Freshly Ground celebrating ten years in Polokwane

Limpopo fans had an unforgettable night filled with excitement as their favorite band freshly ground hit the stage in Meropa Casino conference centre in Polokwane. The performance which saw fans from all cultures and races took place on the 12TH of November, where the band entertained fans with songs like “doo be doo, buttercup and I’d like”.


Rhianna Church, a voluntary student from England said, “the performance was superb, I enjoyed every moment of it, I even lost my voice from singing along to each song. Freshly ground rocks big time. ”

Thabo Simelani said, Freshly Ground is recognized international and I always read about the good live performance and listened to their Cd’s, it’s my first watching them live and I must say they exceeded my expectations. The band is good and their music is nice. I really had a good time.

The lead singer Zolani Mahola almost had the crowd in tears when she sang the song Nomvula which is a dedication to her late mom. “This song is special to me; I was raised by a single father who taught e that nothing is impossible in life. I also dedicate this song to all the parents out there who are taking responsibility for the children”.

Freshly ground is celebrating 10 years in the music industry by touring through South African to give back to their fans. The tour started on the 9th of November in Johannesburg, followed by Nelstpruit, Mzabane and Polokwane.

We wanted to go see the people who have been supporting our music, when I first joined the band I was twenty years old and did not think we will go this far added Zolani.

The performance was a great success and had fans begging for more. I was there on duty but I enjoyed every second of the performance. I sang along to every song, jumping up and down. And they just had to sing Waka waka, word, the band is talented. You know you are good when you have Gert and Jan, Maria and Sipho dancing to your songs.

Lerato chats to Masechaba about life after varsity....

Masechaba is....


1)Dynamic,an introvert,hard working,focused and ambitious. I am a loyal friend and very family orientated.



What are you currently doing?

2)I have just finished my honours degree in BA Corporate communication at the University of Johannesburg. I still do modelling on the side. My main focus for the past four years has been my studies. which I have completed successfully.



What challenges are you facing with regards to what you are doing?

3) One off the greatest challenges for any good thing is SACRIFICE. When I took on the decision to study and finish my two degrees in record time, I had no idea how much I had to sacrifice in order to achieve my goals. What I mean by sacrifice in this regard is; not being able to go out as much, not much time for friends, working through the night to make deadlines. But looking back it was all worth it in the end.



What keeps you going?

4) I am driven by my dreams to become a one of South Africa's success stories globally. I am driven by the set backs that I've had in my life,that have caused some people to write me off or stop believing in me. I wake up every day, wanting to prove to the world what I am capable of and who Masechaba really is.

I often describe myself as a "big idea about to happen"-its all a question of time. Right now,I am laying a solid foundation first through my education, so that I am launched to greater heights in the future.



Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

5) I see myself having completed my masters degree from an ivy league international university. Successful yet still pursuing my dreams. I would like to get married and have children.



whats hot this season?

6) I'm the wrong person to ask. I've lost touch with all the trends of the world. Personally, bright nail colours are hot for me...its summer time bebe!



Describe your personal style..

7) I am extremely conservative. so I keep my wardrobe very classic,with minimal detail. Here or there I'll buy something bright and daring,but generally I'm a laid back girl who has a simple yet elegant taste."Less is more"



What people don't know about you...

8)

a)*uhm-thinking*...I love to sleep!I can sleep until the world comes to an end. my mum says I'm lazy,but I really love to sleep.does that sound normal?



b)I have a very small group of loyal friends, which I feel blessed to have-soul sisters and brothers as I call them. who have supported and loved me through the worst of times.



c)I am member of the Golden key International honour society,Uj chapter. Which some call the academic elite of the university...



d) I wrote a paper on South Africa's hip hop industry and I was selected to present it at the national SACOMM (South African Communication Association) conference 2010. With communication industry experts and academics from around the country.



e) I still do community work through my church by collecting and distributing clothes to the less privileged . I give motivational talks and judge pageants in the community.



ends note...

9)Education is the key for a bright and sustainable future. Government and the private sector have got to make more funds available for citizens of our country to be skilled and educated. this is the only way there could be efficient growth in our communities and country at large,socially and economically 2010 and beyond.



Also,I feel that the South Africa press/media has a mass reach with great impact. So instead of trashing public figures, they have the duty to tell the success stories of these public figures to the youth of our country,so as to encourage the youth to stand up and take charge of their lives. It will give the youth hope, encouragement and direction when they read more success stories of how people over came their personal challenges and are where they are today. I believe not enough POSITIVE role models are show cased in our media. and that has got to change!

