A Life lived and living
If one of my silly stories can benefit just one person – it’s already more than I can ask for
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A Whisper in the Wind
In December of 1995 we returned to Mossel bay for a holiday, almost 2 years after we moved away from that area. Dad had a new caravan and we were all excited to test it out. It was a whole planned trip to reunite at all the spots we fondly left behind. I learned a…
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Performance Anxiety
Oh, dear friends! If I tell you that I woke up in a bit of a flat spin on Sunday morning, with feelings of utter inadequacy for not being kind enough, not caring enough, not understanding enough, not giving enough, not helping enough – it will be a slight understatement. Every good attempt, act of…
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Critically claimed
In school, creative writing was my thing. In both languages. I enjoyed it, looked forward to it and my approach to any essay has always been a bit storytelling, with a dash of artistic freedom and metaphors. It helped that I was decent enough at it. I have dedicated essays to Vincent van Gogh, was…
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An energy of outputs
The first time it ever happened, was when I was about grade 8-ish. In town – a proper Dorp, no mall. This blonde lady running up to my mom all excitedly asking only one question: How is Betty and Wykie doing? It happened a lot after that. And always the same. Now, it sounds nice…
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Hello f(r)iend…
When we are young, our lives are filled with role models and mentors. Our teachers, sport stars, movie stars, Joan of Arc… As we grow older though, the positive features in humans tend to hit a bit closer to home. It’s the noteworthy characteristics in our friends, colleagues and strangers we interact with at times…
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Uniquely Placed
As we are starting to wrap up March and women world-wide celebrating their womanhood, I am also reflecting on 4years in the north and a surprising (yet satisfying) career. Now, I know that most of us are endlessly tired of the whole woman in society debacle, but I want to have some last bit of…
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Those darn Tea Parties
March is International Women’s month, with the 8th of March celebrated as International Women’s day. Which is probably slightly confusing to the men in South Africa, because in August we celebrate this again nationally. Is it necessary for women to celebrate two months of the year for something that they literally have no control over?…
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Unsettling Boundaries
In the olden days, for two boys to (light-heartedly) start a fight, the one boy would draw a line in the ground and challenge the other one to step over the line. Once the line has been crossed, the fight officially starts – no more go backsies. The lines were pretty clear for me, growing…
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Respectfully Challenged
Many moons ago at a school camp (I was a student teacher), the camp leader gave a nice speech where he set the standard ground rules and he said something about respect that I still – to this day – found profound. He made it clear that everyone he meets is deserving of is respect…
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Bridging Communication
When I was about 6 years old, my brother received 2 walkie talkies as a Christmas present. It was a great present to share and it even had the military alphabet and Morse code displayed. Both of these – which to this day – I cannot remember. Except for whatever the “Alpha – Mike –…