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Essays in: The South African Series

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The South African Series

You Know What I Did Last Summer…

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Note: To my knowledge, there are no South Africans in the MOM Squad. For those SA readers who specifically drop by the blog and leave me nasty Twitter messages or comments that I never approve, I know that South Africa is not one big township. The following post is merely a summary of part of […]

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The South African Series

Hi! My Name’s Satan. Welcome to Your Flight Home.

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Dear Merciful Father in Heaven. I knew the flight home was going to be bad; I just had no idea HOW bad it was going to be. Like I said, we rushed out of the house early Monday morning with towels still in the dryer and no time to really clean. (And were scolded for […]

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The South African Series

Farewell BLOWS

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As a rule, I usually don’t have a problem with “goodbye” if I’m the one doing the leaving. My departure often places me in a position of power – one in which I have pity on the person(s) being left, because they are going to miss me after all, and not necessarily vice versa. This […]

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The South African Series

Mzansi Fo’ Sho!

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‘Mzansi’ means ‘south’, but refers specifically to South Africa. South Africa, for all its development and westernization is still Africa, and has some of the most amusing quirks I’ve ever encountered. Most have to do with policy, language barriers and culture. No, you can’t have it your way The first time we went out for […]

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The South African Series

You’ve got a Demon in you. How ‘bout some cake?

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Friday, August 12th. The weather forecast called for rain, and a slight drivel brought mist and mud to Qolweni. It was late afternoon, and the cows had already come in from the pasture. Two boys sat in the dimly lit room of the man from Port Elizabeth’s house. Are you tired of being bullied? Are […]

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The South African Series

The Road to Cape Town

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The road to Cape Town is littered with beauty. It is as though God reached into His sack or art and inspiration, gathered a fistful of its contents and cast it wantonly upon this singular corner of the Earth. It is adorned with shimmering lakes and onyx black rivers; as well as cattle, sheep and […]

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The South African Series

Can These Dry Bones Really Live?

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Sometimes going into the townships is like going into a war zone, and watching the dead remains of the troops that live there miraculously get up day after day to trudge through life. I look at the carnage all around me and ask myself how it’s possible. How do people go on like this day […]

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The South African Series

Black Widow Bungee

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July 27, 8:06 am: Hey, do you want to go bungy today? 10:16 am: Missed call from 08….. It was Brittany; the White girl with an adrenaline addiction. It wasn’t that I was ignoring her calls and texts – it was just that my body was still recovering from the unaccustomed exertion that I had […]

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The South African Series

Following White People Up the Mountain

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Yes. That is exactly what you think it is. That is a picture of my BUTT, which Robberg mountain essentially handed me this weekend. It never would have happened if I hadn’t been following after White people, pretending I could should do the things they do. These “white people things” include mountain climbing, shark tank […]

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The South African Series

The New Scramble for Africa

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Yesterday I was trolling Yahoo News and discovered that Dakar has its own fashion week! The organizer of the annual event is privately organized by model-turned-designer, Adama Paris. The event is in its ninth year and if I’m so fortunate, I plan to attend the 10th showing in 2012. Young Africans are returning to their […]

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The South African Series

Fishing for the Truth in a Barrel Full of Crabs

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Okay, Folk. I hate to talk about you, but you know how we are. Every time a Black person tries to do something positive, there are at least 40 other Black people waiting to pull them down. A few weeks ago, I brought you the story of Celia – the kind hearted woman who took […]

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The South African Series

Blue Ball Safari

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Driving through the township of Kurland, I noticed a number of signs: ‘Elephant Sanctuary’, ‘Snake Sanctuary’, ‘Wolf Sanctuary’, etc. I was a bit skeptical at first, because I wondered how feasible it was to have any sort of animal sanctuary within walking distance of a small village. There were no apparent wires or walls anywhere…perhaps […]

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The South African Series

Forgive My Attitude, Lord!

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This Sunday we went back to the broke down Church spot for Sunday service. We didn’t go last week, and our absence was apparently felt. Several people had asked if we were coming this week, so we made every effort to comply. I had mixed feelings about going though. How can I put this delicately? […]

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The South African Series

I’m Sorry…You Want to Be WHAT?

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Last night I was watching Malcolm X with Marshall, and there was a portion of the movie that I had never recalled seeing. Little Malcolm was sitting in the classroom of his foster home being admonished by one of his teachers. “Now Malcolm, you’ve written that you want to be a lawyer when you grow […]

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The South African Series

She Always ™ Misses Out on the Fun

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Last week one of my girls walked up to me and told me that she was not coming to the SCAB program anymore. My heart dropped. “Why not?” I asked furtively. “Did I do something?” “Oh no, Ms. Malaka.” “Then why?” I pressed. “I’ll tell you afterwards,” she promised. I was on edge for the […]

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The South African Series

Here it is folks! The classroom of the future.

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Because it darn well ain’t the classroom of the present, that’s for sure. See this shack? This is an appendage to the YMCA/Church/theater. This is where the kids are supposed to be having lessons, once it’s ‘cleaned up’. Nuh uh. This room doesn’t need cleaning up – it needs a torch set to it. There […]

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The South African Series

Pee-pee…The Plot Thickens!

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Eii  A-Fri-Ca! Just when I thought South Africa possessed more sophistication than the rest of the continent, The natives have gone and proved me wrong! Now that I have earned the confidence of the women’s inner circle, they give me snippets of what’s really going down in the community. Sadly as fate would have it, […]

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The South African Series

Meet My 'SCAB' Kids!

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It would be a stretch for me to say that I ‘love’ anyone of my South African kids, in the sense that we understand love in the West; but it would certainly be fair however to say that they have arrested my heart. I’d heard the term “arrested heart” before, and never really understood what it meant. […]

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The South African Series

Too-known American Savior Complex

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American Reader: You know how it is, don’t you? Our country has this innate ‘can do’ spirit that is so formidable that it sometimes comes across as obnoxious. For whatever reason, we largely believe that we can solve the world’s problems…even though we’re hardly able to solve our own. Amazingly, there are just enough people […]

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The South African Series

I saw the face of apartheid today

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I would never insult your intelligence, Reader, by assuming that you are unfamiliar with South Africa’s apartheid past, so suffice it to say that it was brutal to say the least. Apartheid was a wicked, insidious regime that made portions of America’s civil rights struggle look like a scene from an animated Disney movie. Fortunately, […]

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The South African Series

The Stars Shine Brighter in South Africa

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  It’s not hard to fall in love South Africa, and now that I’m here I can totally understand my husband’s lingering attraction to it.  When you live in a place where beauty surrounds you, it’s not hard to leave your old Western life behind and fail to give it a second thought. However, before […]

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