Hoerskool Nylstroom matric dance 2010-10-08

It’s that time of the year again where parents have, and matrics go out of their way to cough up cash to make sure that their babies look their best. While others use this opportunity not only to spend their parents’ hard-earned cash, others use it buy things their folks would never allow them to buy. Recession or no recession, the parents must just be strong, because it’s go big or go home. Matric dance day is one of those days that after weeks or even months of preparation matrics finally have a chance to show off their personal style, and even lack of style. I took a trip down to memory lane and went to see pupils from Hoerskool Nylstroom strutting their styles. Like their dresses and suits, the school itself is diverse. From beauty and the beast to Khanyi Mbau wanna bees, the night was filled with nothing but elegance, well almost. As a fashionista I would be doing injustice by not nominating my own best dressed people. Feel free to disagree; after all beauty does lie in the eyes of the beholder. Call me a bitch, hater blah blah, but I’m just doing my job, after all we are all entitled to our own opinions.

Koketso Phala, rocked up in style. Her black little number did her justice; she looked elegant, simple but outstanding. Under normal circumstances, the chest would be considered slutty, but in this case, we forgive her. When I look at this girl, I see Bonang Mthemba, striking long legs and warm personality.

Oooh girl, once you go black you never go back, this girl was stunning. I don’t even have to say much, but Uyanda Mbuli better watch out.

I am not going to deny it; I am a sucker for bright colours. This girl looked adorable in her little dress. The moment she walked in, she got everyone talking, and will be until next year. This girl impersonates a combination of Thembi Seete and Khanyi Mbau, she loves attention, she is hot and she knows it.

This dress is just too much for me, too many feathers; she looks like a bird of some sort. I am surprised there are no eggs on the ground. The only thing nice here are the shoes, I mean where do you wear this dress. Oh, I know: Durban/July.

The dress is ok, I like it, mara this girl likes the colour blue hey, I am telling you she had on blue dress, clutch, and shoes and blue toe nail polish. Maybe even blue underwear, but let us not go there....

Hau shame bo ausiie hle, mara why vhele???? Can we move with the times??? Maybe ke recession…..these for me were the worst dressed girls.

For me they guys dressed better than the girls, they were just too fly, well not all of them. If you gonna buy an outfit for you matric dance, make sure its something you going to wear after the dance. I have still have my dress, and sadly I haven’t worn it since that day.
Over all the night was amazing, all their hard work paid off, lets just hope their results will also be the same. Modimolle might be a small town, but it sure got style.

UJ culture versus UCT culture

Even though Universities differ from one to another; there is always one thing that they all have in common, culture. This can be seen in the kind of lifestyle that students from different universities live, from academic to social lives.


Students from University of Johannesburg are said to pride themselves in the diversity and variety of cultures amongst the five campuses, while University of Cape Town students are the complete opposite. Like in the movies, in every university there is always some sort of division amongst students. The classes normally range from the cool kids, the geeks, the ghetto and the losers who no one wants to hang out with. The cool kids are the ones who are from the suburbs who have the latest designs, gadgets, trust funds kids who drive and consider themselves as presidents of the university. This group hangs out in their spot and isolate themselves from others, they believe that luxury is their birth right and everyone must bow when they pass. The guys are all about fast cars and hot parties, while the girls are all about good grades and the latest Gucci wear.



The other class is the geeks, these are nerds, you find them at the library studying in advance for everything, their main focus is acing their academics, and they take studying to a whole new level. They are so easy to spot, from the way they talk to their lack of style and dullness, because they carry huge backpacks and they walk around like varsity slaves and the cool kids always make fun of them. Then we have the ghetto students, who are from the hood, they are mostly at UJ, they are loud, obnoxious, don’t care about fashion or what they eat. These kinds of students’ usually play music with their phones on loud speaker. They basically fumble through life and they are the cool kid’s worst nightmare. The losers are simply the nobodies, they are just adding to the universities population, they are like zombies, and they are the outside insiders who fall in any of the above groups.

In both universities one can find these various cultures only in different levels. It is said that UCT students live in a materialistic world where it’s all about fitting in. Here you hang out with your social class, if your parents are CEOs and you went to a good high school then you are considers as an upper eastside. A UE is a student who falls under the UCT elite group and is above everyone, not only do they walk the talk, they also talk the walk. They have egos so big and they think the world revolves around them, whatever money can buy they have it. UE’s strictly hang out with UE’s no outsiders allowed. Both universities consist of nerds whose main purpose of being at university is to get to the highest qualification possible. Then we have the third group who are the upper eastside look-alike or often called upper eastside by default, they dress the part and they get good grades, they do not hang out with the UE or the losers, they form their own little army.



