By Owethu Nokhangela To understand my story and my reading journey, you have to allow me to take a little detour. My journey is not entirely mine, but also that of everyone around me, all the creatives I grew up with. I am pretty sure you are just like “girl, get on with it already, we don’t care about the chitchat”, but we have to start here. Well, I am one of many; by that, I mean I grew up with many cousins, but at the same time, I like to call them my siblings. They say, “Gen Zs choose…
Author: Rod Amner
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By Andile Mbesa When I was little, I was a statistic waiting to happen, well on my way to becoming one of the four in five South African Grade 4s unable to read for meaning. I was hesitant with the letters of the alphabet. Reading seemed like a superpower to me. By contrast, Dylan, a dark boy in my class, wielded his reading superpower with ease. I didn’t envy him. Reading was his domain – a world I hadn’t been initiated into. Yet! … I’m seven. I am playing with my friends on the streets of Umlazi till the roads…
By Lufuno Masindi 2011 “Turn to the next page, Lufuno; you are not paying attention!” I almost fall over my chair. My daydreaming has been disrupted by the loud, agitating voice of my least favourite person, my Grade 3 English teacher. “Yes, teacher,” I reply in monotone and comply. I slouch in my chair to hide from the faint murmurs, and several pairs of eyes fixated on me. I stare at the hundreds of meaningless words in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, pretending to read while intentionally blurring my vision, and continue delving into my interrupted daydreaming. I imagine myself a…
By Thandiwe Johnson My childhood wasn’t of toys and games but of the rich aroma of ink and aged paper, and my lullabies were the melodic echoes of diverse languages, whispering from the corners of the street. I grew up with a tapestry of different languages in my neighbourhood, what I would call “the centre of Africa”, a place where the aroma of Umgqombothi (Sorghum beer) from eMcimbini (traditional ceremony) mingled with a sweet scent of Koeksisters from the Afrikaner kitchen. On this street, the laughter of the children of AmaXhosa, Mapedi, AmaZulu, and MaTshwana echoed. At the same time,…
By Lisakhanya Tali When I think about the time I first read and enjoyed a book, I go back to 2017, when I had just started Grade 7 at a new school, Victoria Girls Primary School. I remember Mrs Abrahams – may her soul rest in peace – my English teacher that year, her perfume strong yet delicate, leaving a wonderful scent where she once was. She used to persuade us to read more, sharing her passion for literature beyond the classroom by taking us every week to the school’s library, where we could take a book out for two…
Mandisa Peter, with over 25 years of experience in the classroom, is a fountain of mind-blowing wisdom. Her teaching style makes learning fun, engaging, and accessible to all her learners. In an exclusive interview, Peter voiced her unwavering commitment to nurturing young learners, shared her insights into teaching strategies, and discussed the challenges she has overcome to earn her prestigious title. “It is so nice seeing a child getting there, not knowing how to hold a pencil or write,” she said. Peter holds a Diploma in Education from Rhodes University, supplemented by an Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) and short…
By Owethu Kholosa Nokhangela The Rock Family Church had its annual women’s conference at Shaw Hall, coinciding with Women’s Day on 9 August, bringing women of different ages, backgrounds, and areas together. The event used a biblical reference, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” as its theme, speaking to how women are often underestimated in society. Pastor Deana Brandon, who was the event organiser with the help of the church members, explained how she chose the theme with genuine warmth. “I have met a lot of women who don’t believe in themselves, and so that took me to the…
By Siyamthanda Mnyiwana “When doing community engagement work, it is important not to see yourself as a saviour,” says Phemelo ‘PJ’ Hellemann, a lecturer at the Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education at Rhodes University. Helleman has been involved in community engagement since her early years. “In my high school, we had an element of community engagement, it was embedded in the way we do education and the way we do life, and we used to call it the Ubuntu Club,” she said. “This experience made me realise the importance of integrating community engagement into education. “Coming to Rhodes…
By Kabelo Mafiri and Owethu Kholosa “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else does.” Tata Nelson Mandela What Tata Mandela meant is that there is no better way to become a game-changer for the nation than through sports. This is exactly what the Mdyesha family believes. Their love and passion for the community extend far beyond what meets the eye. This past week, on Wednesday and again on Saturday, the Mdyesha family hosted sporting events for eight Makhanda schools: Fikizolo, Vellem, Samuel…
By Zipho Ndwayana Several households in Extension 6 have been left without internet access after Fibertime installers failed to complete installations that began months ago, leaving community members frustrated as data costs continue to rise. The affected residents say Fibertime installation crews visited their homes approximately two to three months ago, installing fibre infrastructure and promising to return the following day to complete the router installation. However, the crews moved to other areas of the extension without finishing the work. “About two to three months ago, the guys who install these routers came to my house to install a board…