Spring Break

by Njabulo Ngobese

Providing escapism from the bone chilling winter season, today marks the official start to everyone's favourite time of the year, spring. Excitement looms in the air as Durbanites can brace themselves for an array of festivities that will be gracing our shores. September being Heritage month, will see various celebrations across the country paying homage to South Africa's diverse and rich cultures.

"Celebrate Durban Halala 2011" is a yearly festival that combines music, art, dance, sport & various other activities that celebrate the spirit of humanity as well as embrace the various cultures that co-exist within Durban and South Africa as a whole. Art for Humanity (AFH) an NGO operating at the Durban University of Technology's City Campus under the directorship of Jan Jordaan, will be adding its contributions to the Celebrate Durban festivities by conducting workshops at 5 different schools around the Durban area. The idea behind the workshops is to encourage the youth to express themselves through their art. Whether it be poetry or sketches of drawings or paintings, the workshops give school children a voice that challenges any form of human injustice.

The celebrations of Heritage month kick started yesterday at the Green Hub as Celebrate Durban was officially launched. Durban's mayor James Nxumalo and eThekwini Spokesperson Loganathan Logie Naidoo were some of the guests present at the launch. Judging from the success of the launch, September promises endless excitement for Durbanites, local & international guests who will be gracing our shores during this month.



For more festivities taking place during the Celebrate Durban Halala 2011, visit: http://www.durbanexperience.co.za/Media/Pages/Halala_Durban_2011.aspx

For updates on the AFH school workshops you can visit our blog page: http://www.afhsouthafrica.blogspot.com/

An Angel of Mercy/For Our Children

An Angel of Mercy

by

Judy Woodborne

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door" - Emily Dickinson, Poet.

Judy Woodborne was born in 1966 in Cape Town. She obtained her BA in Fine Arts from Michaelis School of Fine Art in 1988 and an advanced Diploma in Printmaking with distinction in 1989. She was awarded her Master’s of Fine Arts degree with distinction from the University of Cape Town in 1993 with a dissertation entitled Moria, a Eulogy of Folly. She lives and works in Cape Town, and is a resident artist at Spencer Street Studios.

Poem:

For our children

Makhosazana Xaba

Write the wrongs

on our girls and boys

for everyone to know

about every single one,

then there’ll be

no excuse not to

right the wrongs

on our girls and boys

who in their own right

deserve a national rite

for all to declare:

Respect, Protect and Fulfill

the Rights of Girls and Boys.

Right the wrongs

on our girls and boys

who rightly await

the nation’s loud voices:

Respect, Protect and Fulfill

the Rights of Girls and Boys.

Right at birth our children expect

every right-minded person

to know without being told

that normalcy demands that we

Respect, Protect and Fulfill

the Rights of Girls and Boys.

Mo ntlheng ya bana ba rona

Setswana translation coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie

Siamisa diphoso

mo basetsaneng le mo basimaneng ba rona

bao ka tshiamo ba letetseng

mantswe a kwa godimo a setshaba:

Tlotla, Sireletsa le go Diragatsa

Ditshiamelo tsa Basetsana le Basimane.

A Brief Biography of Makhosazana Xaba

Makhosazana (Khosi) Xaba was born on 10 July 1957 in Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal to Glenrose Nomvula Mbatha and Rueben Bejanmin Xaba. She grew up in Ndaleni as the second of five children and currently lives in Jozi. these hands is her debut collection of poetry. She is one of the 12 poets ISIS-X, a women-only anthology of poetry and photography (Botsotso).

Before turning to writing, Khosi worked as a women’s health specialist for both local and international NGOs. She wrote and published extensively on health systems management, gender and health, and women’s health policies. She is currently a Writing Fellow at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WISER) working on a nonfiction biography project for a year.

She has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is the winner of the Deon Hofmeyr Award for Creative Writing (2005) for her unpublished short story called Running. Khosi’s poems have also appeared in: Timbila, Sister Namibia, poetsagainstthewar website, Women in Writing, Botsotso, South African Writing, Green Dragon and Echoes.

Precious Cargo/Her Elements of Life

Precious Cargo

by

Ernestine White

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. Great dancers are not great because of their technique, they are great because of their passion" - Martha Graham, American Choreographer.

Ernestine White received a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cape Town in 2004. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions and also received a Master Printer Certificate from the Tamarind Institute, Alberquerque, New Mexico.

Ernestine is currently the exhibition coordinator-curator for the Parliamentary Millennium Project at the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa.

Poem:

Her elements of life

Chantel Erfort

Face full and bright like the moon

Her dreams fly across the sky

Before bad dreams gather like clouds.

And yesterday she was just 8 years old

Now face full and bright like fire

Her eyes dart across the room

Before tears well like water

And yesterday she was just 8 years old

Now face full but not

Bright

Dulls into anger as she cries.

Ekuqakatheke ePilwenakhe

IsiNdebele translation: F Mahlangu

Ubuso obumomothekako ebuphazima njengenyezi

Amabhudango wakhe aphapha hlangana nesibhakabhaka

Ngaphambi kobana amabhudango amambi angahlangana njengamafu

Izolo lokhu ubeneminyaka ebu-8

Gadesi ubuso obumomomothekako buphazima njengomlilo

Amehlwakhe agijima kilo loke ikamero

Ngaphambi kobana iinyembezi ziwe njengamanzi

Izolo lokhu ubeneminyaka ebu-8

Gadesi ubuso buyamamatheka kodwana

Abuphazimi

Bukhombisa ilaka nakalilako

A Brief Biography of Chantel Erfort

Chantel Erfort is a writer, assistant editor at Cape Community Newspapers, co-foudner of a community arts projct the COLOUR: Spirit of the Flats, and co-owner of the community-based record label, DALA FLAT MUSIC. She oversees the DALA FLAT MUSIC’s 38 Special Words and Music project and is in the process of completing her first book The Meditation and Maths of Leaving, a compilation of short stories, poetry and letters to a long-lost friend.

