This is piece I wrote when I visited the Lowveld in 1992: Sam Njima lives in Lilyvale, Mpumalanga. Of course, when he became Sam the Man it was part of the Transvaal Lowveld. Then it was a lot wilder but many of the people that moved to his village had been forcibly moved from some…
Conversations about Birthdays
As children my mother always organised great birthday parties. She would invite our friends and set the table with food and treats. Cold drink bottles would line up to quench our thirst. I remember everything being set and then having to wait for my father, who would rush back from his busy schedule at the…
Conversations with My Grandfather
I do not remember either of my grandfathers. I am named after my mother’s father, Basil the baker. My father’s father, John, owned a corner café in Alberton. I can imagine he would be very proud that one of his grandson’s is an orthopaedic surgeon. He would open the store early in the morning and…
Conversations about Herbs
When I was growing up there was only one herb in our house: oregano. It was never fresh and it always came from Greece, harvested in the harsh Arcadian mountains around the village. Whenever my father returned from a trip to the homelands, as he used to call Greece, he would bring a gift, a…
Conversations about Work and Corners
The Greeks use the word work to mean labour as well as to mean trying to pull a fast one. They say the only work left in Greece is the work where you pull a fast one on your neighbour. Sitting in the lounge at Oliver Tambo Airport after an intercontinental flight is far removed…
Ta Engenia tou Manelis – The Blessing of Manelis’ Restaurant, Artemisio, Greece 6 July 2011
The drive into Artemisio is peaceful, through an avenue lined with plane trees. A few are missing, like a black hole in place of a tooth in the mouth of a weather hardened villager. The gap in the trees has been replaced by iconostasios, white miniature churches, in memory of the young men who were…
Conversations: Five Things My Father Taught Me
My father did not actively teach, but reinforced ideas. This is what I learnt from him: Have faith. Act now. Be punctual. Be prepared. Have compassion. For all the trials and tribulations he faced, and he faced as much as any of us and sometimes more, he kept his faith. It was a complex religion…
Conversations about May Day
I wanted to start this by asking “crisis, what crisis?” but it is unfair. There is poverty and suffering, but there is still a whole lot more living happening in Greece than in most places. Take May Day. Sure, it is Worker’s Day worldwide, including in Greece. People protested in groups, there was certainly aggravation…
Conversations with My Father’s First Cousin
Panayiotis is the son of my father’s mother’s sister, Christina. He was born between my father and me, and was my father’s most important family connection in Greece, and the only real cousin I adopted in Greece. All my first cousins are in South Africa, Australia or the USA. Panayiotis is the sort man that…
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