i would like to introduce you to my sister-in-law Shana and her easy and doable water-saving idea combo: = = = == = = = == Guys. I did it. I brushed teeth, showered, shaved and washed and conditioned my hair, using 5L of water, and caught it all to use to flush the toilet tonight. To be honest, it was actually so easy, I'm aiming for 4L tomorrow. Here's how: 1. Measure 5L hot [...]
Cape Town has a water crisis going on. Something like 50% of families in Cape Town have done absolutely nothing to make any effort in terms of water conservation which boggles the mind as the rest of us are standing in buckets and queueing up for water and getting all sorts of creative to try and stave off Day Zero just one more day, week, month... One of the families that has been doing some [...]
Dear South Africa, Actually, dear white South Africans. My peeps. I love you but we can't have another year like 2017. Seriously. I've taken the liberty of writing a few New Year's Resolutions for us. I reckon we can do it. Learn an African language. Pay your domestic worker a living wage and stop calling her "Irene". Her name is Thobeka. Only read novels written by African authors. Get on Black Twitter. Look at black [...]
The last book i read was the incredible Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie which i shared some thoughts about over here, but there were a couple more passages that really stood out to me when i read the book and so here they are. This first extract is another blog post by the main character, Ifemelu: What Academics Mean by White Privilege, or Yes It Sucks to Be Poor and White but Try Being Poor [...]
Dear South Africa, Increase empathy. Kind regards, Terence P.S. Sorry, I’ve just realised that you may not know what I mean. Here’s the deal - it really shouldn’t need an explanation or a justification. I shouldn’t have to show you why we need to be open to the idea that other people are complete and complex human beings who don’t deserve to be undermined, insulted, embarrassed, made to feel unsafe or treated as a sub-category [...]
Dear South Africa... Charles Dickens starts A Tale of Two Cities with this: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had [...]
This is a post for all those of you who have seen the original H & M advert of the little black boy wearing the hoodie with the slogan 'Coolest Monkey in the Jungle' on it. He was pictured next to a white boy who had the slogan 'Survival Expert' on his hoodie. Because it seems like this is still being discussed, and because a whole lot of white people seem not to understand why [...]
Liewe Afrikanermense in Suid-Afrika, Ek het nou onlangs terug gedink aan ons laerskoolklas wat elke Vrydag na tweede pouse vir twee periodes (met ander woorde ’n volle uur lank) sangklas gehad het. Gegewe die spesifieke uitdagings hieraan verbonde, kan ‘n mens dus nie ons musiekonderwyseres kwalik neem dat sy dikwels gekies het om ons na stories op langspeelplate te laat luister in plaas daarvan om ons aan die sing te probeer kry nie… Die enigste [...]
We had a dream our lives would be... So different from this hell we're living So different now from what it seemed, Now... Life... Has killed The dream... We dreamed... The dream to some it seemed started in '94 as lines of voters snaked around fields Filled with the anxious anticipation of first-time voters eager to claim their rich inheritance Before the years were peeled back to reveal that perhaps the vote was all [...]
Can't we all just be a little more kind to people online? And maybe offline too..? i would say, "Yes, absolutely!" But also, "No!" Well, i mean kinda, but probably not in the way you understand Kindness. Because often when somebody posts an inspirational or challenging message like this, what they are actually wanting people to be is nice. And it isn't super helpful to confuse Kind with Nice. Exhibit A Your three-year-old kid is [...]