At all times through her writing, Chantel strives to maintain and uphold the ethos of social upliftment through the arts as expressed by the DALA FLAT MUSIC and the COLOUR: Spirit of the Flats. Her work has been published in Women Flashing, a compilation of Flash Fiction by South African women writers (2005).

Weighing And Wanting/The Private Eucharist

Diane Victor

by

Weighing and Wanting

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a sub-humanly ugly mate?" - Germaine Greer, Academician

Diane Victor has worked in art making since graduating in printmaking in 1986 from Wits University. She has worked as an artist and lecturer at various institutions since 1992; teaching drawing and etching mainly at Pretoria University, but also at Wits Technikon (now University of Johannesburg), Pretoria Technikon (now Tshwane University of Technology), UNISA, Wits University, Vaal Technikon and recently at Rhodes University.

Diane’s determination to remain unbound to any one institution in a preference for flexible teaching, ties to her belief in cross-pollination between departments being more effective for her than administrative bondage to any one. This has allowed Diane the freedom to continue almost full time with her own personal art making processes and commissioned work.

She received the ABSA Atelier Award in 1988 granting ten months’ work and stay in Paris. Other residencies include a UNESCO residency in Vienna in 1999, a residency from Ampersand Foundation to New York City in 1998 and Vermont studio in the USA in 2002. Diane has had four solo shows at the Goodman Gallery since 1992 and exhibits consistently in South Africa and internationally.

Poem:

The Private Eucharist

Michelle McGrane

The old woman behind the pharmacy counter

passes forward a brown paper packet, her

shrivelled hands mottled, liver-spotted;

the accusatory, tight-lipped mien pronounces,

You young women destroy your health.

Listen Ouma, you're tempted to explain,

you don't know the half of it.

Instead, you smile, fade to nothing,

concentrate on crackling paper, your fingers

fidgety, thin-skinned animals.

Consecrated capsule on outstretched tongue,

squatting in a darkened room, you receive

the Holy Sacrament for Hungry Girls;

a private Eucharist to appease

your bare boned God of Reduction.

Give me this day my daily resolve,

the grace not to let a single morsel

pass through these lips,

amen.

After mass, spiritual ebullience: dry mouth

dizziness jaw-clenching palpitations…

Clutching the rosary of your martyrdom,

speedy strong in occult absolution,

you shrug with the insouciance

of the pardoned penitent;

every true believer pays a price.

Privaatnagmaal

Afrikaans translation: Marí Peté

Gehurk in ‘n skemer kamer,

kapsule geheilig op die tong, ontvang jy

die Sakrament vir Honger Dogters;

‘n Privaatnagmaal om jou benerige

God van Vermindering

te bevredig.

Gee my vandag my daaglikse wilskrag,

die genade om nie ‘n enkele krummel

oor my lippe te laat nie,

amen.

A Brief Biography of Michelle McGrane

Born in 1974 in Zimbabwe, Michelle McGrane spent her childhood in Malawi, and moved to South Africa with her family when she was fourteen. She has lived in Pietermaritzburg since 1988. Michelle has published two collections of poetry, Fireflies & Blazing Stars (2002) and Hybrid (2003). She was the recipient of the South African Writers' Circle Hilde Slinger Poetry Award in 2003 and the Quill Award in 2004.

Her poems have been published in local literary journals such as Fidelities, Botsotso, Kotaz, LitNet and Timbila as well as internationally in the United Kingdom, America and Canada. Michelle is dedicated to promoting South African writing and has a strong commitment to developing her work and the work of other writers.

She was involved as a mentor in the Agenda Feminist Media Project Creative Writing Programme in 2004 and was a participant in the Centre for the Book's Turning the Page festival of emerging South African writers held in 2004.

Acting Together (Join the Conversation)

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

A collaborative effort between Brandeis University and Theatre Without Borders has resulted in a project that has been in the running for the past six years working towards peacebuilding and performance in art whilst creating venues for artistic and scholarly exchange. This project is called "Acting Together (Join the Conversation)".



"Acting Together On The World Stage" is a feature-length documentary that will be launched this fall by "Acting Together". The documentary will comprise of a toolkit of videos and printed guides to aid educators, practitioners and policy makers. There will also be the first of two volumes of an anthology entitled Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict. The screening of the documentary will be on a global scale.



Film and print resources produced by Acting Together are a result of focused conversations and case studies that include highlight artists, peacebuilders and community leaders from every continent. The global outreach of the project streches as far as the aborigional community of Australia to artists holding their governments accountable for crimes in Uganda and the former Yogoslavia.

The art serves as a common factor between global communities that have all undergone similar trials and tribulations when it comes to social injustice. A project of Acting Together's calibre, bridges the gaps between all the cultures of the world and provides them with a platform to speak a common language of peace and righteousness.

Mother-Daughter/My Imagination & Daughter

Mother-Daughter

by

Elizabeth Vels

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn" - Harriet Beecher Stowe (writer)

Elizabeth Vels works in mixed media where she layers fragile and cast papers, etching, thread, stitching, paint, ink and text to make artists books and small sequantial works, or larger composite pieces on streched canvas. Her work mines the archaeology of her life of which according to her "reveals the miraculous in the every day".



She has work in Major Public Collections that include the S.A National Gallery Cape Town, Pretoria Art Gallery, Durban Art Gallery, Johannesburg Art Museum, South African Council of Churches, Sasol Collection, University of Stellenbosch to name a few.

Poem:

MY IMAGINATION

Teilharde Fregona

My mother gets ready to go out

I inhale her perfume so rich and so deep

The smell entangles my senses like the vines of a tree

She quickly leaves and I fall off to sleep

Colours explode, fireworks of my imagination

My mind is filled with hope, memories and dreams

All the information and knowledge is kept there

Like a bag overflowing ripped at the seams

I open my eyes but my room is shrouded in darkness

I am scared of the dark, a beast of the night

I shut my eyes tightly and hear the front door

It’s my mother she’s back, things will be alright.

