3D REFLECTIONS OF LIFE

The cast of Music Alla Kaap 4 at the Grand West Arena Spending the evening soaking in the sounds of local music I woke up this morning with the R&B group, Denim's catchy refrain " We gonna rise as a people, going higher and higher" ringing in my head. This is what happens after you had celebrated the power of local music at the Music Alla Kaap 4 concert at the Grand West Arena on Saturday evening. Local is indeed lekker. The theme of this year's concert was the celebration of our musical diversity and the rich talent of our emerging artists. The young artists and the seasoned artists performed side by side in an eclectic blend of opera, Jazz, R&B, hip hop and soul. An accomplished soprano dedicated the Ave Maria to the music greats who had shaped the path for the current and future generation of local musicians. Highlights of the Music Alla Kaap 4 concert The young artists dominated the first half of the show. The brilliance of the youn...

I was a high schooler during the 70's, the era of freedom for the individual. It was "out with the plastic, in with the natural" . Freedom of expression was captured in our various hairstyles and dress, if nowhere else. The picture tells it all.   The hairstyles   Many of the guys in the front row looked like Motown musicians. The bigger the Afro, the higher the attraction factor. The Afro Afro comb or pick was often stuck in the hair like an accessory. Steenberg High, Standard 9 class, 1977.   There were guys who went for the long, sleek hair even though the gene pool delivered a thick, dry, frizz mop. That's when the swirlkous came in handy. The swirlkous was the recycled hair wrapper made from stocking legs that sprung a ladder. This Eco-friendly device tamed the frizz.   Hair styling products Then there was the Brylcreem, a hairstyle cream for smooth, sexy-smelling hair. I plonked my hair with dollops of Blue Seal Vaseline if the Brylcreem ran out. My reb...

Do you feel you can't shake off that exhaustion even though you are on holiday? If this is the case, the reality is that you are suffering from burnout. Many of the symptoms of burnout were there throughout the year, but you probably dismissed those early warning signs.   There are two reasons why you don't see yourself as a sufferer of burnout. Firstly , you may not know how to recognize the symptoms of burnout. You may have accepted being tired constantly because of work overload. Family demands frustrate you, you ignore spending time with friends and your conversations are mainly about work. This preoccupation with work after hours and the absence of fun and quality time with family and friends are all telltale signs of burnout.   Secondly , you may be in denial. You tell yourself that it is normal to feel wasted at the end of the year. You may also play the blame game and identify everybody else as causing you undue stress and not take responsibility for your own ...

Bergvliet High School: class of 2014 We have completed our round of valedictories in our family. Sasha, our only daughter, is about to write her Grade 12 finals in a week's time. Goodness, how time flies! Not too long ago, this young woman was in Grade R, then in Grade 7 and now, here she is saying farewell to her school career!   The valedictory was a beautiful occasion. Sasha beamed whenever she caught my eye and my heart was pumping red, red roses and pulsating with wondrous joy. I loved the bow and arrow analogy that Mr Price, Bergvliet's principal, used in his address to the valedictorians.   "Think of the bow as your parents, your teachers, everybody that influenced your life and yourself as the arrow," Mr Price said. The bow has been pulled back far enough to shoot you, the arrow, as far as we, the archers, could. "In other words, we have provided you with all the love, care, support and opportunities in life and now it is entirely up to you to take advan...

Blouvlei LSEN's talented dancers   I wonder how many of you remember that saying: "stop the world, I wanna get off"? Compared to our pace nowadays, that expression was an exaggeration at the time.   The world is on speed dial. We meet each new day, with a hangover of our busyness of the day before. There is no time to pause, because...   From the minute you wake up , you are confronted with the big rush.   Traffic snarls past you with their occupants looking harassed and sleep deprived. Your mailbox shouts at you with sender requests to deal with issues raised NOW. Songs playing on the radio are cut short to make way for commercials or traffic updates. HELLO?   We need to start a SLOW DOWN revolution, fast. We need to learn how to channel our energies to dance to the rhythm of real living.   Let us start now.   Take time to enjoy the flowers and the trees in gardens, along the roadside and in unexpected places. Listen to the various bird ca...

It can't be easy for a parent to lose a child. It is almost impossible for me to find words to describe such loss. As I sit here, I know of two families who must be experiencing heart wrenching emotions. Sasha, my daughter, shared this heartbreaking news with me : two teenagers passed away yesterday. One was a Grade 11 classmate of Riko, my nephew and the other girl was the sister of one of his other classmates,Spencer.   This morning when I picked up my nephews for school, Riko was armed with a bunch of white flowers. These flowers were for his friend and classmate, Savannah, and for Kirsten, the sister of his dear friend. He was going to lay this down in the Garden of Remembrance at their school, Bergvliet High school.   Usually my car is bubbling with conversations of all kinds, with music blaring and we often participate in the KFM general knowledge quiz. Today the mood was subdued. My three teenager passengers were probably dealing with their own swirling thoughts. I wa...

