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March 31st, 2007

   

Stories

South Africa: Busisiwe, Rest in Peace

A small portrait of the translator Ndesanjo Macha · 14:34 · Sub-Saharan Africa

Earlier this month, the South African blogosphere lost a blogger, writer, artist and poet, Busisiwe Sigasa (25). She started her blog, My Realities, at the end of last year with the help of Sokari Ekine.

Busisiwe, whose name means “the Blessed One” in Zulu, was also known as Latifah. She was born in Soweto, South Africa. After finishing high school, Busisiwe obtained a diploma in computers. She also studied Ceramic Design.

According to Sokari, Busisiwe was hoping to become a professional photographer/photojournalist:

Despite much hardship and disadvantage, Latifah is determined to attain her dream of becomming a photographer/photo journalist and hopefully she will soon be able to publish some of her photos on her blog. It will not be easy due to cost of internet access but I believe she will do her best.

Busisiwe went public about her HIV positive status in 2006, which resulted from a rape incident. She encouraged others to do the same. South Africa has one of the most severe AIDS epidemics in the world and some people have dubbed it the “rape capital” of the word.

She posted poems on her blog about her experience as a person living with HIV, her belief in God and the difficulty of being a lesbian in South Africa.

The Fact Remains
- By Busisiwe

The fact remains….
I’m not looking for sympathy or feeling sorry things happened this way
Nothing anyone can say will change anything because
The fact remains….
I am now counted in the statiastics because
The fact remains….
Dont tell me i should have never allowed my story to be published
because….The fact remains….
You dont know how i feel-no one does and the
The fact remains….
Dont tell me what people might say or think because
The fact remains….
Its not going to change anything
Dont ask ask me who was my rapist because it makes me mad
But mad as i can be and for everyone’s sake and my own
Life goes on and still
The fact remains….that

I AM INFECTED!!!

(more…)

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Bahrain: When ‘moderate' means ‘acquiescent'

A small portrait of the translator Ayesha Saldanha · 08:47 · Middle East & North Africa

This week some Bahraini bloggers took part in an evening regarding the role of blogging in cultural development, and the literary aspect of online writing in particular. Hisham Khalifa has posted his introduction to the evening:

Culture is not created by governments, kings, queens or presidents. It’s not created by corporations either. Culture is you and me. And in today’s world of fleeting electrons, culture is not about ceremony, there’s no need to speak or wax eloquent as was done in days past in order to define ourselves, or to gather traditions of a pedantic nature. All we need is a keyboard and a willingness to share our experiences to make them part of our culture. Be it in the arts, literature or the humanities in general, blogging enables each and everyone of us to contribute in an almost instant way to the cultural development of our own peoples.

Continuing in a cultural vein, aMaL is deeply disappointed with a concert given by the renowned Bahraini oud player and singer Khalid Al Shaikh, but makes some allowances: (more…)

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