BD: Who are you and how was your upbringing? OJ: My full name is Onela Joni , people simply call me O.J. I was born and bred in Butterworth, a small town in the Eastern Cape. Later on my parents bought a house in Mthatha when I was 12, but by that time I was more…
First and foremost a 31 year old proud mom of 3 gorgeous boys, Bridgette is also an entrepreneur, an introvert and a lover of animals and nature. She grew up in the dusty streets of Katlehong, a township in the East Rand. BD: What was it like? BM: I was raised by a very strong more…
I sat waiting for my meal at a well-known Café some time ago. As I waited I found pleasure in observing the service staff and my general surroundings. The main entrance of the Café had been closed on account of the weather and as my eyes fluttered from one scene to another, I found myself more…
BD: You grew up in Zwide Township, how was the experience? MN: My experience growing up in Zwide was a peculiar one, though not unique. I was raised by my grandmother and my mother, a domestic worker who struggled to make ends meet as a single mother. She worked different jobs and we lived paycheck more…
We all know their slogan; Zanu ndeye ropa (a party born of blood) and, now significantly, Joyce Teurai Ropa (spill blood) Mujuru has revived her nom de guerre to remind us of her revolutionary credentials. After all, she famously shot down a helicopter during the war. If this were France, her figure dressed in torn more…
July 2015 saw the start of NASA’S 20th NEEMO mission during which astronauts, scientists and engineers spend up to three weeks in training for living in space conditions aboard Aquarius, the world’s only undersea research station. NEEMO stands for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations and the environment there is as close as possible to the more…
If you want to understand what is going on in Burkina Faso, a good place to start is Jacana’s pocket biography of Thomas Sankara by Ernest Harsch. The book, published in November 2014, written in a very easy reading style will give you an understanding of several things. For one, you will understand why women are playing more…
Did you know that in 1986, at an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit, he symbolically offered ten rifles to ANC and SWAPO freedom fighters? According to the biography Thomas Sankara, An African Revolutionary, the assembled leaders at the summit began to chuckle and Sankara famously said, “Ten rifles represent something really big to a more…
KEYNOTE ADDRESS WOMEN IN SCIENCE AWARDS (WISA) CEREMONY HILTON HOTEL, SANDTON, JOHANNESBURG 13 AUGUST 2015 DR MAUREEN TONG The Programme Director, Ms Leanne Manas, The Honourable First Lady Madame Bongi Ngema-Zuma, The Minister of Science and Technology, the Honourable Mrs Naledi Pandor, Other Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, The Director-General of the Department of more…
This has to be one of the commonest presenting symptoms in a general medical practice. It also seems to be a mother’s common source of anxiety. There is not a day that goes by where I don’t have to educate a mother of a small child when is a high temperature worrisome. This is also more…
