Beauty in simplicity

I have taken this drive many times however on each journey it never seems the same! 

Open Roads

It amazes me how tranqual the open road can be,so much freedom in the middle of nothingness.

I also see much wealth in the midst of diverse poverty on these roads.

Here is where racial divides is still alive and you can see it in the communities and hear it as clearly as years before!

The Girls

Morning view in Kroonstaf

Listening to the news on our way to Cape Town and i am angered by the ignorance of this countries politicians.

Jacob Zuma has offeted Gadaffi a home to retire too in South Africa, if this happens it will tarnish our reputation in the long run.

South Africa has so many people starving and homeless,with the money tax payers will be paying to host bigets like Gadaffi and support holigans like Malema we could be building homes and creating support systems that work.

I understand this countries need to be humanitarian however this should not blur our common sense between right and wrong

Hate speech at its best

Zipro

Both of these statements indicate that killing is okay and tolerated in this country as quoted by leaders in South Africa. I think we should be ashamed of ourselves for letting them have so much power to think they can make these statements and get away with it.

Political Limelight

We are a few weeks away from the Elections and political parties are at it again fighting for power and place.

Everywhere you go there are bill boards and chants as the tension among them all mount to see who walks away with which area and how many counsellors. Debates are also livening up as political parties bring out dirty secrets about their rivals and as they present racially unified fronts for their parties.

Manifestos have made their rounds speaking eloquently of the needs of the people; promising homes, proper service delivery and respect for all.  These things tend to be words on white paper, never seeing the light of day in the real world.

The real world where 4.3 Million South Africans are unemployed (Stats SA 2010) and poverty is the order of the day.  

The real world were almost 850 people die of HIV/ Aids every day (Avert, 2010 Report) and child headed households are increasing at an alarming rate.

The real world where police brutality is still allowed in a country that knows the traumatic consequences of these acts first hand, having lived through and era of apartheid and segregation.

In this country we have come a long way for freedom and it has come at a price. We have a democracy that our government does not fully understand or value and a country ruled by talkers and very few doers.

We need leaders that deliver on more than just words!!

Dante a "DIVA" in the making

They grow up so fast
The joys of being an aunt, tonight she insists that they call me because she has a story to tell me. We talk for a while and i ask her what the story was and she reckons "Oh i forgot but i miss you Ickey"  lol :-)

On-Route (Njia): Remembering those we sometimes forget

On-Route (Njia): Remembering those we sometimes forget: "Four years ago i set foot inside my first prison, the walls were narrow and the gates were high. I remember the smell of stale a..."

On-Route (Njia): Remembering those we sometimes forget

On-Route (Njia): Remembering those we sometimes forget: "Four years ago i set foot inside my first prison, the walls were narrow and the gates were high. I remember the smell of stale a..."

Morning Glory

This morning i woke up with an unbelievable sense of gratitude, a sense of peace and that all is right with my world.

So today i am grateful for:

My little bit of Morning Glory 

• the gift of a new day and being able to see it in all of its glory 
• for the musical good morning that greets me every day
• for the friends i have near and far 
• for the unconditional blessings and prayers 
• for family and the lessons in love that i learn from each and every one of them  

I am a very blessed young women, i don't have fame or fortunes but what i do have is enough and i believe that what is to come will only be much better. 

Remembering those we sometimes forget

Four years ago i set foot inside my first prison, the walls were narrow and the gates were high.  I remember the smell of stale air, a sense of hopelessness and the looks of the people saying the same thing. 

I walked in, filled with a bit of fear and a tinge of excitement because i have always wondered if South African prisons are like the ones in movies. It was nothing like the movies; the reality was far worse.

Even though I got to go home after every session, to this day I remember many of their stories.

Some there for crimes that they committed some for the sins of other and many silenced by gangs and the false sense of brotherhood it provides. There I witnessed how fast innocents can be stolen and easily freedom can be forgotten.

The youngest boy was 9, there for murdering someone with a butcher’s knife after being beaten countless times. The oldest 18 there for rape and murder after being so high, he had to prove a point of being “the man” to his friends.

Many of the stories i have heard resonates with me as i look around my surroundings and see the daily fight for survival. Many of them did not ask for the hand that they were dealt, some abandoned to a life on the street with no food or shelter. I am sadden when i think how many of them had their first encounter with the law for taking a bread without having the money to pay for it. Whenever i walk by a child on the street homeless and alone my heart bleeds because i remember the stories of how it began for many of them.

In my four years i have worked with hundreds of young men and women in conflict with the law and sadly many of them will never know true freedom because in prison a different death occurs. It is not the kind known every day by you and me, it is a death of the soul, a death of dreams and hopes because they go to jail as innocents, as children and there they learn a life of gangsterism.

My plea is simple; the next time you see a child on the street begging a hand out give them a meal. The next time you see a young man slipping through the cracks lend them a hand. 

On-Route (Njia): Inspiration in the strangest places

On-Route (Njia): Inspiration in the strangest places: "I have just spent the last few hours immersed in a tale about love, family, promises and the ultimate sacrifice. Yes i was watching Charlie ..."

Inspiration in the strangest places

I have just spent the last few hours immersed in a tale about love, family, promises and the ultimate sacrifice. Yes i was watching Charlie St. Cloud!

It made me realise that life is so short and can be taken from us and those we love in the blink of an eye. Yet through the good and the bad we always need to remain believers. We always need to keep on fighting if not for ourselves then for those who are too weary to do it for themselves.

Also highlighted the bonds of family and how in order to find peace not just for yourself but those around you, you need to let go of the past.

Not an easy task in life or death.