How often don't we work with people for years then we don't even know who they truly are? I am in the same boat. I often do not have time to bond with my colleagues from other sections in our district. Besides my being located at one of our satellite offices, I rarely make contact with many of them because we have so many different sections. Take for example, my colleagues in the corporate services component, the ones who help to ensure that our schools receive financial management support. Now and then we see one another and exchange pleasantries. On one occasion I arrived very early for a meeting with a colleague in the Corporate Services Department.. The other colleagues and I started chatting about all kinds of things - the weather, our children, life at the coalface and life in general. The mood was jovial and as time passed, we became more relaxed. Eventually I had to run out of their office to be on time for my meeting. That pleasant exchange we had changed the d...

About a month ago, we celebrated Mothers's Day. Yesterday was Fathers's Day and today is Youth Day. In less than two months, on 09 August we will be celebrating Women's Day. In effect, all those who make up a family unit will be acknowledged and affirmed for the profound roles they play in their families and communities in this cycle of celebrations.   But alas, in most instances we are merely ceremonial, doing the talks and the shows. We don't really want to deal with the real issues of absent fathers, broken families and disenchanted youth. Cathy ( not her real name) and her family are a case in point.   Cathy's family typifies how deeply scarred we are. Cathy, a mother of five children, is a recovering abused victim. She has finally divorced her abusive husband, but she is still sharing a home with him because she depends on him financially. They are two strangers stuck together because of circumstances. The battle lines are drawn and all the family ...

There is nothing you can really do if you don't have a Matric certificate. You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if you don't have your Matric certificate, doors will slam in your face. The Matric certificate is the golden ticket to create opportunities for you.   You will still search for a job, but it may be easier to secure a job if you can show a Matric certificate. You may want to find a better job, but the prospective employer wants that grade 12 certificate. Only then will he or she allow you to be considered as a potential employee. Then only will your skills be recognized, no matter what people may tell you to the contrary.   If you find this hard to believe, ask any one of the 141 adult learners who sat for their Business Economics examination today at just one of the Examination centres I visited today. According to the chief invigilator, Mr Charles, 100 of the candidates did not turn up. The Steenberg High centre manager, Mr Williams told me ...

Mr Cogill, one of the janitors at Levana Primary school had another duty added to his weekend roster: looking after an injured ringed dove. The dove was stroked ever so tenderly by its carer. I saw the pair standing on the stoep in the sun on Saturday morning. The dove was cupped in Mr Cogill's rather large hands for such a small framed man.   Apparently children pelted stones at the harmless bird. Mr Cogill found the bird on the school's premises and nursed it, creating a warm bed for the injured bird in his store room. Because the weather was good, Mr Cogill decided to stand in the sun with 'Dove 4552'. There is a nasty hole just under its wing where the wing joins the body. If only the children knew their idea of fun - throwing stones at birds - is a cruel sport.   The ring on the dove contained key information. I visited the Sonpo website as indicated on the ring to see if we could track the owner of Dove 4552. I learned that the country of origin also features on...

Celebrate whenever you can. Why don't we make time to celebrate our small victories? Why do we feel that those small steps are not worth being showcased? We only want to highlight the big goals we have achieved. Somehow we believe that those breakthroughs are the only ones worth celebrating. I suppose others can see the fruits of our labour because the final product is there visually. But,what about those smaller, significant steps of success along the way that made the big dream come true?   Organisations that integrate celebrations at all levels of achievement as a cultural practice, maximize the spin-offs. Staff morale increases because they can see their efforts are being acknowledged. There is also renewed energy to accomplish the bigger goal. They can see the progress. They also get a better understanding of how goal-setting activities scaffold one another. If other stakeholders are invited to these occasions, they too feel valued, energized and driven to work harder....

Learners pledging their commitment to uphold the anti-bully code   Term 2 of this year has started just two days ago. And so has the shooting between two rival gangs in the Lavender Hill area. This morning was no different. In the Lavender Hill township, learning, looking for employment and dodging bullets are par for the course.   At about eight o clock this morning, while the learners were walking to school, gunshots were fired from one block of flats to another block of flats further north. Only an open field of about 500m separates these blocks of flats. This very field is the one that the learners of the primary schools of Levana and Hillwood and Lavender Hill High school use to get to school on time. Between the three schools the learner pedestrian traffic is in the region of 3 600 learners. When the children leave their homes in the morning, they become moving targets, already at risk less than 500m from home or school.     When I arrived at Hillwood Primary ...

Ernest looking happy and relaxed after the event and he had no clue what had transpired earlier. Our country still has to travel a long road in terms of accommodating our people who have disabilities. I became aware of this yesterday when a group of us - a few of the school principals and I - attended Jonathan Jansen and Molly Blank's launch of their book, How to fix South African Schools, at the Book Lounge in Roeland Street, Cape Town. The place was packed to capacity, even the basement was overflowing with folk who wanted to hear the pair speak.   I spotted two of my colleagues, Bevil Velensky, the head of Kommetjie, and Nelson Mafrika, the head of Masiphumelele High school right at the back of the bookstore. They indicated that there was a vacant spot close to them and waved at me, urging me to join them. Now, being able-bodied, I wormed my way through the crowd, apologizing profusely and made sure that my arms and handbag did not become missiles in the process. Another guest...

