change the world

Taboo Topics: Adoption – we meet Jackie Barker again [Successfully Adopted!]

I have taken a long time after telling Brett that I would write this, to actually sit down and put some words together. It feels strange to ‘tell our story’ because in so many ways we just feel like a normal family. Daddy, Mommy and baby. I’ve discovered in these last few months that much to my disappointment I am not a super-mother, I am very much the typical Mom who is doing all the [...]

Steps Towards Transformation: part Employment Equity: Sindile Vabaza

I think it is important that I give an examples of how 'baseline' thinking can help us navigate difficult waters. 1.) The issue of employment equity is a difficult one. My take on it is that from my experience both young white and black people fundamentally want to feel like they are being treated fairly and of course that is a most reasonable thing, but I do want to latch on to the idea of [...]

By |2014-11-06T09:22:44+02:00November 6th, 2014|change the world, Taboo Topics, thorts of other people|4 Comments

Responding towards Reconciliation

i won't lie, writing about Race in South Africa can feel a little daunting. Especially when you have been out of the country for three years - one of the things i didn't want to do was come charging in with all the answers and so i chose instead to use my little platform to create a space and invite some people to share their thoughts. There have been a whole bunch of conversations about [...]

Race in South Africa: Moving towards a truly Rainbow Nation

i have loved the conversations happening on my blog with regards to matters of Race recently. A lot of the posts are specific to South Africa, but i imagine there are themes, ideas and principles that will translate to other contexts around the world and it will be good to get some outside voices as it were to comment as well. What has been particularly exciting to see has been the spirit of engagement that has taken [...]

First steps in the New South Africa: A response by Sindile Vabaza

i have loved the conversation going on in the comments section of the blog piece Nkosi wrote for me on First Steps White South Africans can make towards a really new South Africa. My friend Lex passed on a response from her friend, Sindile, which i thought would be good to use as a standalone post as i'm sure it will also generate some good conversation. So we would love to hear from you and please [...]

First steps towards a really new South Africa – a guest post by Nkosi Gola

My good friend, Linda Martindale introduced me to a friend of hers, Nkosivumile Gola at the TRC Re-Enactment meetings we both went to a week or so ago in Stellenbosch. When i heard that Nkosi had a blog i immediately asked him if he would consider writing a piece for mine. Not to give him an easy ride, i posed this topic to him - the fact that for white people who do want to [...]

when christians and muslims collide

  i saw this on my Australian friend Dave Andrew's Facebook page today and i think it will give us a lot to think about if we take it seriously - if you find it too long then at least read the bolded bit at the beginning and the ten 'commandments' at the bottom [but seriously, just read the whole thing!]: And Now For A Quiet Word With My Fellow Christians: If Jesus Really Is [...]

Taboo Topics: Adoption – we meet Jane and Mike again [Successfully Adopted!]

Brett has been nagging, I mean asking, me to do a follow up post to the one we did on adoption to see what life is like two years after adopting our daughter Rachel. I have been putting it off, mostly due to legitimate reasons. We have became a family of four as I gave birth to our second daughter, Emma, and so life does have that frenetic/blurry/chaotic/kid edge to it that makes it hard [...]

when Desmond Tutu met No_bob [part III]

  Continuing with my share from  ‘Revisiting The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Faith Community Hearing' as we look at some of the messages that came out of the second day: FROM THE TWITTERER [Day 1 of 2] While 140 character messages don't capture the whole of what was experienced, hopefully they will help you to catch a bit of a glimpse: #TRC General buzz in the air. Today it is a lot of testimony from [...]

when Desmond Tutu met No_bob

So former Archbishop Desmond Tutu [or present Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, whatever an Emeritus might be] must be the most famous purple-dress-wearing man in the whole of Africa. No_bob the yellow-and-white [yes, he's still not nor ever has been blue] stuffed dolphin, is the world's most famous stuffed dolphin [largely because the competition in that particular field is highly limited] and called No_bob because he doesn't, well, bob. It was inevitable that one day the [...]

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