Writings
Less Words, More Respect
[My Experience with Aphasia]
This book tells of the experience of living in a relationship with aphasia (dysphasia). 'It is an experience of love and hope. It shows there is a future worth living for' (Speakability, 997).
"Suddenly my relationship is filled with silence. Do I run? How will we fill the emptiness? - My mind stodd still. Slowly I discovered that all is not lost. My man's intelligence, sense of humour, other senses and emotions were - thank God! - left intact."
Order here
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hottentot Venus [The Story of Saartjie Baartman]
This is the true story of an ordinary, curious, 18-year-old, who travelled to a foreign country with all the excitement and expectation of any young girl, eager to see the big world, eager to earn some money.
Saartjie was told that she would work as a nursery maid when she left Cape Town on a ship to England. Instead, she ended up on display ‘as a piece of erotic meat’ in London and in Paris.
This book, for the first time, gives Saartjie a chance to tell her story as she lived it. Through her own words, the reader learns of the fear and anguish experienced by all displaced people, as Saartjie describes what it is like to be a foreign national in a strange land.
Supported by accurate references, the book shows that the erosion of human rights is why trafficking and bonded labour are still increasing explosively more than 200 years after Saartjie’sdeath.
Watch here
Order here
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apartheid & Me
Written for primary school children, this book is beautifully illustrated by Maureen Bocking, written by Monica Clarke. Namganza, who is 7 years old and lives with her grandmother in a township in Cape Town, tells of her experiences living under 'mad Apartheid' as she calls it.
Watch here
Also available in French and Spanish
Apartheid et Moi
El Apartheid y Yo
Order here
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To Have not, to Hold
This book tells the story of Jeanie, a young nurse living in South Africa during the Apartheid years. Jeanie is a hard worker and an activist, but in her private life she has to deal with the problems caused by her abusive and aggressive husband and her best friend Zogi, who is struggling with addiction.
In a country divided, in which being not only black, but also a woman, is the cause of many injustices, the reader will follow the main character in her everyday life. An interesting perspective, told with honesty, that will underline the many contradictions of those difficult years.