Life on the Other Side of My Neighbourhood
()
About this ebook
This newfound perspective might send shivers down your spine as you grapple with the stark contrasts of life, especially in the landscape of Southern Africa. Here, countless souls are relegated to the status of ‘desperadoes,’ their lives shackled by the chains of poverty, a situation exacerbated by the haunting shadows of colonization.
How I yearn for our leaders to don disguises, to walk a mile in the shoes of those on the other side of the neighbourhood. Such an experience could unveil the crushing repercussions of lacklustre governance on the future generations of Southern Africa. Perhaps then, they might reconsider their leadership ethos, valuing citizens as beings of emotion and aspiration, not merely as ballot ticks.
Through the lens of an ordinary South African immigrant, this narrative unfolds a tapestry of daily challenges, endeavouring to offer you a deeper understanding. As you traverse through her journey, may it spark a transformation within, urging you to look beyond the familiar, and delve into the unseen narratives that share our world yet remain veiled in the mists of unawareness.
Angeleen Chenesai Magwizi
Angeleen Chenesai Magwizi is a doting grandmother of two feisty boys. She grew up in Rhodesia—now Zimbabwe—and experienced the liberation war struggle in her teenage years. Having trained as a primary school teacher, she taught for over 20 years – before retiring. She has always been an avid reader and recalls writing articles to local newspapers about Southern African social challenges of the blind during high school and these went on to be published. With her increasingly growing concerns about the welfare of immigrant children, Chenesai has written a heart-felt story inspired by true events related by friends and family abroad.
Related to Life on the Other Side of My Neighbourhood
Related ebooks
The Camp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Current of Silence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSad, Sardonic and Hopeful Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobbing Faith Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Be Rich, Thin and Happy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeking My Daughter Faith: Parables From the Forgotten Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAng Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf You Really Loved Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlending colors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Tunnel Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsInfertility, Infidelity, and Insanity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFear not the Spiritual Truth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKarin’S Story: My Journey Through the Wilderness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMs. Satire: Tips and Tricks About How to Find the One and a Couple of Stories About Weirdos Along the Way Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRemember Me Not, My Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSix Thousand Miles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gospel According to Cane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Getting Pregnant The Hard Way: Surviving Subfertility & IVF Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHe Wasn't Man Enough Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFive For a Start Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEveryone has a Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen Who Dream- Daydream Believer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cottage: New Beginnings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost Souls Dating Agency Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNarcosis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE LIFE GARDENER: A Journey Towards Authenticity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsS.O.S Sink or Swim Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorah's Secrets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBehind the Pen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Politics For You
Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The U.S. Constitution with The Declaration of Independence and The Articles of Confederation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Chomsky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ever Wonder Why?: And Other Controversial Essays Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race: The Sunday Times Bestseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Closing of the American Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spook Who Sat by the Door Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Life on the Other Side of My Neighbourhood
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Life on the Other Side of My Neighbourhood - Angeleen Chenesai Magwizi
About the Author
Angeleen Chenesai Magwizi is a doting grandmother of two feisty boys. She grew up in Rhodesia—now Zimbabwe—and experienced the liberation war struggle in her teenage years. Having trained as a primary school teacher, she taught for over 20 years – before retiring. She has always been an avid reader and recalls writing articles to local newspapers about Southern African social challenges of the blind during high school and these went on to be published. With her increasingly growing concerns about the welfare of immigrant children, Chenesai has written a heart-felt story inspired by true events related by friends and family abroad.
Dedication
Children are my haven. I marvel at their resilience, hope and innocence. This book is written in dedication to the forgotten dreams of all the displaced Subsaharan African children. This is not because of war but secondary to selfish governance that has landed them in a foreign South Africa illegally.
Copyright Information ©
Angeleen Chenesai Magwizi 2024
The right of Angeleen Chenesai Magwizi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The story, the experiences, and the words are the author’s alone.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781035825271 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781035825295 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.co.uk
First Published 2024
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Acknowledgement
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the other side of my neighbourhood without whom I would not have written this book. I would also like to express my gratitude to a special friend who has supported me with encouragement in my journey of finding myself and writing. I am extremely grateful to Sinikiwe Makarutsa my friend who has stuck by my side in every season of my life for planting the idea of writing in my head. Lastly, I am deeply indebted to Roman and Charlene Chideme who made it possible with their nurturing support for this writing dream to be possible. To God be all Honour and Glory!