DAUGHTER

Charl Fregona

There are things you should know about

My silent heart,

My dumb tongue.

I know that you breathe the echo of perfume on my pillow

That you clothe yourself in my gown,

Black silk, twist your hair round,

Try to wear my frown

That you sing to keep me in

And stagger across the floor of your life

Wearing my ridiculous stilettos

Because you think you are alone.

I push back mute longing.

We see exactly who we are in our mirrors.

Because you are patterned in my cells,

I carry you across the great divide

Along that steep edge between death and forever,

Lead us through the struggle of birth into love of living.

My divine burden, my heart speaks.

I have been before.

You are not home alone

I am here with strong round walls to enclose you.

Umcabango wami

Siswati translation of poem extract coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie

Ngihogela emakha akhe ladulile nalanukelelako

Leliphunga livakala emiveni yami njengensimu yetihlahla

Imibala iyadubuka, imililo lekhona emicabangweni yami

Ingcondvo yami igcwele ngelitsemba, tinkhumbulo kanye nemaphupho

Ngivule emehlo ami kodvwa likamelo lami likhungatfwe bumnyama

Ndvodzakati

Siswati translation of poem extract coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie

Ngiyati kutsi uphefumlela emakha lamnandzi emcamelweni wakho

Utigcokisa I-gawuni yami,

Isilika lemnyama,ushwile tinwele takho,

Uzama kuswaca njengami

Kutsi uyahlabela kute ungigcine

Kungumtfwalo wami, inhlitiyo yami iyakhuluma

Ngikwentile kucala.

Awusiwedvwa laph’ ekhaya

Ngikhona netindvonga leticinile ngikukakile.

A Brief Biography of Teilharde & Charl Fregona

Tei Fregona was born in 1992 in Durban and is a student in Kloof High School.She has had three books published by Umsinsi Press. Tei sings, plays the guitar and loves reading. She is currently planning on becoming a pop star, but cannot make up her mind if she would rather train dolphins or be a trapeze artist instead. Tei has been writing poetry since she started reading and writing.

Charl Fregona was born in Prieska, in the Northern Cape, but grew up in Zimbabwe. Charl is an instructional designer at the Centre for Higher Education Development at the Durban University of Technology, and is currently studying for a PhD in web-based learning and teaching.

She has three children, loves to read and travel. Her first poem was published at the age of nine and she has subsequently been published in Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States as a short story writer, a poet and a novelist. She has edited a number of poetry anthologies, one of which is Liz Vels’s collection, Handspun.

Women with a Cause

by Njabulo Ngobese

A project that has prided itself at taking initiative in addressing issues related to social and gender injustice has been the cornerstone for art feminists that hold no prisoners when it comes to political action for women's rights.

The Philani Printing Project was initiated in 1997 by the Philani Nutrition Project, the Western Cape Department of Social Services and primarily funded by South Africa's Department of Welfare. Established by a group of Xhosa women artists, the Philani Printing Project was built on the grounds of empowering women both politically and socially. The program educates, employs and empowers women with all the necessary skills to eradicate social ills such as child malnutrition and poverty.

The foundation of the Philani Printing Project was built around the ideology of empowering women first with financial security of which transfers to independence and then results to mothers taking better care of their children's needs. The Philani Printing Project has its roots firm in the South African township regions where the rate of unemployment and poverty are at its peak.

The work produced at the Philani Printing Project is exhibited and sold both locally and internationally and they operate at the Crossroads township on the outskirts of Cape Town. For more information, visit their website at : http://www.philani.org.za/about.php

Hope/Every Mother Hobo Is My Mother

Hope

by

Bronwen Vaughan-Evans

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others" - Peace Pilgrim, Spiritual Leader

The University of Natal graduate with a Master's degree in Fine Art in 1995, Bronwen Vaughan-Evans is a Durban based artist that has received a merit award in for the Sasol New Signatures Art Competition and has been involved in solo exhibitions that include the One-Zero-One exhibition and the Negotiated Spaces exhibition that was shared with Nontobeko Ntombela at the end of 2006.

Bronwen is currently lecturing part time in the Fine Art Department at the Durban University of Technology.

Poem:

Every mother Hobo is my mother

Nise Malange

I was born under the bridge of the harbour

I was born with double pneumonia,

Frail, underweight and undernourished

Everyone thought I was not going to live

But my mother said I was a fighter

A tiny ugly little fighter

Whose umbilical cord was cut by a mother hobo

Using the broken beer bottle

My frail body only covered by old smelly

Towels and rugs from all the mother hobos around me

I was surrounded by love and caring

Every cents was kept to buy me formula and bottle

Everyone collected old baby clothes

My skin does not know the softness of baby clothes

I did not know the smell of new clothes.

So this is what I was told

So what did I know

What have I experience

Pain is my name and hunger is my middle name

I fight every day because other girls do not like me

I sniff glue so that I can be brave

I smoke dagga so that I can hallucinate

And feel good about my self

I never beg for money for food

But work for it

Since five men have open my legs

And touch my private parts

Every mother claimed me as hers so that

They can sell me as a sex slave

And get money for gavin (concoction of spirit, pineapple etc)

Six seven I remember every penetration, sweat

And scream of every colour and size

I do not remember when I have my first period

But remember men yelling and screaming because

I was dirty

So do not judge because you do not know where

I come from

Do not ask me where my home is because

I never have one

Do not ask me about my mother

Who gave birth to me because she died?

