Andile Ndlovu

I've mentioned this amazing dancer before.  Here's another pic.

Andile Ndlovu

A new and brilliant dancer from South Africa.  How much harder must it have been for him to do ballet than it was for me!  I certainly had to endure endless sarky comments.




Watch the first video in the article to see some wonderfully elegant grands jetés en tournant (towards the end) and watch also his crisp and precise barre exercises.  And I know this sounds so gay, but he's a cutie.  

The Good Archbishop, he says ....

The Jesus I worship is not likely to collaborate with those who vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority [...]. I could not myself keep quiet whilst people were being penalized for something about which they could do nothing, their sexuality. For it is so improbable that any sane, normal person would deliberately choose a lifestyle exposing him or her to so much vilification, opprobrium and physical abuse, even death. To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu

[With thanks to my mate Horatio Nimier who reminded me of Archbishop Tutu's  comment.  You can read Horatio's stories here, here and here]

Sarie Marais

One of the things about growing up in a trilingual environment is that one takes non-English words for granted in conversation.  My lady and I, my sister, my mother -- we pepper our conversation all the time with Afrikaans.

So when I decided to write a ghost story set in South Africa, I had to translate many frequently used phrases.  I thought that that spoilt the story for others, and in fact made it not very good.  Anyway, you may nevertheless enjoy it.  You can read it here.  If you click on the Roman numeral in the text it'll take you to the footnote, and then if you click on the Roman numeral in the footnote, it'll take you back to where you were in the text.

My mate Horatio Nimier, a fellow ex-South African and also an accomplished author,  has also written a tale set in South Africa.  You can read this wonderful story ( good enough in my opinion for paid publication) here