Image of the week… Their lips shone like diamonds

22nd November 2024

Their lips shone like diamonds as we pulled into the back yard. Sparky Mark greeted me with a gigantic hug, griping my legs like a koala. It felt so beautiful to see them, my heart lit up. There’s something so warm about Ronaldo and her family and I feel very lucky to have met them.
Having a best friend to navigate the complex time of adolescence is a magical blessing. Together you learn how to grow and embrace your identity whilst knowing you have the unconditional support of a soul mate to lift you up, understand you and keep you safe.
Thabbs and Ronaldo met at school a few years ago and their friendship switched from one of conflict to love; flipping unexpectedly. I’ve experienced this before and it’s a beautiful surprise when your initial engagement and dislike of someone takes a 180 turn to complete synchronicity.

“What’s changed since I visited last Nov?”

The answer I received was more complex and sadder than I could anticipate.
Some good things, some bad.
When my two close friends were walking into the front gate of their school a car was speeding down the road and gunshots were fired.
One of them ran for her life. Sadly, more common than not my other friend had this false sense of confidence and security in a lot of “ghetto/gham” children nowadays and she continued to just walk. I guess it’s so common we are immune to the real danger.
Sadly, that led to her being shot.
After she was shot, she ran into the school and into a classroom where my friend watched her fall to the ground and bleed out causing her death.
It left my friend and the people surrounding the girl extremely traumatised.
More and more cases of people getting murdered by gangsters are rising in different communities, it’s hard to keep track of the amount of gangster attacks because there are so many locally. It’s heart-breaking and a very sad reality of the real life in Cape Town.
On the more positive side our friendship bond has grown stronger/closer. Over our summer together, we were constantly together creating new memories to treasure.
Our characters have grown so much from learning from one another every day.