Few months after I was born

Do not ask me about my father because

Every homeless man in the street

Is my father

I am no longer the tiny ugly duck anymore

But beautiful and a body of a modeller

but suffer from suffer and irritate

my bosses when I have attacks

I am still in the streets of Durban

I come out only at night because

I am now a professional sex slave,

My body is an income for a man

Who claims to be my father

But still sleeps with me

he collects money paid to abuse my body

I get bitten up and horrible things done

To my little body

I am sometimes treated like a queen

When I am to serve dollars and euros

I get pampered and perfumed

I drink red wine and eat prawns

But cannot be in the streets for days

Because of all the money they pay

So do not judge me but pray for me

Because I do not know who will

Push me down the 15th floor

You know under this thick skin

There is still that little ugly fighter

Who is still underweight and undernourished?

Who still fight in the street so that she can lives

Any bridge under the harbour is my sanctuary

Because that is where my umbilical cord lies

That is also, where my mother afterbirth is buried

That where my home is.

That is where my memory begins

Umama onguSkhotheni ungumama wami

IsiZulu translation of poem extract: Nise Malange

Ngizalwe ngaphansi kwebholoho nginenyumoniya

Ngondile,ngimncane ngingondlekile kodwa ngiyisiqhwaga

Inkaba yami yanqunywa ngebhodlela likabhiya elifile

Umzimba wami awubazi ubuntofontofo bezingubo zabantwana

Ngazi ubuhlungu,indlala nokwesaba

Ngibhema iglu ukuze ngithole isibindi

Ngibuye ngibheme nensangu ukuze ngidakwe

Angikaze ngiyicele imali, ngiyayisebenzela

Kusukela ngineminyaka emihlanu ngiyisigqila socansi

Manje amadoda akhokha amadola namayuro aphesheya

Ngiyashaywa,ngidakiswe ngihlukunyezwe ngokocansi

Ngakhoke ungangihluleli ngoba awazi lapho ngiphuma khona.

A Brief Biography of Nise Malange

Nise Malange is the current director of the BAT Centre, and was born in Cape Town. She has been involved in social, political and community work for many years. After the unbanning of all political organisations in 1991, Nise founded the Stories that Can Heal project, an initiative that focused on the victims of political violence, using stories and poetry as means of healing past traumas.

In 1996, when the Truth and Reconciliation hearings were being undertaken, Nise’s project was invited to extend its work to help victims come to terms with the distressful conditions they were facing. She is currently working with young women who have been victims of rape and sexual abuse.

Children Should Be Seen And Heard/My World In Mama's Hands

Children Should Be Seen And Heard

by

Avitha Sooful

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"I decided it is better to scream. Silence is the real crime against humanity" - Nadezhda Mandelstam, Russian writer, Hope Against Hope

Avi Sooful holds a Masters degree in Fine Art from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban. She is currently a senior lecturer at the Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark. She has participated in various exhibitions nationally and internationally. Her most recent exhibition was at the Cité Internationalle des Arts, Paris.

Poem:

My world in Mama’s hands

Lebogang Mashile

My world is in Mama’s hands and in Papa’s lap

On Oupa’s shoulders and on Gogo’s back

My world is an unformed promise

As soft as my flesh

Laced with a ferocious warning

Not to harm a hair’s breath

A different hue of love is calling

One compose of rivers wept

By those before me who prayed for morning

I crawl on their steps

In Mama’s hands and in Papa’s lap

On Oupa’s shoulders and on Gogo’s back.

I am a new day

Touch me gently

There is no going back.

Lefatshe la ka Matsohong a mme

Sesotho translation: Mohau Letsie

Lefatshe la ka moetshong a mme hedima ntate

Mahetleng a ntatemolo le mokotlong wa nkgono

Lefatshe la ka ke thepiso sa hlophiswang

Le bonolo jwaloka letlalo la ka

Le tletse dihlokomediso tse bohale

Hore ho seke ha utlwiswa moya bohloko

Mofuta o fapaneng wa lerato o ntse o bitsa

O tshwanang le noka ha e lla

Jwaloka bao ba tlileng pele ho nna ba rapella mafube

Ke kgasa mehlaleng ya bona

Matsohong a mme le hodima ntate

Mahetleng a ntatemoholo le mokokotlang wa nkgono

Ke letsatsi le letjha

Ntshware ka hloko

Ha ho sa na ho kgutlela morao

A Brief Biography Of Lebogang Mashile

Lebo Mashile has been called the ‘It’ Girl of South African poetry, a wordsmith extraordinaire, a visual verbalist, an icon of modern South African poetry. Lebogang’s tireless work ethic has earned her creative titles including published author, executive producer, actress, poet, independent record producer, corporate and independent event MC, life skills facilitator/speaker and television series presenter.

Lebo takes on social debate and it is reflected in her continually increasing body of work. In 2004, Lebo debuted as a film actress in the Academy Award Nominated Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George. Also in 2004, Mashile became executive producer and presenter of the SABC 1 documentary series L’Attitude, now in its third season.

Lebo Mashile was named by Cosmopolitan Magazine, as one of South Africa’s Awesome Women of 2005.

Sindisiwe

Sindisiwe

by

Pontso Sikhosana

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"I am prepared to sacrifice every so-called privilege I possess in order to have a few rights." -

Inez Milholland, Suffragist 1909

Pontso Sikhosana started her art career in 1992 during her matric year. She later enrolled at the Funda Centre (AIA) in Soweto where she completed her 3 year diploma in Fine Arts under the supervision of Charles Nkosi. Pontso went on to join the Artist Proof Studio in Newtown Johannesburg where she started printmaking. It was at this point she realised she wanted to be an artist. Under the mentorship of Aileen Foti and Kim Berman, Pontso grew her skills and qualified as a printmaker.

Apart from working and collaborating with different artists, Pontso has also been involved in a number of print exchanges such as the Sharpeville Exchange. She has also collaborated with other women artists on the Doll Project, which dealt with raising awareness of child abuse.

Poem:

Sindisiwe

Arja Salafranca

Raising my camera,

you hide your sign,

again and again.

