Being an ex South African,
rooting out discrimination of any sort is very important to me. My maternal grandfather was highly political
and did hard labour for his activities in the ANC. My mother stayed out of politics; perhaps
because she and her siblings had suffered the hardships her dad’s imprisonment
dealt the family. But she was not afraid
to voice her opinions in as strident a way as possible. And while at times I was embarrassed by my
mother’s loudness, over time I came to value her openness and questioning
attitude.
She instilled in me a deep
love of reading. But more importantly
she fostered the idea that I should not take everything read as concepts set in
stone. In a recent Twitter post on how
to get children to read, Joanne Harris said it so
much better than I do.
My childhood reading, along
with people skills learnt from my dad has definitely helped me become the adult
I am today. And while I’ve never been as
bolshie as my mother I’ve learnt to stand my ground about issues which matter
to me. When I worked as a teacher I
challenged discriminatory behaviour by posing questions which I hope made my
students see the world in a new way and ask their own questions rather than
accept everything they heard or read. When this
technique didn’t work I would always resort to the sense of humour I believe I got
from my dad.
Now as a tutor, I work with
many different organisations and it makes my heart swell with joy to come
across so many children and young people who are constantly breaking down barriers
and sticking a finger in stereotype’s eye.
It thrills me that I get to meet individuals who are doing everything they know to make our world a more cohesive rainbow nation.
So I’m extremely pleased to
announce that the children’s author, Rosemary Hayes, has agreed to do a guest
post about how she challenged stereotype with a series of books on Travellers.
Rosemary, a huge thank you
for taking the time in your busy schedule to do this for me.
Rosemary’s post will go live mid November. If you
would like to read her series of Traveller books before then, or any of her
other work, just follow the link.
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