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Choices That Define Us
Khayelitsha, one of South Africa’s largest townships, is often depicted in stark terms, characterised by poverty, unemployment, and rampant crime. Yet, Zukiswa Pakama’s narrative challenges this one-dimensional portrayal. She introduces readers to the untold stories of young men who defied the odds and forged paths to success despite their environment.
The project came into being when the National Arts Council of South Africa introduced the Presidential Employment Stimuli Programs, the (PESP) funding. As a token of community building, a group of young men were collected to come forward and relate their stories of resilience and courage.
Writing is healing, and when a community tells its own stories, there is a vast space for growth and determination. After a short writing workshop was conducted, the young men were ready to share their stories, dripping with hope and resilience.
The book’s setting is not merely a backdrop but a character in its own right.
The storytelling is vivid and gripping, plunging readers into the dusty streets of Khayelitsha, a place often synonymous with struggle. However, the narrative is far more than a tale of hardship; it is a testament to resilience, hope, and the indomitable human spirit.
Zukiswa, through the stories by these young men, highlights the power of choice and the courage it takes to rise above circumstances that seem insurmountable. -
Help! My Granny’s Dog is a Racist!
Most of us in South Africa, during the 45 years of apartheid, didn’t notice that we had been programmed, rebooted, reset and downloaded as new creatures: apartheid man – or woman.
We were the first country in human history to successfully try this experiment in social engineering. Happily, eventually, we saw the light and repudiated it.
Or did we!
Many of us are still recovering from the damage apartheid did to us.
It must be said that from media reports, and noted in this book, a small but growing number of white South Africans are committing themselves to making South Africa a home for all.
In spite of that, today racist outbursts are smothering the airwaves. This book is for the fools, idiots and clowns, our brothers and sisters, who manage to keep
intolerance on the boil by their blunders, insensitivities, and inability to listen and relate to fellow South Africans. Even their dogs catch it and it goes viral on neighbouring dogs!
Crime and racist tendencies nourish one another and feed off each other. Housebreaking is fuelled by every racial incident that hits the headlines. Read why Help, My Granny’s Dog Is a Racist proves this astonishing claim and others too that will make you cry or laugh or angry or at least embarrassed.
Present day racists, he or she, are the typical bigoted self-centred Pharisees Jesus regularly and angrily called “hypocrites”.