I look through the viewfinder,

but you’re too quick,

the minute I click,

you pull your sign away.

You won’t let me take your photo with a sign

that places you at somewhere at the bottom,

asking for money.

Even when a woman rolls down her car window

to palm change into your hand,

your sign is hidden,

a slightly puzzled smile on your six-year-old face.

Your mother sits on the opposite side of a busy thoroughfare,

She’s been there for years.

Children like you have been begging there for years.

You may even have been there since you were a baby

on your mother’s back.

Sindisiwe

Sesotho translation of poem extract coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie

Ha ke phahamisa khamera ya ka,

o pata letshwao la hao,

hape le hape.

Ke a sheba ka aparata ya khamera,

empa o a potlaka,

ka nako eo ke ho nkang setshwantsho,

o pata letshwao la hao.

Ha o ntumelle ho o nka setshwantsho ka letshwao

le ho behang kaekae tlase,

o kopa tjhelete.

Leha mosadi a bula fenstere ya koloi ya hae

ho o kgakeletsa tjhelete lehofing la hao,

letshwao la hao le patehile,

lebonyo le le nyenyane la ho makala sefahlehong sa ngwana wa hao ya dilemo tse

tsheletseng.

A Brief Biography on Arja Salafranca

Arja Salafranca was born in 1971 in Spain to a Spanish father and a South African mother. She has lived in South Africa since the age of five. In 1993 she received a degree in African Literature and Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has had fiction and poetry published in a number of local journals and anthologies, including The Finishing Touch (Cosaw, 1992), Like a House on Fire (Cosaw 1994), LyfSpel/BodyPlay (Kagiso, 1994), The Torn Veil (1998) and in In the Rapids (Kwela 2001).

Her first poetry collection, A life stripped of illusions, received the 1994 Sanlam Award for poetry, while a short story, ‘Couple on the Beach’ was a winner of the same award in 1999 for short fiction. Her second collection of poetry, The fire in which we burn, was published in 2000. A collection of prose and poetry, Glass Jars Among Trees, which she edited with the poet Alan Finlay, was published in 2003 by Jacana. Arja has worked for various newspapers in Johannesburg and now edits the Sunday Life supplement in The Sunday Independent.

Mothers Grieve 11 Lives Lost

by Njabulo Ngobese

11 kids all under the age of 12 were killed in a bus accident that happened between Knysna and Sedgefield in Southern Cape yesterday morning. The driver lost control of the bus and crashed into the Knysna bridge into the river. The rear end of the bus was the only part left sticking out. The survivors were rushed to hospital to be treated for injuries. Divers were at the scene in search of more bodies while the police investigated the matter further.

The tragedy will be a tough pill to swallow for the mother's of the children that were lost in the accident as it has never been a sign of good fortune for a mother to bury her own child. AFH sends it condolences to the families of the victims in this time of difficulty.

Untitled 2006/War Triptych: Silence, Glory, Love

Untitled. 2006

by

Berni Searle

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

"How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!" - Maya Angelou, African American Poet

Born in 1964 in Cape Town, Berni Searle is best known for producing digital video and lens based media installations. Her work references ongoing explorations around issues of self-representation, personal and collective identity. Berni was short listed for the international Artes Mundi award in 2004 and in 2003 she was presented locally with the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist award. That resulted with a solo exhibition, Float that toured nationally until 2004.

Other solo exhibitions that Berni has participated in include, A Matter of Time at the UC Berkeley (2003), Presence at the Speed Museum, Louisville (2005) and About to Forget at Michael Stevenson Contemporary, Cape Town (2005). Her most recent group exhibitions include, Hang In There, My Dear Geum-Sun, Busan Biennale at the Busan Metropolitan Art Meseum, Seoul (2004); Min(e)dfields at the Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel (2004); the fifth Shanghai Biennale at the Shanghai Art Museum in China (2004) and the 'Always a Little Further' at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005).

Poem:

War Triptych: Silence, Glory, Love

Gabeba Baderoon

I. Accounting

The mother asked to stay.

She looked at her silent child.

I was waiting for you.

The quiet of the girl’s face was a different quiet.

Her hands lay untouched by death.

The washer of bodies cut

away her long, black dress.

Blue prayer beads fell

to the floor in a slow accounting.

The washer of bodies began to sing

a prayer to mothers and daughters.

The mother said,

who will wait for me.

II. Father Receives News His Son Died in the Intifada

When he heard the news, Mr Karim became silent.

He did not look at the cameras,

nor at the people who brought their grief.

He felt a hand slip from his hand,

a small unclasping,

and for that, he refused the solace of glory.

III. Always for the First Time

We tell our stories of war like stories

of love, innocent as eggs.

But we will meet memory again

at the wall around our city,

always for the first time.

Uyabalisa

IsiZulu translation of poem extract: EM Mabuza

Uma ucela ukuhlala

Ubheke ingane yakhe ethulile

Bengilindele wena

Ukuthula ebusweni bentombazane bekunokuthula okwahlukile

Izandla zayo kunokufa okungathintwa

Ogeza imizimba usika ilokwe lakhe elide

Ubuhlalu bokuthandaza obuluhlaza kwesibhakabhaka

Buwele phansi ngokunensa bubalisa

Ogeza imizimba waqala ukucula

Umthandazo wabomama kanye namadodakazi

Uma wathi,

Ngubani ozolinda mina.

nguGabeba Baderoon, ekhishwe eqoqweni Iphupho Emzimbeni ozolandela

A Brief Biography on Gabeba Baderoon

Gabeba Baderoon is the author of three collections of poetry, The Dream in the Next Body (Kwela/Snailpress, 2005), The Museum of Ordinary Life (DaimlerChrysler, 2005) and A hundred silences (Kwela/Snailpress, 2006). Her poems appear in the anthologies Worldscapes (Oxford University Press, 2005), Ten Hallam Poets (Mews Press, 2005), Voices from All Over (Oxford University Press, 2006) and Birds in Words (Umuzi/Random House, 2006) and her short fiction is included in Twist (Oshun, 2006).

