The HourGlass with Mbofho

I n spirituality, a swan is a symbol of purity, beauty, grace, love and elegance while in native symbols the black swan signifies an insight about yourself which changes your position from one of victim to victor. A Black Swan is a graceful reminder to move from any position where you feel powerless and at the mercy of external forces; it is time to reclaim your personal power. Well, I am not one to follow spirit animal or native symbols but somehow the expressions described resonates with me and with what I wish to write about this evening. Today’s conversation is centered around a recent event surrounding the death through suicide of a 15-year-old girl from Tshirenzheni. Like many others around the country hearing about this story left me feeling triggered. I write this piece from the broken corners of my heart. A place buried so deep that it has never been fully healed. Thus, I say I am triggered. Triggered because this story touches so many elements from a loss of a life to the...

What a year that 2020 turned out to be. On any given year I probably would spend the last day of the year reflecting of the lesson brought upon by the year. I honestly don't even know where to start....I should probably start with what seemed to be 4 weeks of lockdown and take it up 9 months later!!  But do I talk about a deadly virus that shook the whole world? Or Do I focus on how we speculated about how a group of people in Wuhan decided to eat bats or so we are told? Or maybe we can talk about how ill disciplined Europe has been with this virus but that then begs the question of how they managed to evade the other deadly virus (HIV); which seems to have been created for the Southern side of Africa. Without getting into conspiracy theories maybe we should reflect on the French Media Personality, that earlier implied that the new vaccine should be tested on Africans when Europe clearly needed it more than us. But that will just be another never ending debate. We could...

  In recent events, sixteen girls were rescued from a human trafficking syndicate in Kempton Park. The youngest being only 15 years old. Some of these girls were kidnapped and some lured with the promise of getting jobs. First and foremost, there should be a special place in hell for people that use jobs to lure girls into traps. And what kind of human being sells another human being? To exploit people in their most vulnerable and desperate point is just another level of vile. This story just reminded me of two of my friends who also had a similar story that, luckily did not end as bad as how it ended for these 16 girls. Both ladies are currently in the market for a job. The one friend sent me an email from a company that almost seemed legit. Well that's only until you take a closer look that you will see the cracks. I guess she had her own doubts and luckily her guard was up, mostly because she had not applied for the job is was called for. So she sent me the email to vet the comp...

Credits:A Samantha Oor Piece I’m always so worried about the next chapter in my life and I honestly don’t like not knowing what lies ahead in the future but with everything that has been going on in my life I never got the chance to just celebrate the things I’ve achieved thus far. Well I don’t really post much about what I’m doing, when I do it, and whom I’m doing it with I’m soooo used to keeping my personal life private. I just feel that some things are worth sharing and some things are just meant for me to enjoy with the people closest to me.  I’ve come to the realisation that I never take time to sit down and just think like “man you’ve really worked hard to get where you are now, well done” and I a lot of us don’t do that. I spend more time licking my wounds and sulking over the things that didn’t go as I had planned than celebrate all my achievements. About a year ago I was going through my Instagram and I came across something that Jay Chetty posted, I’m a huge ...

KING T’CHALLA OUR FIRST BLACK HERO 28 August 2020, a day that left me and many others around the world shocked. I’m not one to cry or make a fuss about celebrities, but waking up to the news of Chadwick Boseman’s passing had me in tears, I was surprised about how much I actually cared and really loved him as an actor who had produced one of the best work I’ve seen. The entire day my chest felt heavy, a part of me wished that this was just another hoax and someone out there made a mistake. Chadwick wasn’t just another actor, this man inspired change, he was the reason why we filled up cinema’s to see someone Black being portrayed, not just as a king, but A SUPER HERO - yes an entire black and strong man, a hero!! For once, we didn’t see a black man as a gangster, a rapist, abuser or criminal because our blackness is seen as a weapon and associated with everything bad and wrong in this world. Hollywood movies hardly ever portrays us as good upstanding citizens we are constant...

Ndivhudzannyi Ralivhona, better known as Makhadzi is a singer and song writer, born in Ha-Mashamba, a village just outside Elim. She is best known for her songs "Tshanda Vhuya" and "Matorokisi." I remember seeing her for the first time performing outside a Shoprite Usave. I had been driving with my brother to get some veggies. I just remember him loosing his mind, eagerly waiting for the car to come to a complete stop at the parking lot so that he could quickly get off and go watch this lady. He didn't even wait for me to ask who or what he is rushing for!! "Eeh Mbofho ndi Makhadzi, tavhanyani khou nyaga u ya u mu vhona" He said impatiently. And as soon as the car stopped he jumped off running and disappeared into the crowd that had gather to watch the performance. If I didn't know any better I would have thought an American superstar like Beyonce was performing there for free. So I peep through the crowd to get a glimpse of this person...