The DREAMS DO COME TRUE Tour - Part 20, Old Mutual - Braamfontein

   The group photograph we took with the Old Mutual staff members at the end of this talk was a highlight for me. It was a fitting end to a presentation that I think went well.
   It was with the grace of the manager and her staff that this talk(on Wed 6th Nov.) took place as per plan. On another day, at another place, this presentation would have been cancelled. That is because yours truly was a bit late in arriving. We continue to be grateful for small mercies.

                                           SOME THANK YOU's  
- Ausi Ruth( the Manager) - For your 'go ahead' and understanding.
- Old Mutual staff members - For hearing me out, and your liking of our 'F-G' clap.
- The 2nd, later 3rd, lady from my right - For your two 'F-G' clap requests. 'Much appreciated ausi.'

                                           ==================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"To succeed we have to push on to experience new 
opportunities, to look beyond our current reality.
There is of course a great sense of risk about all of this. It
is clearly easier to stay where and as we are, even if we 
are not happy with our current situation." 

Jack Black( from the book MINDSTORE)

                                       ========================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                            ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

                   

Tales from the Deep South, Part 5 - A Course in Township Management(TM)

   We roam the township streets during the day when people are at work.

Seemingly, we are doing so aimlessly. But this is not so. There is method to our roaming.

We are students. We are doing a 'course' called Township Management(TM). The chief aim of this course is to teach people how to manage a township. And you do your learning by walking around the township streets; checking that everything is running smoothly ekasi.

   Anybody can study 'TM'. All you have to do is be at home on any week day and then walk the 'loction' streets during the day. And you can do the course for as long as you want because it is done for free. The 'TM' course is not exclusive to the Deep South kasi though. There are 'TM' students of all ages in every township in South Africa.

   We all have different reasons for doing 'TM'. Some of us are cheese boys/girls. That is, we are spoiled kids. We have no inclination to look for a job because our parents work for us. They provide for all our material needs. A large percentage of 'TM' students here in the Deep South in the 'bonded' houses section fall into this category.

   Other 'TM' students - especially from across( mekhukhung) - cannot genuinely find employment, for one reason or another.

   Whatever your reason for doing 'TM', we are all brothers in arms for now. Be it in the 'bonded' 

houses section or mekhukhung, we are all in this together. We must therefore support each other's

attempts to finish our 'TM' studies( ie to find employment) and re tlohele uku bloma ekasi( stop to lay about in the township).

                                           =============================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"There is within each of us a 'life instinct,' which is forever

   working toward health, happiness, and all that makes for

   more life for the individual."

Maxwell Maltz( from the book - PSYCH-CYBERNETICS)  

                                          ==============================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                                   ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

   

     

   

   

           

"Congratulations Orlando Pirates. Break a Leg at the CAF Club Champs Final."

   "Mona fatshe batho ba Chiefs(ke rona bau), batho ba Sundowns, hammoho le ba bang. 
     Ntho ha ele ntle, e ntle.)
   (Jealousy down supporters of Chiefs(that's us) , supporters of Sundowns, and those of 
     other teams. A thing of beauty is a thing of f beauty.)

   The green-eyed monster may be consuming some of us( batho ba chiefs) inside, but we have to give it to Orlando Pirates. They have done a fantastic job in reaching the CAF Club Champions League Final. This feat they achieved by beating Esperance( of Tunisia) in the semi-finals by an away goals rule yesterday. 
   We have no doubt that Orlando Pirates will represent South Africa( and Southern Africa) well 
in the Final, which will be held over two legs. The first leg is to be played here at home at the Orlando Stadium on 2nd November. 
   As for the monster inside, we will just have to find other ways of taming it.

                                     ============================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"When I was very young, I visualized myself being and having
  what it was I wanted. Mentally I never had any doubts about it.
  The mind is really so incredible. Before I won my first Mr Universe,
  I walked around the tournament like I owned it. The title was already
  mine. I had won it so many times in my mind that there was no doubt 
  I would win it."

 Arnold Schwarzenegger( as quoted in MIND POWER by John Kehoe)

                                        =========================== 

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                            ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

                  
      

Freedom Fridays

   It is hard to believe. But, yes, next year - 2014 - South Africa as a free and democratic country will be 20 years old. Time has indeed flown by.
   With the above in mind, the South African government, Lead-SA and Proudly South African have initiated a project called 'Freedom Fridays'. Through this initiative South Africans are urged to start the celebrations from now( on launch date -20th September) until the actual 20th anniversary date - 27th April 2014.
   And the how of these celebrations? The minister of Arts and Culture - Paul Mashatile - put it thus:
       " People to do this( celebration) by wearing, every Friday, anything that expresses
          our pride in being South African, including the colours of the national flag,traditional 
          wear or a jersey of our favourite national team."

   Items that I will personally rock on 'Freedom Days' are:
       1. A mokorotlo hat ( sometimes called a Basotho hat).
              - This hat will say I am a Mosotho. A Mosotho whose culture is part of the many
                 diverse cultures that make South Africa what it is. A culture - like the other 
                 10 - that is officially recognized and respected.
       2. A Converse All Star takkie/sneaker.
               - I like the boot version of this sneaker better.
                 There is no other takkie that is as loved in South African townships as this one. Our
                  parents bought us All Stars back in high school. I bought myself All Stars when I 
                  started my first 9-5 job. Today as an adult - who not as fashion conscious as in my 
                  youth - I still rock my All Stars.
       3. A Bafana Bafana jersey.
              - The wearing of Bafana Bafana jerseys on Fridays to show support for our national                            soccer team in the past is what inspired the 'Freedom Fridays' campaign.
                 Our national soccer team may have failed to qualify for FIFA Brazil 2014, but we 
                 still love them. As our coach - Gordon Igesund - keeps saying, this failure has given 
                 us an opportunity to build a squad for World Cups after Brazil 2014.