It is easy to differentiate students from the two universities in the way they carry themselves, UJ students can come together whilst UCT students are all about competition. UJ culture is all about integration, students from various social classes can hang out together, and there is no division of any kind, no upper eastside or Brooklyn. If your life revolves around the next episode of Gossip Girl then UCT is your playing ground, but if you are all for club hopping in Melville then UJ is the place you want to be.

Wanna look good? look in your cupboard!

image from:www.kelv.org/read-more-on-good-beauty-products

Many Women are said to be victims of the advertising world or how to books, from fashion to home ware, make up to cosmetics, they can’t resist. Well I am one of the self-confessed victims of diets and cosmetics, I struggled with weight and skin problems so I would fall for and thing that said: lose weight in five days or have clearer skin in three simple steps. I would buy one cosmetic to another, be it L’Oreal, Clinique, Ponds, Lemon Lite, Ambi, Johnson Johnson, to mention just a few. I spent loads of money on facial products, I even went as far as gentle magic, but the sad part is that none of them actually worked. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that these products don’t work; they do work for those women who I am yet to see.

Apart from skin problems, there are many common problems women deal with, and often times seem impossible to cure. After all else failed, I turned to God’s pharmacy, a book by Doctor Herman Uys who explains or give solutions on how to deal with female problems. , guess what, you don’t have to spend as much as you did on beauty products. Follow these guidelines and issues like PMS, urinary infections, dandruff and insomnia will be outdated.

image from: wists.com/boutiquemom/cool_websites/b6f8be30e

Pimples:

Many women have issues with pimples, there is nothing worse that bad skin after puberty. Not only does is lower once self-esteem but it also eliminates that airbrushed look after you apply foundation. In order for you to get rid of those zits on your face, follow these three easy steps, wash, tone and moisturise, well not exactly. According to DR Uys, cayenne pepper is an internal blood cleanser: take a teaspoonful 3X per day with water. For external health, all you need to do is to sponge your face with lemon juice or your own urine, first thing in the morning. Disgusting I know. Drink a quarter teaspoon of aloe juice at bedtime and rub your face with half an onion, well if you cry when cooking gravy, I suggest you end with the juice.



PMS:

Most women know during this is the time they can get away with everything, but it can be stressful when you have severe period pains. To minimise the fatigue and temper tantrums, eat fresh apples, celery and grapes during the week before menstruation. Drink Barley water during this time as it is rich in vitamin B and will ease the pain and raise immunity levels. Cayenne pepper will also help with blood circulation so a teaspoon three times a day taken with a glass of warm water will do the thing. Bladder wrack helps with hormone stabilising, use Soya as often as possible.



Hair loss and dandruff:

Yeah I said it; we all know what you are hiding under those weaves. So do yourself a favour by getting rid of that bad smell and icky smell. Who knows, going natural might save you a couple of rand. Well if you suffer from dandruff then rub rosemary, olive or almond oil into the scalp, and wrap-up with a plastic bag, and then a towel. Eat a tin of sardines one a week. For those of you who are big on Castor oil, do rub it on your scalp, and leave for 30 minutes before shampoo, don’t worry you hair wont run, unlike your stomach. Shampoo your head with selsun shampoo, DR Uys says it works wonders.


Urinary infections:

Save your frequent visits to the doctor and simply follow this routine, a lemon squeezed into a glass of warm water will do the trick. I know you probably tired of hearing this line, but for the sake of your bladder, drink up to 3 litres of water per day. Ditch coffee for three cups of parsley tea per day and 4-5 radishes everyday won’t hurt. As nasty as it sounds, do eat lettuce with raw onions (natural anti-biotic). Ok hear comes the hard part, avoid all bread and sugar stuff for they turn acidic and aggravates the infection. 15 drops of Echinacea every 30 minutes will give your immune system a boost, which will clean up the infection. Vitamin C or fresh oranges or narchies are also good for you.

image from:ladyfi.wordpress.com/.../humble-onion-thoughtsladyfi.wordpress.com/.../humble-onion-thoughts

I don’t know about you, but I'm tired of spending more money on beauty products than I do on clothes. Therefore, I have started using DR Uys’ natural ingredients for a healthier skin, after all, you are what you are and you are what you don’t eat. Who knew onions do more than give taste to food.

You not skimpy enough for Cubaña!!

