Humans of South Africa: Babe t

Humans of South Africa: Babe talks about her father’s murder

HOSA approached Babe, asking her to tell her story. She talks about the her most traumatic incident, and her outlook on life since

Humans of South Africa: Babe t

Her father died in front of her.

She doesn’t look tainted by life. One would imagine such trauma would be visible on the outside. But perhaps some hide their scars better than others. She is strong and confident. Her name is Babe from George, she lives in Khayelitsha.

Why was he murdered?

After all of these years she still doesn’t know what exactly happened. She was ten years old at the time of his murder. She says she never went for counselling. Her eyes sadden as she remembers the past, recalling a man who loved his kids, a man who worked hard.

Making peace with the past.

Surprisingly, she has made her peace with this sadness. We have two choices when it comes to tragedy: one is to grasp onto everything we believe in and come to the conclusion that everything in this world happens with reason. The other is to fall hard and never pick ourselves up. We all fall after tragedy for a while: when something bad happens we hit the ground. We are allowed to stay on the ground for a while as we need time to digest. We then make a conscious decision to get up and carry on. This isn’t easy; it never is.

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The powerful message.

Her parting words were that she wishes everyone would live in peace.

A powerful message from a lady who has seen first-hand the worst side of human nature.

This is part of a larger project called Humans of South Africa, which aims to tell the stories of ordinary South Africans