Nonqaba said ...

Mama kept the best dinner sets, cutlery and glasses for what she called strangers.   We jumped up and down and told other kids that we had strangers at home.   Strangers meant food usually reserved for Sunday and weddings.   Strangers also loved kids.   They told us we were beautiful and that we looked like some member of the family.     Such a great honour to look like your father or your grandmother! Ukhamba. Used for African beer.  They come in different sizes . Looking back, I don’t know why my parents had such high regard for strange people.     ‘Eeeh! Now that you are educated, you think you know better than your parents?’ My parents did not mean it literally.   They meant people who did not live with us on a daily basis, such as relatives from the big city where gold is mined or their friends.     They were not strangers at all. They had a connection to our family. It was also based on culture, in my corner of Africa.     Way back when, there were

Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They