I am a Motswana,
A young girl striving for success.
Trusting the gifts that we have been granted
By our ancestors and God.
Believing in the power of my voice and the beauty of my skin.
Embracing the uniqueness of my hair, which is as black as mud.
The way I walk reflects the flow…
Society, my home,
Society, my refuge,
From time unknown,
You have been my haven.
I cry, I weep,
When all I see is that you are now
A technologically torn area.
What was our unity force
When I wandered into the depth and breadth of your beauty
Has become our contender.
We have become adversaries
And strangers in one abode.
Society,…
Is pain her lifelong purpose?
Momma calls me to her room.
She tells me she’s afraid she won’t be here
To protect me, to shield me from
The blows, the screams, the endless pain.
She says I must try to endure,
Like she did in her marriage, in vain,
Because that’s all she knows.
Her bruises are…
Meet Maria, a 19-year-old fighting for her future. Every morning for years, she walked two hours to school because her family couldn’t afford transport. Many would have quit – but Maria kept walking. She studied by candlelight when there was no electricity. She passed her exams when others said…
Dragging yourself down streets and corridors,
Lost, without direction, or purpose to explore.
Paying tribute to what could’ve been,
Dropping like flies, as addiction’s chains are seen.
Our youth, in denial, reject the thought of quitting,
Craving the next fix, their senses continually splitting.
Coke, Mandrax, Marijuana – a deadly, vicious cycle,
Leaving minds shattered, and…
I was 12 when my world crumbled. It happened suddenly, without warning, like a storm that had been gathering silently in the distance. My father married a second wife, and my mother, his partner of so many years, found out about it the same way I did—when my father…
“Do you see her?”
“Who?”
“Her,” she says, pointing to the window.
“I don’t see anyone or hear any voices. Are you okay?”
She is standing right there.
“There is no one there.”
“Are you freaking blind? She is right there!”
She could feel the little girl’s uneasiness with the woman having company.
The girl liked being…
She Evolves, a movement born
A call to action, a heart that’s sworn
To be the change, to make a stand
To nurture growth, with a gentle hand.
A Tree Planted is a story told
Of dreams and hopes, of a future to mold
With every seed, a vision takes root
A symbol of strength, a…