Gabeba is the recipient of the DaimlerChrysler Award for South African Poetry 2005 and held the Guest Writer Fellowship at the Nordic Africa Institute in 2005. Her debut collection, The Dream in the Next Body was named a Notable Book of 2005 by the Sunday Independent and A hundred silences was selected for Homebru 2006 by Exclusive Books. Both the The Dream in the Next Body and A hundred silences were Sunday Times Recommended Books.Gabeba has been a featured poet in the 16 Days of Activism readings, and at Poetry Africa, Weltklang in Berlin, the Stockholm Poetry Festival, Poetry International in Rotterdam and London and the Bristol Poetry Festival.

The Miseducation of Womanhood

by Njabulo Ngobese

10 years ago on this very month, South Africa played host to the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. Music being an influential medium amongst many, Grammy award winning and globally renowned musician Lauryn Hill was scheduled to grace the South African shores with a 3 city tour that was aimed at spreading awareness about the conference and its importance in society. Although Lauryn Hill eventually cancelled the tour, to many it was a great sign of change to come in acknowledging a female artist of colour to endorse an event of this nature.

Listed in Rolling Stones' magazine top 500 list of the greatest albums of all time, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is a critically acclaimed stand alone classic that explores the struggles of women that deal with the daily pressures of living up to the expectations of society. Following the success of her former group's album The Score by The Fugees, Lauryn Hill excelled beyond the pressures and expectations she faced to succeed with her debut solo project. The numbers spoke for themselves as the The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill debuted at 1 in the Billboard 200 chart with over 400 000 record sales during its first week.

Little has been said about the monumental value the album holds for female figures in past, present and future generations. The well thought out masterpiece is a living testament of the daily struggles women deal with. Whether it be social, gender or human injustice, the album acknowledges and celebrates the spirit of womanhood. The likes of Durban based songstress and rapper Skye Wanda, can bear attribute to the influence the work of Lauryn Hill has had in her life since the inception of her career as an artists. Also a victim of gender in-equality in an industry that was at some stage male saturated, Skye Wanda is symbolic to a female artist that has lived through the guidance of Lauryn Hill's words to establish herself as a well respected and independent entity in the Durban music scene.

A song that was close to heart for many was the heart felt tribute to her first born Zion David. The song speaks of a woman who is encouraged by the outside world to give up her child for stardom and music success. In the end however, Lauryn Hill kept her child and still reigned supreme with the success of her debute album.

Deeply internalised through song, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill continues to serve its purpose in uplifting women all over the world with its timeless jewels of wisdom.

Where Are The Cows? (Ziphi Iinkomo)/Looking Up

Where Are The Cows? (Ziphi Iinkomo)

by

Beverley Samler

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

We continue to salute and pay homage to the women in arts who have used their skills to be actively involved in the fight for basic human rights.

Beverly Samler was born in Zambia and lived most of her life in Zimbabwe. In 1980 she came down to South Africa and settled in the Eastern Cape. After a long break she found herself painting again and ended up at the Buffalo City Public FET College's printmaking studio where she studied for four years under Rose Warren.

Beverly's passion for printmaking is balanced with other media, such as photography and painting. With two solo exhibitions held in the Eastern Cape, she has also exhibited in numerous group showings locally and in Zimbabwe. In 2003, Beverly participated in the third international Printmaking Conference in Cape Town, where she was involved in the production of a community based project and exhibition, Salted Lines. Other printmaking conferences and exhibitions Beverly attended include the Germany and Poland conference held in 2005 where she initiated and co-facilitated an exhibition Proud Survivors. And she also exhibited at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown.

Beverly is a board member for the Ann Bryant Art Gallery. She is motivated to use art to improve and educate her community.

Poem:

Looking up

Finuala Dowling

The moment before you died

You looked up,

The way all children look up: hopefully.

You were expecting us to come

But we didn’t come.

You see --

The economy has been growing at 3.2% per year

Many of our shopping malls have parking for over 1000 cars

Things have been looking up

We’ve had a lot of new stuff to look after

Of course, when we read how you’d died,

You had three hundred thousand mothers;

You had four hundred thousand fathers.

Yet it’s true that the moment before you died,

You looked up, and no one came.

Impucuko

IsiXhosa translation: Tessa Dowling and Nosipho Tshabane

Umzuzwana phambi kokuba usweleke

Wajonga phezulu

Ngendlela bonke abantwana abajonga ngayo: ngethemba.

Ubulindele okokuba sifike

Kodwa zange sifike.

Uyabona ke --

Uqoqosho lunyuke kakuhle ngonyaka

iivenkile zethu ezinkulu zineendawo zokupaka iimoto ezingaphezu kwewaka

Izinto ziye zaphucuka

Besinezinto ezininzi ezintsha esinokujonga kuzo

Kaloku, sakuba sifunde indlela obusweleke ngayo

Ubunentlaninge yoomama;

Ubunentlaninge yootata.

Nangona, uthe ngomzuzwana phambi kokuba usweleke

Wajonga phezulu,

Kodwa akwabikho

namnye ufikayo

A Brief Biography of Finuala Dowling

Finuala Dowling is a former Unisa lecturer now working as a freelance writer. She has published two volumes of poetry, I Flying (awarded the Ingrid Jonker Prize) and Doo-Wop Girls of the Universe. She is also the author of a novel, What Poets Need, several short stories published in local and international anthologies, and an award-winning comedy, Bungee Writing Finals. She lives with her extended family in Kalk Bay, Cape Town.

Push 'n Pull/Groote Schuur Paediatric

Push 'N Pull

by

Kerry-Lyn Potgieter

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

The strength of a woman is embodied in the work she's done in shaping our society into a perfect place of harmony where each & every can co-exist peacefully.

