Dear South Africa... This is an interesting one. i was sent this story and asked if i could share it anonymously. And only realised when i copied it in here that it was a two-parter [i had initially missed the second part]. Which adds a whole different layer to the first part of the story and i imagine different people will have different reactions to it. But at the same time it gives a glimpse [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Dear South Africa, I would have liked to have more of an upbeat and hopeful letter to you but the reality, the real reality, is that we’re a country of deep division and intense trauma. We are a people who do not know each other, once the babalas of the rainbow nation faded away we were left to face the decisions that were made the night before. We had to look into each other’s faces [...]
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 [...]
Dear South Africa, LOVE BLACK PEOPLE It only dawned on me recently, how we need this. Desperately need this. I cannot speak for all Black people, I cannot even speak for the majority of Black people, but I can speak for Black people like me. Love us. It has been alleged that the idea was ‘stolen’ from someone else, so I will not state where I saw it, but the premise was that people from [...]
My friend Thandi Gamedze is an exceptional poet and wordsmith and her 'Dear South Africa...' comes in the form of a poem Beloved South Africa, I bless you to let loose the oceans of tears that you have carried, and cry For your sons that have been trodden down and stripped of their dignity And your daughters that have been raped, abused and dehumanised For your fathers that have turned to unfeeling stone, under weight [...]
Dear South Africa: I wanted to write you a love letter, but it does not feel like a good idea right now. I want to write about hope but it just doesn’t feel like the right time. We keep talking about how far we have come and so many are saying we have not come far at all. We are stuck, not simply because we can’t admit how deep in the shit we are, but [...]
Dear South Africa... And so the letter begins. A letter penned to a nation. Well, not 'penned' per say, because who does that anymore? Typed. A letter typed to a beloved country. But what type of letter might that be? How would yours look? Would it be filled with hope or be more likely to resemble a tired, worn out missive of anger and accusation? Might it call people out to be what we've seen [...]