                         image from: www.sheetalmakhan.com/2007_05_01_archive.html

I was recently on a trip to Cape Town, when my sister, a few friends and I decided to go to a club. We were club hopping, as the person we were travelling with could not handle four beautiful women by himself. After a long tour around Long Street, we finally decided to go to Cubaña. It a was cold and windy night so we were dressed for the weather, not too casual or too formal, but to our surprise we got turned down by the bouncers telling us that out outfits were not appropriate. I was on some WDF. What the hell do you mean? He looked at us up and down, and said with his Nigerian accent…."your attire is wrong"!!


I was like excuse me, but its 20 degrees outside, I can't go around wearing a skimpy outfit, but even that excuse did not get us a ticket inside the club and we had no choice but to leave the club in disbelief and shock. Along they way, we could not help but wonder about the pressures that society puts on people, young women especially. Going to a club only to be told that your outfit is not revealing enough is a disgrace. It was cold for heaven sake, all weather aside but really what message are those bouncers sending to young girls?


That being descent is not social acceptable or that you need to go around wearing t-shirts as dresses in order to fit in? Such things should be an abomination, its actually worse than being told you not white or black enough to enter the place. All we wanted was a drink and to hang out, what difference will my money make, whether it comes from a person wearing a skimpy outfit or a descent one? Is the value going to be different? I mean who is supposed to bring in the customers. The place itself or women wear when they go clubbing. For a second there I felt sorry for those girls wombs, a night of fun will be lifetime damage to their fertility. Oh, well its life I guess, you do or die! All I can say is: omamakho wazi? (Does your mama know?)

Greyhound, the apologetic bus.

image from:www.southafrica.to/.../Greyhound-bus.php5

Imagine yourself getting ready to go back home after a long time. All excited you pack your bags, bus ticket and get ready to go, just when you are about to leave the hotel, or BnB your phones beeps and its an sms from the bus customer service saying: “Greyhound regrets to inform you of an unfortunate accident on our CPT-Kimberly-JHB service. Coach is running behind schedule. We apologies for any convenience caused. Many thanks”. Adamant to go home, you stop for a second, take a deep breath and pray, they mean the bus will be an and hour late, hence you go to the bus station. You take a cab to the station with a smile on your face, then you arrive at the station and an intercom says you should report at the counter to check in. while you wait you receive a cup of coffee from the ever smiling waitress while you make new friends to entertain you along the 18 hour journey.


As you sip you hot coffee reminiscing on your is visit to Cape Town and the activities that you took part in, the intercom goes on again with a woman telling you that the bus has been delayed due to a traffic jam. That does not sound good at all; they tell you that your bus has been delayed by five hours. They give you a choice to rebook the bus for the next day or to wait. What do you do in that situation? Do you go back to the hotel after you checked out and spend more money? On the other hand, do you wait and hope for a miracle?

Well, I decided to wait and that was the longest five hours of my life. I sat at the Greyhound station from 12pm to 18:30 waiting for the bus to go to Johannesburg. Well me and a couple of other people who had faith in Greyhound. As we waited our phones kept on beeping with an sms from their customer service apologising for the inconvenience and adding more minutes to the five hours, from bus being delayed my five hours to five hours and forty minutes and on and on it went. After the long dreadful wait, the bus arrived at 18:00 and we finally departed at 18:45. The bus which was supposed to come at half 12 was late, and to make matters worse the six o’clock one was late. We didn’t care about that, all wanted to get the hell out of there, so the bust left and the passengers were complaining about how the bus inconvenienced their plans and wasted their money.

I mean sitting at the bus station for five hours requires you to eat hence more and more spending of money you had other plans for. To make matters worse they played some dumb noisy DVD, which I found rather upsetting. So I got on the bus and prayed that no one sits next to me. I covered my face with my jacket and slept until the next stop, where we found others waiting for a bus and they did not look happy at all. Along the way, the bus attendant kept apologising for the delay and blah blah, which triggered people’s emotions. Like wdf? The attended kept on waking me up and asked if I wanted coffee or tea, like really now, doesn’t the fact that I covered my face mean I don’t want to be disturbed?



When we finally arrived in Johannesburg Me and a few others swore to never, ever travel with Greyhound. Ok so Greyhound might be better than others in terms of luxury and blah blah, but a delay by five hours is inexcusable. Moreover, the excuse was there was an accident, ok at first I bought it, but then the people who got on the bus from Wooster told us that the attendant told them that the reason for the delay was that we had an accident. Like really, the real reason for the delay was due to their incompatibility. Anybody who has travelled with Greyhound would tell you that the service is apologetic. Even Road links also known as the killer bus is much better, better service and you arrive one time, dead or alive!