The East London born and breaded Kerry-Lyn Potgieter is a well travelled spirit that has journeyed extensively throughout the United Kingdom, Europe and the Middle East. She has produced work at Edinburgh Printmakers and at Oxford Printmakers, whilst developing her skills in the art of metal etchings. Kerry-Lyn currently resides in her place of birth and lecturing in the Department of Art and Design at the Buffalo City Public FET College, satellite campus of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

The Buffalo City Community Art Project is a project that Kerry-Lyn developed and initiated with the Salted Lines: Image from the Mouth of the Buffalo Exhibition being the resultant. The exhibition was showcased at the third Impact International Printmaking Conference in Cape Town. The purpose behind the project was to impart knowledge, whilst promoting skills development and training. Kerry-Lyn has been involved in many art-related projects within the educational sector, privately as well as with artists affiliated with the David Krut Printmaking studio in Johannesburg. She has participated in numerous exhibitions and international printmaking conferences.

Poem:

Groote Schuur Paediatric

Liesl Jobson

The mountain is gone

under grey sandwich clouds

and I’m waiting, Mama.

Baby repairs won’t fly

this time. The policeman

prodded Uncle, took him away.

I’m going down too.

I can’t walk another

twist and bump day

on this push me pull

poke heavy weather path.

Slap ‘n tickle games aren’t funny.

I can’t take a joke.

Game’s over; you coming now?

I’m waiting at the hospital, Mama.

Bolotabana ka Groote Schuur

Sesotho sa Leboa translation: LP Boshego

Thaba e utame

ka fase ga marumasehla

feka nna ke letile, Mma.

Dithuša bana di ka se šome

lebakeng le. Lephodisa la

kgotla Malome, Motloše fa.

Le nna ke sepela le naye.

Nka se kgone go sepela

letšatši le lengwe gape la dimenya le

dikhwiti mo tseleng ye ya phoukara

ya nkgorometše nkgoge.

Go phaphatha le go tsikitlana

ga se papadi tše bose.

Ga ke ke amogele metlai.

Dipapadišane di fedile; na o a tla?

Ke go emetše mo sepetlela, Mma

A Brief Biography on Liesl Jobson

Liesl Jobson is a Johannesburg musician. Her poetry and fiction have appeared, or are forthcoming in, South African journals New Coin, Kotaz, Botsotso, Fidelities, Chimurenga, Carapace, Green Dragon, Laugh It Off, New Contrast, and Sweet Magazine. Internationally her work appears in online and print journals including The Southern Review, Sleeping Fish, Tough Times Companion, Crosscut, Noö Journal, The Journal of Modern Post, InkPot, The Christian Communicator, Oasis, 3:AM (USA), LICHEN Journal (Canada) and The journal, Aesthetica, Bonfire and Brittle Star (UK).

She was the focus poet in Timbila 2005 and The Hiss Quarterly (August 2005). Her poetry is featured at Southern Rain Poetry and she won the POWA Women's Writing Poetry Competition (2005) and the Inglis House Poetry Contest in 2003. She edits poetry for Mad Hatters’ Review and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2005. Liesl received the 2006 Ernst van Heerden Award from the University of the Witwatersrand, where she completed an MA in Creative Writing.

Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Russell was born in Wales in 1872.  His parents were John and Catherine Russell - Lord and Lady Amberly - and his godfather was the English philosopher, John Stuart Mill.  His grandfather, Lord John Russell (1804 – 1874) was Prime Minister of Great Britain on two separate occasions.  Tragically, Russell’s parents and younger sister died when he was three years old; his mother and sister were stricken by diphtheria, and his father was overcome by bronchitis soon afterwards.  He subsequently lived with his paternal grandparents in England.

As a young man, he studied in Cambridge and was friends with such notables as Alfred North Whitehead, Ludwig Wittgenstein, GE Moore and John Maynard Keyes.  Philosophically, Russell broke away from Hegelian Idealism – a philosophical system that proposed an abstract and mystical view of reality - and shifted his emphasis to logical and linguistic analysis instead.

He is renowned for his works in technical philosophy and mathematics.  In 1910, he published the Principia Mathematica with his colleague, Alfred North Whitehead; this work is considered to be one of the most profound academic treatises of the twentieth century.  An integral part of this master work was the concept of logicism – an area of study that holds that mathematics could be reduced to a few basic ideas and principles of logic.  He is also famous for the so-called “Russell’s Paradox” or the Theory of Types.

What is not so well known is his lifelong battle against social injustice and state-sponsored violence.  He was profoundly sensitive to the suffering of mankind.  His definition of the good life is one, “Inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”  In his lifetime, Russell combined his impassioned and unassailable logic with political action in defense of reason and human happiness.  He was so ardent in his convictions that he was imprisoned twice by the British government.  On one of these occasions, he was arrested on November 20, 1948 for his involvement in a ban-the-bomb demonstration in London.

In his working lifetime, he wrote some four hundred letters to the editor between 1904 and 1969 regarding such topics as World War II, Fascism, McCarthyism, the Cold War and the threat of Nuclear Annihilation.  In addition, he authored eighty books and several thousand articles.  He had a lifelong interest in the areas of social conscience and human rights.  According to Russell, “Three passions simple but overwhelmingly strong have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge and an unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”

In regards to his politics, Russell supported the principles of socialism in his book, German Social Democracy, but took issue with Marx’s idea regarding the necessity for violent revolution to supplant the status quo.  In 1906, he ran for Parliament as a member of the Liberal Party and lost the election.

In 1914, he went to Harvard to teach and there he met TS Eliot, the famous poet.  During his stay at Harvard, he wrote Our Knowledge of the External World, a collection of lectures published in 1914. In this book, Russell struggles with the difficulty that the individual has in comprehending the external world.  He was an empiricist who incorporated the logic of mathematics into his thinking.

