All Quotes

"Google can teach you many different things, but certain acting tricks can only be learnt through experience."

"...to me as a reminder that every young actor rising in our nation carries the potential to change the world. May this inspire all who are on their way up to keep going, keep creating and keep believing."

"Dancers are nimble, constantly getting their bodies ready. Musicians are always making noise. But actors only work when the agent calls. So, by the time they go into auditions, one is so out of touch with himself or herself or what is required in the industry"

"I decided to found the academy for actors already practicing in the sector who wish to upgrade and empower themselves"

"We have a very small film industry. If I tell you now in America, there will be over 400 movies being made. If I go to England now, I’ll find about 50 to 100. I don’t want to talk about Nigeria, probably 3,000. So, I don’t want to call it the South African film industry, so I would rather say the South African creative sector."

"There are so many beautiful and powerful stories in Africa. They are in our culture from the beginning of time. We were kings and queens before all this colonisation and oppression. Those are the stories we must tell so that our children and the next generation could know that Nelson Mandela was not the first. There were others way before him that led the charge of a free independent Africa"

"I read a lot to sharpen my tongue and look after myself so that I can be in character. I know that I can act. I know I can even just give people a look and that is enough to show my presence."

"A lot of people were saying that Uzalo was an amateur show, a creche for actors, but I thought they were on to something and took up the job. Something told me this was the right platform for me. It leaves me emotional when I think of what this show has done for me"

"I visit prisons and even mines to perform for them and so I see this as an extension of what I do. The fact that I am on TV opens doors for me. Not that I want to be famous. I want to give back."

"...letting go of someone that you love and shared your life with is not an easy road to travel. Everyday feels like the journey just began and will not end."

"No amount of alcohol, late nights out and different girls can make the feeling of emptiness."

"The word "civilization" apparently first appeared in a French book in the mid-eighteenth century (L'Ami des hommes (1756) by Victor de Riqueti, marquis de Mirabeau, the father of the French revolutionary politician). Since then, it has had close associations with the West's sense of its own superiority. In order to see the past clearly, we must try to avoid this assumption built into the word."

"I had to be very grounded with the fact that I am going out with this information because that’s part of the calling … It shocked me to my core, but at the same time also made me very steadfast, very strong, and to just trust in the process …"

"I feel like, in some small way, I opened the space for people to feel more comfortable about talking about that journey."

"I am in my last year of study at Brandon University, toward a Bachelor of Arts Degree, majoring in Creative Arts (writing and theatre), with a double minor in Philosophy, and Gender and Women’s Studies."

"I am proud of my struggle to cultivate a creative spirit while independently raising my daughter, who at 20 is herself a strongly vocal, creative, and independent spirit. I am proud of participating in the creation and maintenance of a community which is healthily bound by actively loving, honestly communicative, and mutually supportive relationships."

"I have also gratefully engaged in many interesting experiences over the past decade: attending several births (including homebirths) while training as a doula; working as a nanny and family support; sitting on the board of the Brandon Folk Music and Art Society as the co-acting Chair and Festival Director; volunteering through Westman Immigration Services as a teacher’s assistant in an E.A.L. classroom, and as a personal language development tutor; teaching theatre for several years to a large group of youth with the Treasure Chest Theatre Group; writing several original dramatic works for young actors, and directing and producing their performances; collaborating with friends and fellow artists in the production of several shows."

"In May, 2009, in an attempt to raise awareness of the migrant’s plight, I travelled with a group of B.U. students (led by B.U. professor, and Latin American historian, Patricia Harms) to the Sonora Desert to participate in the 75-mile Migrant Trail March between Sasabe, Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona. I have written and presented creative works on the migrant experience."

"I was awarded the Lauralei Cederstrom Award for academic excellence in the Gender and Women’s Studies department at Brandon University. My creative non-fiction work, “River Stitched”, was awarded second prize in its category by Prairie Fire Literary Journal in its annual literary contest, and was subsequently published in the Autumn, 2010 quarterly edition."

"I am currently working on a thesis in creative writing."

"When I was a younger woman searching for role-models, I would look upon various women of achievement and wonder how they came to be in the place that seemed so far from the one where I stood. I dropped out of high school during a tumultuous adolescence in which academics were not my priority, and became a mother at a young age. When I first entered University at age 21 (for a degree which I eventually left to focus on raising my daughter, and to care for personal health issues, until my return to formal studies in 2007), I was so anxious and shy that I could not meet anyone’s gaze in the halls. Compared to many of my fellow students, I was relatively poorly read and I saw myself as being culturally out of step and confused inside of an institutional academic setting, due in part to my particular class and education background. Like many young students, I was terrified to speak out in the classroom. Although I desired to learn, I was not sure if I deserved to be in University. I did not know exactly what to do to become a good student, or how to take advantage of the many opportunities waiting for me. I know better now!"

"I am moved by Beauty and strange stories, by a love for the earth, by suffering, and by empathy for others. I loathe class/cultural/ethnic/gender/sex/ability-based inequities, and whatever other unjust and oppressive power guises are perpetuated and keep people from an authentic expression of their full being. I see ‘reality’ largely as a story that we tell ourselves about what is happening, and believe that all truths are situated within various narrative structures."