                             ==================================

Our FEEL GOOD quote of the week:

"Whatever we choose to think we choose for our lives.
   Think what it might be like if you could automatically think
   positively. Imagine the impact on your personal and business life.
   Envision for a moment your family, colleagues and friends being 
   positive. Instead of 'I can't' and 'It's impossible', what about 
   'I can' and 'I will'. What a cultural change to most of us."  

Jack Black( from the book - MINDSTORE)

                               ================================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                            ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

                             

Tales from the Deep South, Part 4 - Such Audacity(continued)

                                                       (CONTINUED)

   As neighbours we were also puzzled by these strange burglaries. There were rumours abound.
  Rumours to the effect that they were an inside job. This backroom tenant is the father of 'M'( of the post Contribution by All to Help Save a Young Life ). After that hacking incident the father had feared for his son's life and had unceremoniously shipped him back home in the Eastern Cape. 'M' would not have taken kindly to this move back home because he had settled down nicely here in Gauteng. He had formed close friendships and was starting to feel at home.

   Now the theory was that 'M' had secretly made his way back to Gauteng and with his friends' help had staged these burglaries. Firstly, to get back at his father for dumping him back home. Secondly, to show his father that he is vulnerable without him around. 'M' may have gotten into trouble once in a while while here in Gauteng, but the fact remains that he was always at home during the day when his father was at work. With him around no burglar would have dared to break in. 

   As an aside, to conclude, it cannot be assumed that because we have an informal settlement nearby we necessarily have more incidents of crime( like break-ins, for example) here in the Deep South. Instances of crime take place everywhere. While living in upmarket Protea North across the bridge - where there is no 'mekhukhu' - our family and many others there experienced break-ins. And these were perpetrated mostly by youngsters who were resident in Protea North itself.

                                     ===========================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                            ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?    

     

Tales from the Deep South, Part 4 - Such Audacity

   You would think that the first priority for a thief is not to get caught. A fact that necessarily makes him want to be careful when doing his business; waiting for the right conditions before carrying out his dirty deed, for example.

   Well, that was 'Stealing 101' a few years back it seems. That is if a burglary experienced by a neighbour recently is anything to go by. The burglars in this case were just too brazen. So brazen that a tenant decided to pack his things and leave the Deep South after this burglary.

   In the 'bonded' houses section of the Deep South the yards are very big. The owner of the house sometimes - in order to supplement his income - builds a one room dwelling structure at the back of the main house and lets it out. In this case it was something like a 'mokhukhu'/shack(similar to those found across from us in the informal settlement area). It had a corrugated iron roof but its walls were made of thin pressed wood slabs. 

   A few days ago burglars came to this particular house/yard and broke into the 'mokhukhu'  through a side door while the the tenant was away at work. In the process they stole a TV set. But what made this burglary galling was that it took place in broad daylight with the occupants of the main house still at home. These thieves seemed to have had all the time in the world to take the TV. Because they still took a bottle of coke out of the fridge and drank from it while disconnecting the TV, leaving the half finished bottle in the middle of the room as they left. And during all of this the main house people never saw or heard anything.

   Having your TV stolen in broad daylight while there are people in the yard is devastating enough. But what nearly gave the mokhukhu tenant a heart attack was when the same burglars(we think) came back the very next day to steal his hot plate stove this time, under the same conditions - in broad daylight with people present in the main house who never saw or heard anything. In this second instance the thieves simply removed one of the slabs of the thin pressed wood wall to enter the structure. Gaining an entrance this way is something similar to dismantling a shack basically. It shows unbelievable audacity.

   Needless to say, the tenant was livid. He went so far as to accuse the people in the main house of having a hand in the two burglaries. Something he could not prove of course.

                                            

                                            ( TO BE CONTINUED )                   

Tales from the Deep South, Part 3 - People of South

   Sometimes it feels like we are in Giyani. There is a lot of Xitsonga speakers here in Protea South, especially across in the informal settlement area. They are by far the largest ethnic group residing in the Deep South.

   As a group the first thing you notice about the Tsonga people - most of whom trace their roots to Giyani( a town in the Limpopo province) - is that they are very musical. Everywhere you go in the Deep South there is Xitsonga music playing. Right now their hottest artist is Ben Mayengani. His 2013 release - 'Jelly na Custard' - is an anthem here. Every 3rd or 4th house around has this album. I love the title track('Jelly na Custard') myself. 

  They are also entrepreneurial. Ninety percent(90%) all fruit and vegetable stands in the Deep South are run by Tsonga people.

  After the Tsonga - in terms of numbers - come Basotho. These are Basotho directly from Lesotho( hae moo), with the heavy Lesotho accent and all that. At times it seems as if the bus from Lesotho stops first here our 'kasi' to offload. Very much like in the old days when our fathers came to the city of gold( Gauteng/ Johannesburg) to work in the mines, Basotho still come to Gauteng in droves to seek a better life.

   Thirdly, it is the other groups like Amazulu, Amaxhosa, Bapeli, etc. There is also a sprinkling here and there of Machaangane from Mozambique, whose language is similar to Xitsonga. Interestingly, this group does not have a problem with being called Mashaangane( unlike the Tsonga). They say this is what their ethnic group is actually called. Mozambique's first post colonial President - Samora Machel - came from their group, they inform us.

   That then, is who we are here in the Deep South, ladies and gentlemen.

                                                    =====================

THANK YOU UNIVERSE. THANK YOU FOR OUR 'FEEL GOOD MOMENTS'.

                                                       ===================

SO, SOUTH AFRICA AND THE WORLD OUT THERE, WHAT MADE YOU 

FEEL GOOD THIS WEEK?