sotho.739.LETTERS
--BONA - June 2004
BONA - August 2003--
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Surviving abuse
YOU sound pathetic the day you confess to your sister things aren't so great with your new husband.
You tell her how he's trying to control every aspect of your life and she looks at you in disbelief. You're lucky to have a man who loves you that much, she says.
You admit to a friend there's something wrong in your relationship and she shows you the ugly scars given to her by her husband...
You confide in your mother, tell her that he insults you and accuses you of infidelity after every party. And she just shakes her head and says: "Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words can never harm you."
Don't believe that! Even if your partner doesn't actually beat you up, his nasty words can be just as harmful! Extended verbal and emotional abuse can lead to depression and a lot of other problems!
Thando Ntombela, Dobsonville
Your Letters
Concerned about unemployment
I am writing to express my concern about unemployment. This is accompanied by a lack of direction and an inability to perform to the best of one's ability.
So I was thinking...
Why can't the department of education make a plan whereby learners are guided into career-oriented paths at an earlier stage of their schooling.
Not everyone can excel at "academic" subjects. Let learners have more acess to programmes that teach them useful trades.
Martin Mrobo, Katlehong
Saving marriages
It's sad to see so many couples getting divorced these days. Don't they know the two pillars of any good marriage are loyalty and communication"
Loyalty gives the marriage dignity and security. It enables both partners to endure the bad times, and not simply run away.
After all, when a person finds his roof is leaking, he tries to fix it - he doesn't abandon his home!
Loyalty is about protecting, maintaining and cherishing.
Communication is about thinking before you speak. It's about being gentle and knowing when to listen to your partner as well.
Lucky Mkhonza, Badplaas
Out in the cold
I'm concerned about street kids, especially in these winter months.
What is the government doing about children who sleep in the cold, covering themselves with cardboard"
More importantly, where are their parents" Dead from AIDS" Then what are the communities doing to help" How can they just throw away children like this"
Sylvia Koali, Maseru
Acknowledging his crime
I'm serving two years for motor theft. I acknowledge what I did was wrong and have accepted my punishment.
Prison isn't a nice place to be. But one of the things that keep me going is BONA. It's my favourite magazine!
Nhlanhla Ndebele, Benoni
You could lose it all...
For most people, gambling is something to be done once in a while - and always with caution.
But, of course, there are those who give in completely to temptation, who dream of making a fast fortune.
And so a pastime becomes an addiction - with terrible consequences to one's family. Lives are destroyed through the selfishness of the addict.
Gambling is not the way to make money. You're a fool to think you can ever beat the casinos.
Aaron Tlou, Tweefontein
"BONA reaches unreachable places," says
Mr Mnguni. Is this so"
ARE YOU ABLE TO BUY BONA IN THE LANGUAGE OF YOUR CHOICE WHERE YOU STAY"
Please let us know if you're having difficulty getting the magazine in the language of your choice. Write to us at Letters To The Editor and remember to give the following details: which language you were looking for; the area in which you live; and the name of the shop where you usually buy your magazine.
Help us help you
God bless BONA!
People should know that BONA is the magazine among magazines. In difficult times it was there for us. In increasing cover prices you try your best to keep your own price down.
BONA cares about the unemployed and the ill. BONA reaches unreachable places. God bless BONA!
SM, Reitz
BONA - October 2005
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Your Letters
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BONA - October 2005
PROUD Nguni tribesmen from the Great Lakes buried their dead wrapped in cowskin. This was the "African way." Colonists, in treating local inhabitants as "savages," insisted they bury their dead in wooden boxes - "colonial coffins" still in use today.
I want to be buried naked and wrapped in cowskin, as is the "African way." But by-laws in SA make this illegal!
You must go to your grave in a colonial box, not cowskin!
I'd like to see these laws changed, so burial in cowskin can be seen as a "legitimate" funeral ritual.
I have written to Pallo Jordan, urging the minister of arts and culture to support this cause.
After all, bringing African traditions back to the funeral business and allowing all South Africans (black or white) to be buried naked in cowskin is in keeping with President Mbeki's vision of an African Renaissance.
Authorities say bodies in cowskin must first be placed in a box before burial. I say this an old-fashioned colonial way of thinking and it must change.
Bury me naked!
Readers will remember our February story on the ethnic coffins being made in Bronkhorstspruit by a company run by the irrespressible Beau Brummel. The story also told how, when his time came, Beau wanted to be buried naked in a cowskin cloak with a sangoma in attendence. Apparently this is not as easy to "arrange" as one might think. Beau sent in this update...
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