Manchester Stories - Sasha

"I have just recently come back from Johannesburg. I have lived there before, I went back to pick up few things and see some of my friends. I love Johannesburg, if you are interested in humans and their endurance and capacity to just keep on going, then South Africa is really the place. A place I feel everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime, not to tick off the list but with the intention of learning and exploring its rich culture and deep historical context. The people are just so vibrant and so interesting with so many layers. What has amazed and moved me was to actually speak to people who remember the apartheid, who lived the apartheid. I remember as a child going to marches with my mum against the apartheid, and then to be in the place and speak to these people in person was a whole different experience. I have made friends with so many fascinating women, sometimes in the funniest of places, like you would be in a toilet somewhere and someone would start speaking to you because they've heard your accent. The women just bowled me over, they were so interesting, beautiful and so fashionable. What's more is that they have been shaped by their experiences and that of their mothers, the dynamics of their families and what that whole history has done to their society; that type of experience has a big impact on the individual, and it is that resilience that is very apparent when you speak to them . Even though I have Jamaican parents and have been brought up and educated in Jamaican culture, I feel comfortable and have a complete sense of belonging to South Africa. A piece of my heart will always be there."

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