Ernst Esau (far right) standing with the welder and the school caretaker Impromptu visit to Harmony Primary School at the request of the Principal I visited Harmony Primary School today at the request of the principal, Ernst Esau. We had spoken on the telephone earlier and our conversation centred on Ernst's frustrations with their "plankie" school building and the high maintenance bill the school had to foot. Ernst has also been watching the renovations at other schools and our apparent disregard for their plight dominated our discussion. I listened patiently and offered advice as best I could. Then Ernst said, if I had time, could I please pop in at the school because he had a few documents he needed to process. I know our principals fairly well by now and I know the narratives behind such requests. It is the end of term one and the pace at schools is demanding. Throw in budgetary constraints, social issues, teacher fatigue and systems demands, and you know tha...

How is it possible that after 20 years of being a democracy, half of our people still go to bed hungry every night? Can we seriously claim that people enjoy basic human rights if more than 50% of our nation is starving?   According to a UCT study on access to food security, one of the key basic human rights, more than 50% of South Africans lack food security. Even more startling is the fact that more than 70% of the people in the poorer parts of the Western Cape, don't have access to food - zilch, nada, nothing.   Listen to this information. According to UNICEF, we have regressed over the past 20 years in terms of providing access to food security in our country. UNICEF reports that over 70% of our children are stunted physically and cognitively as a result of food insecurity. In other words, these children cannot grow properly or learn optimally because they are in starvation mode all the time. Sadly, these children are our nation's most precious assets. They are our future...

Grant showing off the sushi plate with Marwaan in the background. Imagine my surprise when I saw Grant, one of my past students at Grassy Park High, preparing sushi! Grant a reserved young man - as he was at school as well - looked bemused and slightly taken aback by the flood of questions I asked him. Never in my wildest dreams did I picture Grant as a chef in the first place.   Grant's colleague, Marwaan, was equally amused by the conversation which centred on Grant's occupation. My head was already well over the sushi bar counter at Pick 'n Pay. I wanted to see how Grant was preparing the California rolls and other sushi delicacies that have names I can never remember. He was preparing the shape of a hotdog length- sized California roll, to be cut into the bite sizes. How did both of them become Sushi chefs, I asked? Wasn't it difficult to learn how to make sushi? . I noticed even the cashier was hovering around to follow this conversation. Marwaan responded first...

Faeez is busy configuring my computer Our education district is in the process of migrating to a different mail client service provider. That means all our computers have to be reconfigured. Today it is the turn of our satellite office to be set up for the new mail client, Outlook, which is a Microsoft mail service. I received all this information from Faeez, the desktop technician, who is overseeing this migration process in my office. Faeez is a alumnus of Spine High School, in Mitchell's Plain. I wanted to know why Faeez had chosen this occupation. "They say you normally follow in your father's footsteps and that is true in my case. My father is in the IT industry and I was always exposed to computers. That is where my interest started. When Mweb advertised for interns, I was accepted and worked there in the call centre. I worked there for a year and then  moved to my present company,"said Faeez.  We discussed his high school. I asked ...

Sasha Before The start of the 2014 school year and the MBM buzz Look, I am risking my motherhood by writing this post about matric balls. But I need an outlet and you are my best confidant now. You see, my daughter, Sasha, is rather ambivalent about her relationship with me during this period. And it is all about this MBM ( Matric Ball Mania) fever that has struck our home. Only two weeks ago I was still the 'fun Mom'. Now I am more the grouch in the closet and her dad is probably the hippest dad on planet earth. I can't recall having a similar experience with Brett and Christo. They knew we had to hire a Tux, buy the shirt they identified and get the shoes. It was that easy. Not so with sister dearest, though. Everything was pretty quiet at the beginning of this year. Sasha and I had agreed last year (December 2013) already that her Matric Ball was going to be relatively low key financially, but an historic event. We decided on a limited budget and got all the a...

A few of the Lavender Hill High Grade 12s Lavender Hill Grade 12 learners themselves have amazing inspirational power. Today, we met the 126 Matric students, the class of 2014. A well-mannered group of young people who still have a sparkle in their eyes. The fact that these learners reached grade 12 despite their hardships and their daily grind to protect their souls and their integrity, is a morale booster for folk who have been spared such trauma. Despite their lived wisdom of how to overcome adversity, these very learners need a constant feed of motivation to remind them of their awesome power. Domingo sharing his " work-in-progress" journey with the learners Today it was Domingo's privilege to meet these future trendsetters and to add a nugget of hope. Like his audience, Domingo too attended a school in the "ghettoes" as he put it. He was here to share his journey of carving a new life for himself. Domingo entitled his talk "Against all odds". ...