Sonja Kruse (UBUNTU GIRL)

Guest Speaker Sonja Kruse, better known as THE UBUNTU GIRL, shares her moving journey of discovery of UBUNTU in our country……her story continued….”The dream lived and grew inside of me over the next few years, until it became the reality, the reality the dream. So in October 2009, I quit my job, gave my car away, packed a 33 lt backpack, took a R100 and took to our roads.

It soon became apparent that people needed a reason why someone would do this, other than just listening to their heart’s desire. In the dream there were no questions. No: Why? How? What if? Just laughter and love.

WHY?…Why did I feel disconnected? There was an inconsolable sadness in me about the way we view our country at times. We often read and talk about the negative things that happen around us. We have simply forgotten to take note of the good things. We have forgotten about the collective consciousness. The dream was prompting me to go and collect the good stories to bring to us. To connect. To build.
HOW?….It was simply a case of asking people to help, at times knocking on strangers’ doors: “I have nowhere to sleep, no food to eat. Please can you help me?” Every night for the next year, there was a bed to sleep in. Every day there was food to eat. Without transport, walking and hitchhiking; without a tent; without a planned route or the means to support myself. On the first night, my host Phumza and her 2 children in Scenery Park Township (East London) only had a double bed. Phumza made a bed on the floor for herself and allowed me the honour of sharing the bed with her two children. On the second night I cooked dinner, in a small exchange of culture with the first hosts of many.
150 families
16 cultures
9 provinces
114 towns
From Shacks to Percale Cotton
Townhouses – Townships
Orania – Ventersdorp Township
Muslim – Christian
AWB – ANC youth league
Students – Pensioners
Vegetarians – Hunters
Cities – Rural
Curries – Chicken feet

And just about every hue in between. On the last day, I met the only white Induna in the history of the Royal Zulu Household, a Mr Potgieter, recording the history between the 2 families. Then I knew it was time to go home and pen the story.”