Finally the link is here

Hello everyone, as promised the link to my new blog

http://ifyouhadablogwhatwouldyoucallit.blogspot.com/

Thank you for giving me your time through this past year. I hope you continue to go on my journey with me and watch me grow both as a person and a writer.

Love and blessings

Busi

A journey

My journey has a strange beginning. It begins with me watching television on a warm afternoon. I’m laying on the couch where the sun rays break through the curtains and hit my skin gently causing me to feel warm. I’ve stayed home from school today so everything is painfully quiet. Because it is during the week, I am all alone with the company of the television set. I am twelve years old and the series of events that will come next will change the trajectory of my life forever.

I flick through the channels and land on e.tv which is currently showcasing a special coverage of the inauguration of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. I see the girls smiling in their green uniforms. They wear faces of happiness like I’ve never seen before. I see a couple of celebrities talking about the school the school and what it means for women’s education in South Africa. Then finally, the benefactor, the woman who has made this all possible appears on the television screen saying how amazing a day it is for her and these girls. 

A lump forms in my throat. I have this burning desire to be one of those girls. I can almost taste their happiness. I can imagine myself walking the quad of the beautiful academy. I feel the school pulling me through the television screen, it calls my name and the burning desire to be one of those girls is born inside of me. I too want to be a leader although I don’t really understand the fundamentals of leadership yet. I want to stand at podiums and recite speeches like the girls I have seen on TV from the school have done. I want so badly to come to this school that I can almost cry.

I greedily absorb all the information I can find about the school. I put my newspaper clippings into a file with a face of Oprah on the outside. I suppose this is my first encounter with ambition. I have found a dream and I am going to stick to it. My heart is invested in the school. All I do is think about it. I don’t even know what it is that pulls me to the school. All I know is that I would love to go there and be one of those girls.

I tell my mom about my desires and while she thinks they are exciting and amazing, I can see it in her eyes that she thinks I am being unrealistic. She doesn’t say this to me however and she tries her best to encourage me. Then one day I write a letter and address it to Oprah herself. I tell her of my burning desire to come to the school, I tell her about my favourite activities and attach my school reports.

My mother mails the letter to the school and my reply comes in the form of application forms. 

I can almost die of joy.  I fill these forms in and I attach all my sincerest twelve year old girl prayers. God seems to like my prayers very much because I am called for a first round of interviews. I am nervous beyond belief and I say all my prayers again, this time asking God to guide me.  He listens and I get called for a second round of interviews and tests. 

On the 30^th of November 2007 my mother receives a call which makes her shout a big whoop which I can hear from outside. She tells me I have been accepted at the school with tears of disbelief and complete joy in her eyes. 

I am shocked beyond my ability to respond and I can feel my tears moisten my cheeks. I know that this is the hand of God at work. I receive an acceptance letter to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls and my life will never be the same again.

I am moving to a new address. I will continue the rest of my address there. Thank you for reading and sharing this wonderful experience with me. I will post occasionally but I feel the time to move has come. My new site is still under construction so I will post the URL in the next few days. Thank you so much yet again.

Love and blessings to you

-These are the makings of a woman 

Mercy, grace and love

I have pondered these three words. I have come to now their power and significance in my journey to womanhood.

Perhaps I have never shared before that I am a christian. The reason for that has never been known to me, perhaps now is a good time to share it. Maybe God had not willed it so until now and the reasons for that are known to him alone. if you are still reading stay with me please, I only ask for a moment of your time.

Often, when someone identifies themselves as Christian people usually stop listening, or they lose interest. The reasons for that are many. Firstly some people view Christians as judgmental people who think they are far better than everyone else because of their Christianity. Christians assume a "holier than thou" mentality and that chases people away instead of inviting them.

I will attest to this, in fact i wasn't any different until recently. In fact I too judged people (even though secretly) while I did the exact same things I judged them for. Perhaps even worse.

Then it hit me, we "Christians" have managed to single handedly tarnish the reputation of Christianity. we have managed to chase people away from God instead of inviting them to God. To put it bluntly most of us have failed to fulfill our mission of spreading the gospel for its truth.

As I said, the same was true for me too until I was introduced to mercy, grace and love.

Allow me to introduce them to you too.

Mercy is an amazing friend of mine. although having only met her recently, I have grown very fond of her. We spend a lot of time together and getting to know her has moved me to tears because I simply cannot believe how amazing she is. let me tell you a bit about her, Mercy is kind and loving. She is forgiving and compassionate. Mercy is patient and she keeps no record of wrong. When I spoke to her i asked her many questions one of which was where she has been all along. Where was she when I needed her most? where was she when I felt like the world as I knew it was unraveling from the core?

Her answer was simple, as all of her answer are. she said to me "I have always been there beside you, you just never let me in. you denied yourself of my presence. I am very gentle. I never force myself on to anyone"

Her answer moved me to tears as I thought of how many of us push Mercy aside because we feel we are not deserving of her?

We are so brutal with ourselves. we are unforgiving and unkind to ourselves. We keep record of all the bad things we do and no matter how much good we can do, we struggle to hold onto it. We lock ourselves in prisons of guilt and shame.

We refuse to let Mercy in. Why? Because we are so harsh with ourselves.

But who are we to deem ourselves unworthy of Mercy's friendship when God, the author of life has so lovingly deemed us worthy? How dare we subject ourselves to such torment that we refuse to have our debts forgiven.

