of flowers and get well cards being delivered onto the streets outside his house.
That's not to say people here are not grieving or worried about his health.
It's just that here, it's not how we do things. We carry the hope of his recovery inside our hearts."
An employee working at Mandela's retirement home in Qunu said there was increased activity around the house so that should the extended family come, they would find the house in a suitably hospitable state. The man, who said he was a gardener, said Mandela had spent several months at the house of late but had left for Johannesburg late last year when he fell ill. He said he was worried what the state of Madiba's health would mean for him as an employee but he was hopeful that Madiba would live to see more days.
Besides the construction, there is a whiff that something is afoot, even in Qunu.
Locals said work was being done on a pair of Telkom masts close to the SABC satellite dish, which is located in the Nelson Mandela Museum in Qunu.
Dixon Mbamatye, a local resident in Qunu tried to keep his spirits up although he was visibly weighed down by the lack of positive news on Madiba's health. "His pain is our pain because we want him to live longer, in fact, we would like him to be literally born again, like in that conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus."