Category: Africa
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Watching His Children Mourn Him
The night Nelson Mandela died, a violent wind blew dark clouds across the yellow sky in Cape Town. The air here is never completely still; it brushes against your face with the weight of the sea every time you step outside. Once every few weeks it’s so windy that the flower sellers pack up early,…
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How Long Would You Wait at a Free Clinic?
When I walked into the hall at 8:30, I was given a number and a piece of paper to fill out. The man who handed it to me wore a surgical mask. I sat next to a young woman, who leaned over conspiratorially and said, “They don’t care about us. It’s all about them. It’s…
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An art collage that measures public sentiment
Aleta Michaletos was interviewed on the Africa News Network last night about her collages and their unforeseen connection with Nelson Mandela. Michaletos began making the collages in Pretoria, SA in 1989. Mandela was still in prison, and politics were tenuous. Clashes between supporters of the ANC and the National Party erupted in anonymous bombings throughout…
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Keeping Warm in a Smallpox Blanket
Don’t bother wasting education on people (Africans, in this case) who don’t need it because they are meant to serve. That’s what a minister of education meant when he said, “Education ‘must train and teach people in accordance with their opportunities in life,’” as quoted in Mandela’s autobiography. We all call bullshit, his argument is…
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Nannies
Rich people have nannies. I’m not rich. I became rich when A’idah told me that she charged $20 per day to care for my infant son, clean my house, and cook me dinner. When I was six years old, a cashier at the grocery store paused before taking the food stamps from my mother’s hand.…