Mercy is forgiveness, she is always by our side but we refuse to welcome her into our lives. We ask for forgiveness yet when forgiveness arrives we refuse to accept it.

I too was unforgiving of myself. I treated myself harshly and locked myself in prisons of guilt and shame. But I found Mercy, rather I let her in. I accepted her into my life. Things have never been the same since! It is so tiring holding on to guilt. It is emotionally and physically draining.

So I challenge you to let go of all the hate, and shame you have against yourself. I urge you to let it all go and allow Mercy to enter your life. Once you feel her compassion and touch you will realise that life will be so much better, so much easier.

I just ask that you try to forgive yourself.

I have found a friend, her name is Mercy and I would be honored to share her with you.


I will tell you more about my other friends; grace and love.

May the spirit of the Lord be with you. Love and blessings to you and yours.

These are the makings of a woman

-Busi (and Mercy =D )

where is the time?

I cannot even describe to you just how shocked I am at the passing of time. It seems as though it was just yesterday when I was a confused fifteen year old girl trying to establish her place in the world. I remember my fifteenth year very vividly; perhaps because it was one of my most confusing years of my life so far. I remember grappling with issues of confidence and weight. I remember despising my height (about 1.5 metres at the time) I always seemed to be one of the tallest amongst my peers and I hated that! I also remember trying to figure out my body and its processes. In school, I wasn’t quite young enough to be considered a junior (grade eight students are the juniors/ babies of the school) and yet I wasn’t quite old enough to be considered a senior either (the seniors at the time were in grade 11 because they were going to be in matric the next year). So I hovered in the middle of being a junior and a senior not too sure about where my place was in the school. At the time I didn’t see where exactly I fit in the bigger picture. It was about at this time also that I was introduced to boys; not as the annoying people in class but the potentially cute ones who I could give my number to. Because I was shy (although that might be debatable) my experience with ‘boys’ was limited to my imagination, what Id read in books and my shared experiences with some of my friends at the time. Although there was one boy who I had contact with and he was a really good friend of mine. So my experience with the opposite sex really was limited to friendship. As such, I didn’t really understand what all the hype and long phone calls into ungodly hours of the night were about!

My year could be summarized into one word: confused.

On the contrary here I am almost three years down the line and my view of the world is completely different. For starters I would say much of the confusion which haunted my fifteenth year is none existent or being dealt with. I no longer deal with issues of confidence or low self esteem. I would say I am currently a confident young woman  who holds herself in high regard. My height? I am in deep and utter love with all of my 1.75 metres. This is the height of elegance and I would have it no other way. I think I have almost figured out my body and its processes (although I am still waiting on my breasts to advance beyond the A/B cup spot which they have so graciously embraced). I am currently a senior in school doing my last year of high school so I no longer have those issues of figuring out where exactly it is that I fit.

So I suppose you are wondering about my relationship with the opposite sex? Well to put it blatantly I would say that it is none existent at this moment. Well on a romantic level that is. On the other hand, I have some amazing male friends who have taught me a world of things about the workings of the male species and on some levels the workings of the female species.

I have had a huge total of (brace yourself, drum roll please) two “boyfriends” between the beginning of my sixteenth year and now. So I suppose my contact with the male species has improved. I am still quite skeptical of the male species because I don’t really understand it as much as I would like to so that causes me a bit of discomfort. Although I will be honest some males are absolutely drop dead gorgeous and are a pleasure to feast my eyes on!

On a more serious note, I have seen many teenage relationships many of which do not work out. I see many teenagers invest bucket loads of time and emotional attachment into relationships that end on a sour note. Having said that, I think that is the reason why I tread carefully when it comes to relationships. Yes it get frustrating sometimes when all I hear is “oh my boyfriend is awesome” or “oh I just love her”. Sometimes I long for that feeling of being loved by someone else and loving them just as much in return. That giddy feeling that leaves people with pink faces and stupid smiles plastered across their faces but I am in no rush.

Looking back I realise how far I have come and how much I have grown. There are many other incidences that would symbolize my growth and show you the journey that I have been on. Some of which are serious, others heartbreaking while others are funny and not too “serious” almost like the ones recounted above.

I am so excited to be turning 18 on the 8^th of June. I cannot wait to discover what this chapter holds for me.

It is safe to say:

These are the makings of a woman!

Take care

-Busi

By any means necessary

"We declare our right on this earth...to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary."

-Malcolm X

Cry for redemption (an African child's plea)

With guns they killed our motivation

Claiming their riches from our hard work and perspiration

“Thixo ‘namandla zusincede” we cried to him seeking emancipation

Years later we seek a different kind of liberation

Not from the boer but from our own addiction

Now we  cry “thixo ‘namandla zusincede”

Siyathandaza Bawo sigcine

Sibeke

From these bongs zize zisixege

sikhathele ukubanjwa iziyobisi

But in their shackles we are bound

 Sivele, we cry for your pity

We tried to save ourselves sohluleka

Now we look to you, give us an answer tata siyakhuleka

-Busi Ree

Snaps

snaps from last night with the ladies

 Basi

Me, Ijeoma and Basi

                                                    Me


More pic will follow soon.

Our Chill session was fun though

#GirlsWannaHaveFun

These are the makings of a woman