i just finished reading 'Born a Crime' by Trevor Noah. Aaand i'm in two minds... there is something i can't quite put my finger on - whether the book feels lazy or rushed or perhaps ghost written from some audio tapes Trevor made... but it feels like something of him is missing. It certainly is not meant as a comedy book - although there are some good laughs [and many of those i got by [...]
Continuing my journey through Frantz Fanon's 'The Wretched of the Earth' and i came upon this passage. Some of this is a little scary. Some of it is helpful and inspirational. But i think it is all so important for us to read and take on and understand, that even if some of the bits on violence do not feel palatable to us, there are completely being welcomed by a number of other people who [...]
'I began to understand something quite important about South Africa: My fear of blacks was obscuring my understanding of the fear blacks felt for my white skin.' [Rian Malan, My Traitor's Heart] i am almost finished reading 'My Traitor's Heart' by Rian Malan which was highly recommended to me. The tagline of the book is 'A South African exile returns to face his country, his tribe, and his conscience.' Hm, it's been an interesting book [...]
i took a taxi today for the first time in a long, long time. Two actually, and it was great. This morning my friend and Improv aficionado [always wanted to use that in a sentence] Megan and i went to a primary school to volunteer run four thirty minute classes of Improv with grade 5's and 6's. It turned out to be a lot more fun than i was expecting. Especially cos we made it all [...]
Last night we hosted another Deep Dive Conversation Dinner, this time at someone else's house. This was a dinner that has been in the planning for months and one that i've been super excited and anticipationary about. Getting some leaders from St Johns Anglican church [where i currently hang out and am preaching on Sunday in the am actually if you want to come and hear!] to meet around food and conversations about race, with [...]
When it comes to things about race, i have been on a journey for just over two years. i have certainly not arrived and assume this will be a life long journey. But i did realise that i couldn't ignore it any more or choose to get involved if, when and how it suited me. Living in South Africa right now means that issues of race, justice and poverty have to be forefront in my [...]
If you're never offended, you're probably dead. i remember hearing an excellent preach by my friend Albert, a Korean-American pastor in Americaland, on the subject of intolerance. He suggested that we are all intolerant, but that we choose what to be intolerant towards. If you believe in a clean and appealing neighbourhood or city, then you will rightly be intolerant towards litter. If you believe in the basic human right of living, then you will [...]
South African Universities are burning and where is the church? Well, we are there. i actually spoke a little about this in my previous post, titled 'Where is the church?' As part of the PJW team in Cape Town we are there. Pastors joining in/leading marches in Joburg [including being shot in the face with rubber bullets as has happened to countless students and is as shocking and deplorable]. Friends who are part of the [...]
i am almost finished reading 'Country of my Skull' by Antjie Krog and it has been punching me relentlessly in the gut. This passage from chapter 20 titled 'Mother faces the Nation' contains one of my particular angry spots when it comes to lazy South Africans: To the right of the Commissioners, a phalanx of mostly white lawyers - representing victims and perpetrators - is building up. 'I represent the family of Lolo Sono,' says [...]
i remember it like it was just last night. But mostly because it WAS just last night. This is the status i wrote minutes after it happened: Holy craps. After months of #NotOnOurWatch preaching I had my first real experience of it - old motorcycle guy in a car park going off at a car guard and I marched in and let him have it. So much adrenalin. Body shaking. I had the advantage of [...]
