What do you do when you feel like suffering won’t stop? What do you do when it feels like your pain does not have a point? What does it do when it feels like your weakness continues to worsen? People ask you, “how are you?”, and you are simply saying, “I’m fine”. But in that moment, you are not fine. All you say is, “I’m fine” because you don’t want to express the real emotions which will lead to empathy and people giving you just two minutes of their time to hear you out. We

The Green Mamba they like to call it. Your South African anchor and your South African curse. “I’ve got the Green Mamba”, they say, “there’s no way out for me, I’m stuck here”. They talk about the corruption and they talk about the looting. Load-shedding and Covid are topics of their daily discussions. “Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse - it does”, they say; or an, “ah what can you expect, we live in South Africa”, when things don’t go according to plan. Eventuall

Shine Internship - HOPE Series by Elané Pretorius, Shine IOP Intern, 2021 It’s been more than a year since lockdown started. Some days we are sad, the news is bad and those around us are somewhat mad. Yet, if we shine the light on HOPE we’ll find it all around. To me HOPE is… THE NURSE holding your hand so that you are not alone or afraid. Sitting with you hours after her shift ended. THE FARMER who continues to farm and pray for rain despite a seven-year drought. THE GRANDKI

Shine Hope Series. by Charlotte Crisp Whilst there is no arguing we live in one of the most beautiful and diverse countries in the world, it’s sometimes hard to look past the daily struggles of living in what is also one of the most unjust countries in the world. This has been highlighted by the recent riots and destruction in parts of the country. For many people not living in South Africa – its an absolute mystery as to why we stay… and whilst trying to make sense of it mys

As we sit in the aftermath of what has truly been a world triumph, I simply can’t help but wonder what led the South African Springbok....