Russell joined the pacifist cause during World War I and was an adamant opponent of military conscription.  In 1916, he was fined for pamphleteering on behalf of conscientious objectors and was dismissed from his lectureship at Cambridge.  His opposition was seen as so threatening that by 1917 the government forbade him to travel abroad, and in 1918, he spent six months in prison for his anti-war writing; notable among these are – Why Men Fight (1916) and Justice in War Time (1917).

In the years leading up to World War II, Russell foresaw the approaching calamity in Europe.  He was a strong advocate of pacifism and urged pacifism as an alternative should war come.  He detailed his views in his books, Which Way to Peace published in 1936 and Power: A New Social Analysis published in 1938.  In this latter work, one of his conclusions was that military force or “naked power” is a fundamental aspect of human history, and is at the foundation of the monopoly of violence which we call the State.  Furthermore, in his analysis, he determined that military force is used predominantly for the control of territory.

In his work entitled, Religion and Science, Russell compared the extremist and fanatical views of those who aligned themselves with communism and fascism to the religious fanaticism that retarded scientific and human progress for some 300 years after Copernicus.  His prescription for an escape from this mindset was individual free thought and a balance of scientific rationality and compassion.  On account of his controversial views and influence, he was blacklisted and was unable to find work or publish his views.  This would haunt him throughout the war.

Following the Second World War, the prospect of annihilation of human civilization with the advent of the atomic bomb and Cold War politics dominated his writing and thinking for the remainder of his life.  He collaborated with Einstein and together they issued the Russell-Einstein Manifesto on July 9, 1955.  In it they state,

“In the tragic situation which confronts humanity, we feel that scientists should assemble in conference to appraise the perils that have arisen as a result of the development of weapons of mass destruction, and to discuss a resolution in the spirit of the appended draft.

“We are speaking on this occasion, not as members of this or that nation, continent, or creed, but as human beings, members of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. The world is full of conflicts; and, overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between Communism and anti-Communism.

“Almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues; but we want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings and consider yourselves only as members of a biological species which has had a remarkable history, and whose disappearance none of us can desire.

“We shall try to say no single word which should appeal to one group rather than to another. All, equally, are in peril, and, if the peril is understood, there is hope that they may collectively avert it.

“We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves, not what steps can be taken to give military victory to whatever group we prefer, for there no longer are such steps; the question we have to ask ourselves is: what steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous to all parties?”

Russell was also the President of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Committee of 100.  He both advocated and practiced civil disobedience, and as a consequence of his activism was arrested at the age of 89.  During the Cuban missile crisis that nearly resulted in nuclear Armageddon, Russell exchanged telegrams with Premier Khrushchev and President John F. Kennedy pleading that they step back from the brink of nuclear war. 

Even at the age of 91 (1963), he remained active and founded the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation advocating world peace and human rights.  Nine heads of state were sponsors of this foundation including Prime Minister Nehru of India.  He was also an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War and initiated an International War Crimes Tribunal in accordance with the principles set down by the Allies at Nuremburg.

He died in 1970.  Bertrand Russell was both a renowned man of letters - he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950 - and a man of conscience and deep moral conviction.  He left a remarkable legacy of thought and action that remains relevant to this day.

Born To Raise A Man

Born To Raise A Man

by

Nontobeko Ntombela

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

The spirit of womanhood continues its reign as we pay homage to the works of female artists who have dedicated themselves at fighting for children's rights through their arts and trades.

Born in 1982 at Empangeni, Nontobeko Ntombela, now living and working in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal is a Fine Art graduate of the Durban University of Technology. She has been actively involved in both arts administration and practising art and has been part of successful art events such as the recent exhibition titled 'Negotiated Space' a travelling show by Ntombela and Bronwen Vaughan-Evans amongst others.

Nontobeko has worked with a number of organisations including Art for Humanity, BAT Centre Trust, Community Art Project, Young People for Change, Amafa/heritage KwaZulu-Natal and now at the Durban University of Technology as the Gallery Curator.

Poem:

Born to Raise a Man

Bandile Gumbi

Son of my sister

My son

The ambers of resistance

Are now sown

In the flicker of your eyes

I leave this story

To mould

The man born of woman

Son of my sister

My son

You who was conceived

When freedom was an embryo

Born at the wake

Of yet another revolution

The burden of your future

Is in the hands

That will raise you

You who will take root

When another imperialist power

Is in the market for your identity

When destruction

Does not come only in nuclear weaponry

But feed to all your senses

Filling some with senselessness

Son of my sister

My son

I don’t aim

To define your manhood

But to nurture the women in your genes

Their strength shall complete your initiation

To a world of mudslides

And volcanic ramblings

May your walk in dignity

Your birth-right

Bend only to guide your step

Never to compromise your principles

Son of my sister

My son

I pray for your hands

Never to be raised in anger

But in exhilaration

As you conquer

Yet another stumbling block

May your dreams be filled with guiding force

At the depth of your youthful confusion

To usher you to clarity

Son of my sister

My son

You whose born of women.

For Tumisa on his 1st Birthday

Wazalelwa Indoda

IsiZulu translation of poem extract: Bandile Gumbi

Ndodana kadadewethu

ndodana yami.

Wena owabambwa

Inkululeko isayumbungu

Wazalwa ngasikhathi somunye umbangazwe

Ikusasalakho

lisezandleni ezizokukhulisa.

A Brief Biography of Bandile Gumbi

Bandile Gumbi holds a BA Social Science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Since 2000 she has performed in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town, mainly at poetry clubs and art exhibitions. She is a founding member of 3rd Eye Vision, an artist-administrated interdisciplinary arts organisation based in Durban. Her self-published Pangs of Initiation was recently launched in Durban.

She performed at Poetry Africa 2004. Bandile is currently studying through correspondance for a Masters in Communication for Development through Malmo University, Sweden and since the beginning of 2006, has been working as a freelance events manager based in Johannesburg.