Introduction
Have you ever realised that you can live your life without ever imagining what it would be like on the on the side of the world? What am I saying? I’m not even talking about the other side of the world but the other side of your neighbourhood. It’s a thought that never crosses our minds. I don’t know why but when I ended up on the other side of my neighbourhood, my eyes were opened in so many ways that I decided to walk the journey by writing. Although not a long journey, the experiences changed me as a person and as a human being. Life is full of uncertainties. If you had asked me to write ten years ago, I would have laughed my lungs out and said, Are you for real? What’s there to write about?
Today my answer will be, There are innumerable things to write about in this world and life.
I have been a reader since my junior high school days. Through-out the previous years, I have used reading as a form of escape from the reality of my life in particular—and the world around me in—general. I found myself in this setting because I had made a decision to give myself a new face and identity. I had been privileged to stay in the Northern Suburbs where everything looks beautiful-, at least on the outside. Now I found myself in a new setting not far from where I lived before. This is where my story begins.
Chapter 1
Week One
January 2020
As I stepped out of the taxi at the Shoprite Plaza on 6 January 2020, I immediately had a sense of anticipation mixed with fear as this was totally out of my comfort zone. I looked beyond the horizon of the Shoprite Plaza in the Western expanse-; there before me were numerous houses and shacks; what was more visible were the shacks. On the other hand, the eastern side had beautiful small houses. They looked new. I knew that staying there was out of the question; I was supposed to be there for four months, maybe—five tops. There was no way I would put money into renting an expensive place. I had already made up my mind that I would stay in the ghetto for the few months that I was going to be in the country. However, I wasn’t prepared to stay in a shack. Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with living in a shack. I am a person who is overly particular with hygiene in the home, specifically the bathroom. I like to take a proper bath or shower twice a day, the one thing that is not readily available when you live in a shack. You have to use a big portable dish in a limited space to bathe. I will always marvel at one who comes out of these shacks looking immaculate, gorgeous or handsome, content and cheerful despite their circumstances.
Prior to my coming, I had organised accommodation through someone. I thought it was just a matter of getting there, paying rent and moving in. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way; there was a minor detour from the original plan. The owner of the place where I was supposed to stay wasn’t picking up my calls for three days. I was left with no choice but to start looking for a place again, hence the reason why I found myself at Shoprite Plaza in Olievehoutbosch. It was a scorching afternoon. I went straight into Shoprite Supermarket because people normally post adverts for accommodation on the notice boards inside supermarkets. My intuition was perfect; there were a couple of rooms to rent which were affordable. I took down the contact numbers and dialled the first one. The man on the phone promptly gave me directions to go to Marabastad and then call him from there. Actually, looking back, I should have walked. It’s not that far from the plaza. Nevertheless, I jumped onto a local taxi and asked to drop off at Marabastad. Quickly, I made inquiries from a young lady I had met and she informed me that the whole place was called Marabastad. Shocked, I immediately called the person who had directed me. I had assumed Marabastad was a name of a shop. I tried calling the guy but the call was not going through. I am a nervous wreck if things don’t work out as planned, I easily go into a panic mode. I had to stop at a Spaza shop (South African name for small, convenience shop usually located in front of someone’s residence.) and do some calming exercises that a special friend of mine had taught me a year prior. I breathed in and out slowly until I was steady. As I tried to call him again, my phone registered zero phone credit. I bought it from a Spaza shop. That was another shock! When you buy airtime at a Spaza shop, they charge you an extra fifty cents on every R5 worth of airtime. You would like to think this is what they should do in places where people have money, not where people struggle financially. Anyway, eventually he picked up his phone and managed to direct me to his place. I couldn’t help but notice how dirty the streets were and how run-down