"Poetry has always helped me to frame and connect to the world. I have always been drawn toward artists and story-tellers—by brave, brilliant, and outrageous souls—the Outlaws and Outcasts. I am inspired by people for whom even speaking or being comes at a cost, by people striving to make sense of themselves and their lives, to make sense of others and their lives—by those who struggle to make sense of Life. These people have been my models and teachers, and I will continue to endeavour to learn their wild shapes, and speak after their name."

"One often writes after questions, I believe, and not in light of bold-faced answers. Curiosity is the ultimate driver, and it leads me nearly everywhere I want to go. Studies in Philosophy and Gender History provide various maps to explorations. Writing also is an attempt at connection. The theatre is a place of connection. The necessity of my own healing, and of my desire to understand and connect with myself and others, directs me continually into artistic expression."

"At some point I became audacious enough to believe it would be a good idea to follow my passion. Since returning to B.U. to complete my degree I have been inspired, assisted, encouraged, and pushed along this course by several generous professors and other helpers. It is good to be led in this way! I have discovered here that much happiness is the product of risk and dedicated effort."

"To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face, and to know it for what it is…at last, to love it for what it is, and then to put it away."

"This Virginia Woolf quote lately resonates with me. I think that existence is worthy of great inquiry! How hard it is to love life and to speak to that love in a world that can silence and hurt. Yet, what a wonderful opportunity one lifetime offers for the exploration of love."

"I think it takes a fight to recognize and manifest one’s gifts in this world, and to learn to value education as a means of developing not only a career, but a richer existence. If one’s gifts are recognized by others then this process may be accelerated. It is good and strengthening to challenge and celebrate ourselves and one another! That this challenge and celebration can occur within a formal academic setting elevates study, and the status of being a student. This is a place of privilege and possibility."

"It is great for one to return to the world that which is at least equal to the gifts one has been given! I believe in following the flow of good fortune, and that privilege must be accompanied by responsibility. I attempt to offer to others what I receive by way of love, support, guidance, training, and nurturing. We all need to take care of one another as we make our way through."

"I intend to continue studying and learning. My short-term goals include continuing my mentorship, and developing a theatre/story-telling program based on Theatre of the Oppressed methodology to offer to students on a workshop basis, as a hired artist in rural public-school settings. I also plan to pursue a Master Degree in creative writing. In short, I want to teach, write, dance, collaborate on creative art projects, and ideally spend as much time as possible in a little cabin by the lake—enjoying the rewards of friendship, and the satisfaction that comes from doing hard, good, and meaningful work."

"There were logistic companies and one which had a big metre warehouse and there was no lease agreement between them and Transnet and Transnet was not getting money into its accounts. There were others there who were running events management companies. The management including the then-chief executive Mr Siyabonga Gama pretended that they did not know that the land is occupied illegally"

"We asked ourselves that these people must have been paying money and they were reassured that you can build a factory here and nothing is going to happen to you. That factory was probably built for close to R15 million and nobody would spend that much money if there is uncertainty"

"We could not get information and no employee could simply talk to directors. It made it difficult for us as the board"

"This will be a transformative move for the ministry, guiding us towards building a more responsive civil service."

"It is unfortunate that some of you will soon retire, leaving behind a service delivery system in disarray. There is need to rekindle the Basotho spirit of resilience and dedication to work."

"You find that our SGBs, that it school governing bodies, themselves cannot match, the school principal cannot match the teachers, let alone that, in some cases they cannot match the very children that they are supposed to help or assist, so its that kind of free for all scenario"

"The teachers are playing truant, teachers will play sick, and teachers so know how many days they are entitled to for leave that the principal or the school governing body are unable to deal with them"

"But fortunately the teachers some of them will know that they have to be at work. The question is what do they do, do they have the capacity? [...], so let the government assist the teachers. The government has not engaged them in development projects at all"

"Parents do not visit schools. Sometimes even where the schools have occasions where they want the support of the community they are just not there at all"

"Let the ward councilor, let the church people, let the professional in and around the school show interest in the schools not the school governing body only"

"Until we do that we are unable to understand what we need or expect of children"

"If Zola was here today, it was not going to be about him"

"With utmost humility, he was going to base his acceptance speech rather on the role that UWC played in nurturing the constitution of our country. He was going to impress upon us all that UWC is the cradle that carried South Africa into its current democracy"

"Zola was a selfless disciplinarian who was very loving and very caring"

"He was a gentle giant to us and many. He was a man of few words. He felt his love of the poor in this country very keenly, yet didn’t spend much time talking about it. Instead he chose to act upon it"

"As Zola’s family we hope that this honour will not just end here today, but will rather go a long way in reminding the people of our country - especially our future generations of leaders - that our constitutional democracy was not just received on a silver platter"

"It was achieved through a protracted struggle waged on many fronts, and on the moral high ground of selflessness, dedication and hard work"

"To the Skweyiya family, Zola was a brother, an uncle, a beloved husband and a father, and a grandfather. To many others, he was a friend, a colleague and a comrade in arms. We all miss him dearly, but we thank God for his life and good deeds in this world"

"And in this dynamic process, Zola stood tall"

"He had to steer the ship - and he did it in his own way. Quiet by nature, he had to steer a vociferous Kader Asmal, an eloquent Albie Sachs, to the real politic of negotiations. When he spoke, all listened, because he had an inherent authority; because when he spoke it was thoughtful, visionary, yet practical"