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May I Have This Dance tells the courageous and moving story of Connie Manse Ngcaba, who grew up in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where she became a nurse, community figurehead and a leading voice of dissent against the apartheid regime. Her sense of justice and morality, and her compassion for those around her, brought her into frequent conflict with the government, culminating in her being detained for a year without trial at the age of 57. It is also the story of the strength of family ties, and the triumph of Connie's love for her husband and children.
Popular protest has become a regular feature of post-1994 South Africa. As a young democracy born out of resistance, we may understand the contemporary manifestations of protest as extensions of this broader history. However, it is notably in the context of formal democratic institutions that popular protest has become an increasingly normalised mode of influencing policy, demanding service delivery and forcing change. Protest is constitutive of South Africa's democratic politics, but also reflective of it. Protest in South Africa: Rejection, reassertion, reclamation explores the underpinnings of contemporary protest and both its short-term causes and structural drivers. Focusing on the surg...
When the boys in her class asked her to sit on the ground in the classroom because they felt girls were dull and so only fit for the dusty floor while they sat on chairs, Grace refused to do so, and vowed to struggle for gender equality. As she excelled in school, the war in neighbouring northern Uganda districts was something Grace only heard about, but did not witness. In the early morning of 10 October 1996, this ended. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group broke into her school dormitory at St. Mary’s College, Aboke in Apac district, and abducted 139 schoolgirls. Grace was marched to South Sudan where she endured close to nine years of forced labour, hardship and violence at t...
Nana is fifteen when she travels from her village in the Eastern Cape to the city. She is overjoyed to be reunited with her family, even if they are living in a tiny shack. But she struggles to fit in at her new school, and she is shocked at the violence shown to Chino and Agnes, her Zimbabwean neighbours. When she and Agnes become close friends, and find love in unexpected places, Nana learns firsthand just how brutal ignorance can be and how hard it is to hold on to happiness.
PKK’s soul-warming memoir tells of a life enriched by song, literature, food and spirituality at the heart of a loving family. Born into a newly independent Uganda, she grew up in a volatile political landscape but never lacked the inspiration and protection of generations of friends and relatives. Her story travels from her expansive childhood homes in Uganda, to the novelties of living in Addis Ababa, before settling in Cape Town, her current home. But no matter how far her journeys take her, it’s clear that home is not only about places but people.
In Cold Water: Women and Girls of Lira, Uganda, the women retell their horrifying experiences in northern Uganda during the 1987-2007 civil war and life after the war. In that war, Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army disrupted lives, destroyed settlements, killed, abducted and raped thousands of children. The contributing authors not only recall the hopelessness felt during the war, but also narrate stories of hope and resilience after the war. Every page is crammed with emotional recollections of personal experiences. The stories show how communities can be rebuilt even where hope seems to be lost. The book makes public the trauma, courage and triumph of the remarkable women of Lira. The w...
Riding the Samosa Express is a collection of life stories exploring issues of marriage, love, loss, family life, culture, religious beliefs, suburban life, local and international politics, freedom and education among other important issues faced by professional and well-educated Muslim women who have not been held back by global stereotypes.
Ebisuote is not a professional work of historiography, a work of scientific research and objectivity. It is a personal account of a joint life experience, emotional, coming from the heart. This brief story of Nigerian Historian Ebiegberi Joe Alagoa and his grandmother Gboribusuote is, therefore, simply a memorial to a shared life, in Nigeria's Niger Delta region.
What if you discovered that you come from an ancient family of Shadow Chasers, with a duty to protect others from an evil Army of Shadows. Nom is an outsider at school. When she and Zithembe become friends, life still seems - well - a little ordinary. But when an army of monsters threatens their world, it's all up to the two of them and the start of a journey into the dreamworld on a quest that will change their lives. Powers of the Knife is the first book in the Shadow Chasers trilogy. It's an African fantasy adventure, one part family saga, one part hero's quest.
Ntombi travels to Jozi for the finals of the Teen Voice competition. But it is not a bed of roses. She has left her boyfriend, Olwethu in Cape Town. Her jealous little sister Zinzi is out to make trouble while shes away. And, she must deal with the other contestants shes up against: the cool, talented and gorgeous Alex and the nasty twins, Lindiwe and Sindiwe. Thank goodness her room mate Mahlodi can help her make sense of her confusing emotions. (This is a sequel to Broken Promises.)