My country……South Africa

There is never a dull moment in my country hence I say I will not be leaving anytime soon

A country which is filled with different kinds of people

We are so diverse, from skin colour, races, personalities, languages etc…….

Cape Town (Western Cape)

One day I was walking on the beach trying to clear my head

As I was walking I came across these rather roudy gentleman having a jolly time

Everyone else around them was looking at them in a rather shocked manner

Others were laughing, cheering and clapping their hands

So me being me I decided to go and investigate

In no time I had joined the cheering and laughing team as I just couldnt believe it

At the beach, on the sand, there was a braai stand and a pot

These guys were cooking pap ( mealie meal mixed with water and salt) and this guy was stirring it with a wooden spoon

The meat was on another braai stand, and yep it was also accompanied by what we refer to as smiley (a sheep’ head)

Smiley

I wanted to join the party but the cops came and told these gentleman to evacuate, claiming that they were committing a crime by drinking in public

Cant really complain because they were drinking too and that was against the law……….

Durban (Kwazulu Natal)

I remebered one day when I was in Durban working as an intern

As we were sitting in our office, we heard that there was a commotion going on outside

As uusal, I had to go investigate and yep I loved what I saw

The street was filled with a number of people chanting a song and dancing

But the songs they were singing in a language called Zulu, it was clear that they were complaining about something

I didnt care, all I wanted to do is join them and sing along

I was not interested in what they were complaining about, I just loved the fact that they put the street at a stand still and it looked like they were having fun

My boss was not impressed and I was singing along and dancing too at a distance behind closed doors and I was just as loud

Lusikisiki ( Eastern Cape)

My dad’s hometown where the roads are still muddy as they have not built them proper tarred roads

A town where you still have to walk miles in order to get to town because not everyone can afford cars or afford to catch a taxi

One thing that you can best believe there is not a shortage of is taverns (drinking holes)

In almost each “street” you turn into you can hear loud music blarring and you just know there is a tavern

Its fun though being in one of these taverns as you know that no one gives a d@&$ who you are, what you are doing or whatever

They will approach you just to say cheers and move right along

One thing I dont like about these taverns though is that someone will come and ask you for money to buy themselve booze…..

Johannesburg (Gauteng)

They call this area as the city that never sleeps

I love visiting jo’burg (Johannesburg in short)

However I just dont like the fact that everytime I leave there I get home so tired because they dont believe in sleeping

Now when I say they dont believe in sleeping, I mean it both in terms of working and partying

This is where you find the who’s who of this country

Most Head Offices of anything that has to do with South Africa, chances are that they are based in Jo’burg

If not the Head Office then rest assured they will have a branch there

It is believed that is where the money is

Most of the young people aspire to live and work in Joburg when they are in their younger years

It is filled with various languages such as Sotho, Setswana, Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans, English, Swahili and many more that I cant even name

What I do love about Joburg though is that no matter how long you stay there, you will know a few words of most of the languages that are used in this country because its so diverse

If you commute with a taxi, you had better know the various signs that one needs to make or else they will ride right past you

I remember my brother once sent me to get nappies for his son

There I was carrying this huge box of nappies and attempting to stop the taxi Cape Town style

The looks I was getting was as though I was loosing my mind

Some swore at me because they would stop only to find out that they were not going to where I was going

Eventually one good samaritan stopped and taught me how to do the sign and it was so complicated I forgot it the minute I climbed into the taxi

I could go on and on about my country because each and everyday there is something new happening

Dont even get me started on the voting that is due to take place in about two weeks because thats a whole new blog on its own

Wamnkelekile eMzantsi Africa……(Welcome to South Africa)

Its so sickening reading stories of men who have raped women

It gets beyond sickening when you read stories of men who rape children

At what point, you as a human being, do you sit and take that decision that you will force yourself onto a woman or a child???

You lure a child into the bathroom and you force yourself onto her and luckily you get caught

I say luckily because had no one walked in while this man was busy molesting this child he wouldn’t have stopped or could have caused more damage than he has at the moment

A child, an innocent child who knows nothing at the age of six will not even understand the damage this stranger has done to her

A stranger who will get a minimum sentence of possibly three years and only serve six month because of a pathetic justice system that we live under

A stranger who could possibly see this child years later and have a smirk on his face as if to say I robbed you of your innocense

We are instructed not to circulate his photo on social media as it could cause his case not sticking in court

We are more worried about his case as opposed to what he has done to this innocent child

In a law perspective I trully understand that this man has not been charged or found guilty as his case has not been heard in court

As the saying goes: innocent till proven guilty

What if this perpatrator has means to leave the country and then his case will never be heard

We have heard too many stories of cases that have been left hanging because the culprits have fled the country

What if the perpetrator goes and rapes another child because he claims he was under the influence of drugs or whatever simply because we were protecting his court case

I will not even touch on the issue of race as that needs its own blog/article on its own as that too has stired up its own debates and now the counry is divided based on that

I wish and hope in the end that the one person who will end up suffering regardless of the outcome of this case will be the little girl

Her life matters more than that of this perpetrator in this instance as she currently knows nothing and unaware of what has happened to her or what will happen to her in the very near future

Very tricky situation before it even unfolds but would love to see the end to feed my own curiosity………..

A little taste of diversity

I started working as an intern for this company a couple of months ago. I was scared, I was nervous because I had left my home-town to learn to be independent and to grow. Ok growing up is what I intend to do
On the day I had arrived I walked into a office where it was just guys, and well I prefer to work with guys, but thats for another topic. As I walked in I noticed, there were 2 Indian gentlemen and a white gentleman. A month later we were joined by a ‘coloured’ guy, and I am a black woman. We all have different backgrounds and characteristics, and bare in mind we are in the marketing department and love to talk and market the company and ourselves in one form or another and yes we do clash…….

However its amazing how when we work together and actually get along the amount of work we actually get done. I mean its nice to see that if one is out on the field then they are able to contact someone at the office to take over for them should they be occupied by something else. But thats not the only thing I like about this group but the learning about the various cultures we have in one office. This morning I was telling my colleague that I had an event that i needed to attend this weekend where it takes place 3 months after a burial. We refer to it as “ukukhulula izila” which is the ceremony we have to commemorate the end of mourning. In the Xhosa culture when a person passes away then the spouse will have to dress in all black for a period of 3 months if they are female and if they are male then they usually wear a black button (but that was back in the days for the males). In the Hindu culture they have a 13 day ceremony where they conduct prayers and have meals  to commemorate end of mourning and to pay their last respects. During that period they conduct prayers and endulge in meals which are made up of vegetables. Within that same period, a male member of that family will not shave until that period is over.

This is so educational to me as I took things for granted and only focused on my culture. Its fun and empowering to learn about the different cultures that we have in South Africa. I am sure I still have alot to learn and hopefully during this period that I am working for this company I will get to learn alot about the different cultures and get a better understanding of why and how certain things are done in other cultures. “The greatest bondage is ignorance, unlock your mind” there is still alot to learn and not spend a penny on it.