Week 3 (15 Dec - 21 Dec): Errands - Divine Intervention

[Carolien]

I wish I could have heard the author tell these stories in person. I can almost hear him tell the tales of his large family and daily rituals.

[Carolien]

I've just read If This Be Treason: Helen Joseph's Dramatic Account of the Treason Trial, the Longest in South Africa's History and One of the Strangest Trials of the 20th Century and while writing my review discovered that Chris van Wyk had written a biography on her. Would love to find it, so will keep an eye open for it.

[Caroline]

I loved the descriptions of township culture. It was amazing for me how the community could come together under the banner of 'ubuntu' in so many respects. They had so little, and yet they shared. It makes me realize how spoilt my own children are and I wonder if they're any happier for it.

[Carolien]

I completely agree, especially when I see the number and excess in gifts around. One concern that I have is for the present generation of under educated youth that we are turning out in this country. In the 1960s and 1970s. there was still a lot of manual work available for those who had little education. A combination of automation and globalisation means that many of those opportunities no longer exist in South Africa and that people in a similar situation today have so much less chance to make a reasonable living.

[Caroline]

Carolien wrote: "I completely agree, especially when I see the number and excess in gifts around. One concern that I have is for the present generation of under educated youth that we are turning out in this countr..."

Very true, although the sad part is that even the tertiary-educated are finding job-hunting difficult, especially under current economic conditions. We need more entrepreneurs and more support for small business.

[Carolien]

Agreed, that would help enormously.

[Lisa]

I'm loving the terrific two, I wonder what happened to this bestie?
Also, van Wyk's mother had some storytelling ability too.

[Carolien]

His mother seems to read quite a bit and his father was reading newspapers, so there was definitely some reading culture in the family. One of the interesting facts that I learned while reading Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, is that there is a stronger correlation between children's test scores and the fact that there are books in the house, than that the child's parents read to him every day. (The chapter entitled "What makes a perfect parent" will remove quite a few guilt feelings as a parent. It turns out that quite a few things that determine later success, you have very little control over).

[Lisa]

Having access to books makes sense, but if you don't have a love of books, will you even pick one up?

[Lisa]

Its terrible to think that Auntie Katie's story is still true for so many women.