Ma Wa Gray

This evening I watched a jogger go through a certain kind of grief. He was saying goodbye to the open road. There was a poignancy in his fevered gallop. Like some kind of passionate love affair ending. As chance would have it Gray came down with tonsillitis overnight forcing me to break several days of isolation to brave it in the tense last minute shop of far too many South Africans. In my quest to get antibiotics  in a crowded shopping centre I felt the very real collective pulse of this nation. And there is a spirit amongst our people, and indeed in the world, that I can’t quite put my finger on. It reminds me of my jogger - we know that something is coming to an end, that a huge shift is underway, that the things that have been as certain as the ground beneath our feet are going to change. And we don’t know if we’re going to be able to run anymore. We are approaching the holiest times for two faiths - Passover or Pesach. For the Jewish faith Pesach marks the time when...

A Prayer For Families In this liminal time between the known world and a rapidly changing universe - May your marriages be saved, May love return to your home and remind you why this union is worth fighting for. May you find passion in your shared spaces. May you always have enough food on your table. No matter how humble, no matter how bland, May the mouths in all homes find something to fill them. May your walls swell, may they stretch to accommodate the hours, the games, the laughter, the homework, the house work, the anxiety. May they become big with memories although small in boundaries. May there be moments of respite where those within your walls can be alone, can retreat, can be still, can know. May your children always remember this as a time of love, of resilience,  of gentle routine, of growth, of family. May their memories be painted in the joy associated with kindred. May they thrive, may they learn through boredom, may they separate from screen a...