Traditional Foods, Reconsidered: What Grandmother Knew About the Mind
Thabisile Gumede 17 August 2026 Siphokazi Zuma remembers the sound of her grandmother’s amasi calabash – a dull, rhythmic knock against the kitchen wall as it fermented on the windowsill. “She used to say, feed the mind by feeding the mouth properly,” Siphokazi recalls. At the time, it sounded like an old woman’s proverb. Now,…
Yingozi Kangakanani Ukuhlala Kakhulu?
Thembelihle Zwane 14 August 2026 Njengoba abantu abaningi baseNingizimu Afrika bephila impilo yokuhlala kakhulu, ochwepheshe bathole ukuthi ukuhlala isikhathi eside ngosuku kunomthelela obanzi empilweni. Abanye basebenzisa umfanekiso wokuthi “ukuhlala kufana nokubhema.” Uma umsebenzi wakho uhlanganisa ukusebenza kukhompyutha ehhovisi, ukuhlala emgwaqweni ushayela noma usemathekisini isikhathi eside, kanti izinto ozithandayo zihlanganisa ukubukela i-TV noma ukuhlala ezitolo zecoffee,…
The Weight of Expectation
Londiwe Buthelezi 12 August 2026 Nomvula Zulu stood in front of the mirror in her Durban flat, adjusting the collar of a blouse her mother had picked out for the family gathering. Thirty-four, unmarried, and childless – three facts that, in her aunt’s eyes, added up to a kind of quiet failure. She was a…
The Guilt of Getting Better: Why Recovery Can Feel Uncomfortable When Others Are Still Struggling
Stella Moll 12 August 2026 Recovery is often painted as a finish line. We imagine relief, freedom, and finally feeling like ourselves again. But for many people, healing isn’t accompanied by celebration. Instead, it arrives with something far more unexpected: guilt. There can be guilt for laughing when friends are still fighting their own battles….
Sweetening the Conversation: How a Dietitian Helps Clients Manage Sugar Without Giving Up Dessert
Londiwe Buthelezi 11 August 2026 Every week, registered dietitian and Canderel nutrition consultant Mbali Mapholi sits across from people who have been told they need to cut back on sugar – and almost every consultation starts the same way. “I suppose this means I can’t eat dessert anymore?” “It’s one of the first questions I…
Phakamisa Ngobuchule, Hlala Uqinile
Londiwe Buthelezi 10 August 2026 Kusukela ekuphakamiseni ibhokisi lamafayela kuya ekufinyeleleni ekhabetheni elingaphansi, iningi lethu liphakamisa izinto izikhathi eziningi ngosuku ngaphandle kokucabanga… kuze kube yilapho sizwa ubuhlungu obungqamuka emhlane. Ngamasu afanele, ukulimala nobuhlungu kungagwenywa. Ucwaningo olwenziwe KwaZulu-Natal luthole ukuthi amaphesenti angu-79.3% abantu bake babhekana nobuhlungu bomhlane esikhathini sabo sokuphila, ikakhulukazi kwabesifazane nalabo abaphakamisa izinto ezinzima….
Finding Your North Star: How One Founder Is Reimagining Gratitude, One Honest Reflection at a Time
Thabisile Gumede 11 August 2026 For years, Jonathan Blaauw did what most of us have been told to do: he wrote gratitude lists. Health. A roof over his head. Food on the table. All true, all worth appreciating – and yet, night after night, he found himself going through the motions without ever really feeling…
South African women, caught between generations, are running on empty. This Women’s Day, the conversation has to move beyond resilience.
Thabisile Gumede 9 August 2026 Nomvula makes her mother’s tea before she wakes her son for school. By 6:30am she has checked her mother’s blood pressure medication, packed a lunchbox, answered two work emails from bed, and mentally rehearsed the difficult conversation she needs to have with her manager about taking Friday off – again…
Book Review: Hanging on to the Coat Tails of Jesus by Prindha Govender
There is a particular kind of courage required to bare one’s soul, not through the polished lens of hindsight, but with the raw, trembling honesty of someone still standing in the ruins of their own undoing. Prindha Govender, a high school educator of 32 years and a debut author, possesses exactly that kind of courage….
The Comfort That Costs: Sugar, Alcohol and the Anxiety Nobody Talks About
Londiwe Buthelezi 24 July 2026 Thandeka Mkhize can pinpoint the exact shape of her Friday evenings. “Work stress builds all week, and by Friday I want two things – something sweet and a glass of wine,” she says. “It felt like a reward. It took me a long time to notice it was also making…
