How do you change a country? Firstly, it has to begin in the mirror. What am i doing to make a difference? How am i spending my time, money, skills and energy and using my things to help make my small space one that builds and grows and inspires and assists? The key though is asking the question. Or questions. Big furore happens over Woolworths using some lady's design for their baby-carrying bags. Within [...]
i have just finished reading Melusi Tshabalala's 'Melusi's Everyday Zulu' which was one of the books my wife gave me for Christmas. It is funny, it is irreverent in places, it is jaw-drop-he-didn't-just-say-that in others, it is inspiring and challenging in terms of understanding South Africa and South Africans and mostly it is educational and just a really fun read. Get yourself a copy. From the back cover: Six days a week, Melusi Tshabalala, [...]
Sho. Racists? i just don't understand you. Except that it HAS to be othering. That's all i can think of. The cure for racism then has to be connection... That was a thought that came to mind as Val and myself sat on the pavement just off De Waal drive last night, about 100m from our house, watching the incredible festivities that were a part of an African wedding reception taking place across the street.How [...]
What is my word for 2019, you ask? Every year i try to have a word or phrase to focus on and give me some direction and purpose for the year ahead. Last year's word was Bridge-Building, with a sub-description of 'Stepping Towards' - finding ways to pull people together, to unite, to help people engage, to listen more, to create spaces where this can happen and to be a catalyst any way i can. The [...]
For me, Christmas is a reminder that Love came down. Love got its hands dirty. Love got involved. Love interrupted the normal flow of things. Love reached out specifically to all of those that society, culture, religion and government pushed to the sides. Love allowed itself to be interrupted while on mission. Love called out injustice. Love refused to accept the status quo. Love turned over tables in the face of greed and extortion. Love [...]
What are you doing Friday night? Going to a workshop that interrogates whiteness. Wait, what? And I am paying for it. Those words might seem like they come out of an SNL sketch if South Africa had an SNL type show. But we don't. And it was the brave decision of eight white people to respond to an invitation that my friend and colleague Megan Furniss put out on Facebook: I am Megan Furniss, a [...]
For the last 40ish days i have been dropping one tip to help you 'I do' better and so now we have a collection of 40 Tips to help married people improve their marriage. For the journey through a more in-depth look at each tip, you can start over here... But for those of you who have journeyed with me, i thought it might be helpful to have all 40 tips summarised into a line [...]
We head into the last 5 tips of this marriage series. If this has been helpful in any way please SHARE it on your social media and tag your friends so they can benefit as well. Would love to hear some summary thoughts you might have in the comments... Marriage Tip #36 Fight well. i do think because of the nature of marriage being between two people that each one looks quite significantly different from [...]
Some more marriage advice for you as we head into our final ten: Marriage Tip #31 Walk. Now i imagine there will be varying degrees of this for different people. i also imagine some couples will roll their eyes and instantly dismiss this because walking (and that's not your vibe). But i would suggest (with less exceptions than people who think they are the exceptions) that the amount you collectively enjoy walking or not should [...]
The next five married tips to help you think about and act on how to do marriage well: Marriage Tip #26 Rage, Rage against the selfishness of the me. Just as online people tend towards stupid [a brettfish original], offline people tend towards selfish. In a world that has at times whispered but more often shouted 'THIS IS ALL ABOUT YOU!' into your ear as it has watched you grow up, this should not be [...]
