An Open letter to the South African Mens' Proteas Cricket team... Hi there, Yes, it's me again. Brett "Fish" aka Scuba Steve [That's right, i'm the guy who attended a cricket test at Newlands wearing full scuba gear during a rain-affected test and was dubbed "Scuba Steve" by Pommie Mbangwa on the tv] and if you can't tell i'm a huge fan. Still not sure? Well it was also [...]
these poems do not let themselves be written without lifting lids and disturbing the dead these poems are hauntings they could not live without bringing buried things back ghosts out of silence bearing witness these poems exist between worlds written out of mist and prayers and last breaths these poems have no respect for the living these poems are part of what remains of missing names these poems can never be a full story [...]
The idea of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children seems crazy to me. When what we obviously need is 365.25 days of Activism for No Violence against women and children. But i get it. Because of the state and nature of the extremes of violence that are happening towards women and children, just drawing some attention and mobilising as many people as possible for more of a bite-sized chunk [...]
i attended a 50th birthday party last night. Of someone i have met twice... i was in the minority [as a white person] and one of the youngest people in the room [which doesn't happen a lot for me] and it was such a complete vibe. In fact, as tbV will attest, being in a space with fifteen to twenty people where i only know two of them [the hosts] is traditionally one of my [...]
South Africa are the World Cup Rugby champions [of the world, as Queen might add, but possibly not the queen, as we completely smashed her side!] which is a really good thing. Or a really bad thing. Depending on who you speak to. For starters, when the squad was announced and this photo was taken, you could be forgiven as a stranger to the sport and the country, for thinking this is not a [...]
Yesterday i wrote some thoughts about the Bishops sex scandal where a female teacher allegedly had sex with an 18 year old learner from Bishops. There were possibly more incidents involving other learners, possibly over a number of years and 'jokes' and apparently a rather disturbing video of the teacher have been doing the rounds at alarming rates. Bishops sex scandal clarifications This morning i added some thoughts: [1] We need to keep talking [...]
Have you heard the one about the Bishops Sex Scandal? i knew something was up when 'jokes' containing the words 'Bishops' and 'Water Polo' arrived in my hockey whatsapp group. But i had not heard of the specific incident and when Val told me the details that night i was shocked. And have just written something in my hockey whatsapp group which is likely to not go down that well, but this is a [...]
There is a new group on Facebook that i am a part of called Conversations for a Just South Africa. At the moment there are around 1500 people in the group and climbing every day. Which may not seem super exciting to many people when a group like #ImStaying arrived on the scene just a couple of weeks ago and is on the way to 500 000 people. Conversations is not a group that [...]
Continuing the journey of #40TipsForParents with another five you might find helpful: 40 Tips for Parents: Tip #21 Give them Justice/Compassion/Generosity-flavoured experiences. We have spoken about being honest and dealing with difficult topics when it comes to things happening in the country or tricky questions they may be asking [Tips 4 and 14]. But i want to encourage you to do things with them that teach them about Justice and bridge-building and compassion and [...]
What [South] African stories are your children reading?A while back i compiled a list of super amazing books for young children from suggestions made by a lot of my friends, with a specific focus on South African and African stories. While it may not be imperative that your children ONLY read books from this country and continent, i think you are definitely missing out if they are not reading any. And there are some REALLY [...]
