Spit in my Left Eye

Thula was 6 years old but already mother and sister to her 2 siblings, 3 year old twins, Paco and Ponine.  Boys were hard work but she tried her best since their mother died of aids 6 months ago - their father worked the mines far away.  That's all she knew.  Adults had a way of telling children nothing.  The village of Mbizana had many women and all pitched in to help raise the 3 children. Thula however was their big sister and mother. That's just how it was. The 3 were always hungry.  Thula often wondered why mines didn't pay her father a wage because no money was ever sent home. Neither did her father return after her mother's death. They survived on the cabbage and carrots that Mr Abujan dropped off each Friday. The twins were malnourished and often cried in their sleep. The hut creaked and the holes were illuminated in the moonlight that hovered overhead. The African plains  - the big 5 and safaris that brought giggles to children were a far cry from Thula'

 A Nigerian Pastor We have a human instinct to curry favour with "big, popular names", we support and engage them - we use our energies to be where they are and to get them to where we are - we desire the connection. Often in doing so we miss the truly big names who are silently going about the business they've been called to do. We converse but little do we realise where theyve been, what they've done, what they're doing and how God will use them to take us closer to His purpose. We have no idea of the greats amongst us. It makes me think of a few years ago, when a Nigerian pastor treated me like a princess and carried my bags, served me tea - booked me /us into a hotel - he wanted to spoil us missionaries -   he was so humble,  simply dressed, humorous and soft spoken; unassuming - then I heard the receptionist address him, "welcome Dr.......".  The pastor was a physicist - a well known genius 😃 of course, that would not have registered in

Vusi Thembekwayo wisely said, "nothing is guaranteed it is gifted". Why then do leaders control earth's gifts - water and vegetation; destroy what is sown by working hands and fertilized by soil. They lord over springs nurtured in stone The people blame the H20 crises and famine on political manipulation and lies - human maintenance and monocracy - perhaps they are right, Yet their bloated egos and guzzling rob the poor of each drop by which they live. "Damn the bloody law", they shout. Conspiracy theories take precedence, driven by an insatiable hunger for justice, views on land repartition; the rights of the Khoi and San. Global warming, population explosions and no rains but to hell with the white man who caused Africa's pain - May the black man rot as he insists brown must be black. Blame government for gangsterism and depravity - while the inhumane kill and plunder. Damned apartheid that stripped Africa's sparkle