Redi Responds

So after reading Redi Tlhabi's "Endings and Beginnings" I sent her an email thanking her for sharing her story and telling her how much it had resonated with me. After my initial disappointment of receiving an automated response, she finally replied to me. It was just a few lines, but it meant so much. These are the little things that make my heart smile:-) Here's her response

Hello

I am so delighted to get your email. It has really touched my heart. I am so glad that the story resonated with you and you found great meaning in it.

Thank you for taking the time to write to me and for the wonderful, heart warming feedback.

Kind regards

Redi

If you are into good books, this is really one to get. It's a wonderful coming of age story that is set in Orlando East(Soweto)It's the journey of a 11 year old Redi who falls for an older notorious trouble maker "Mabegzo". It deals with issues of crime, violence and rape and sees a much older Redi, trying to understand why "Mabegzo" was the way he was and also dealing with her own guilt for loving him. At the the core of this story is Pain and the one thing that I took from it, is the importance of healing so that you may be able to do better for the next generation.

I'm not sure I know how to review books, one thing I do know is a great read and this is one! Go out and buy it and please do share your thoughts on it.

   

Vuyi's World: My Latest Reads

Vuyi's World: My Latest Reads: These are the last four books Iv'e read, it's amazing how much they have in common...besides the fact that I had to...

My Latest Reads

These are the last four books Iv'e read, it's amazing how much they have in common, besides the fact that I had to take days between each one just to recover.

I don't know why I'm drawn to such heavy books, maybe it's because of  my own heaviness within...well that's a topic for another day. I get so excited when  I find good reads, my excitement is even more when the books are not only written by South Africans, but tell South African stories.

They deal with issues of abandonment, betrayal, guilt, depression, anger, violence and addiction. The theme that runs through all of them is PAIN!


They had me thinking how important it is to heal some of the hurts that were inflicted upon us by our parents or adults around us when we were children, sometimes unknowingly because they too were  repeating what had been said and done to them. Often just leading to vicious cycles of abuse. It's so important that once we know better we do better, many of us now have the gift of self awareness and we are all responsible for our own healing.

When all is said and done love is the foundation to raising a wholesome human being, but you can't give what you don't have.


I hope many will find healing through these stories...I know I did.

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"Bloom where you are planted..."

Heavenly Sounds

Anybody who knows me, knows that I absolutely love good music...especially the music of this continent. On any given day you will find the sounds of Mali and Senegal blaring from my stereo. The likes of Ali and Vieux Farka Toure, Alou Sangare, Baaba Maal, Bombino, Habib Koite, Youssou N'dour and many more others. When I listen to their music, I'm more than convinced that's what heaven sounds like.

I'm so loving Baaba Maal's "On The Road-Bootleg Edition Album" I've had it for a few months  now and a week doesn't go by without me playing it. It's 8 tracks of pure musical joy, it brings about so many emotions, it has the power to lift me up, move me to tears and make me wonder what a sad state the world would be in without music.

Like everything else in my life, I judge how good music is, based on how much it moves me. That's why this album gets 5 stars!!

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.”―Aldous Huxley

"My lover and I"

My lover and I connect deeply,passionately

Enough chemistry to set a science lab on fire

We gaze into each others eyes

As I whisper...please don't stop I like that

If only my lover and I connected from the heart

So for now I take the movie nights

The cooked delights conjured up in his kitchen

Knowing that soon my lover and I will part

Still my lover and I connect deeply

But sadly it's not from the heart

"Ca Va"

"Ca va" he said

I blushed and asked "what does that mean?"

Impressed by this beautiful stranger who spoke in a foreign tongue

"It means how are you? or I'm fine" he said

He stood firm and tall

Broad shoulders and crooked smile

I wanted him to whisper sweet nothings to me

And mesmerise me with his foreign words

It seemed like every time he said Ca va

I said goodbye and bon voyage

Turned out that his words were not the only thing that was foreign

He also belonged in a foreign land

So here we go again

Ca va...good bye...bon voyage

Till we meet again