Fairlady June 2015

The interviews with Born-Frees who are coming of age this year on page 60 are fascinating for many reasons, but one of the most striking for me, when reading through them to select the five we published, was the recurring theme of absent fathers. One of the interviewees even said it was better that his dad had died when he was young, because he would have been a bad influence. Only two of the five we chose have fathers who are actively present in their lives: one was raised in Orania, and the other is the daughter of two gay women, who also has a strong relationship with her biological father. Where are these other men? Why are they not fulfilling their roles as fathers? According to research by UJ’s…

winning letter Happy Birthday FAIRLADY! I recently moved, and while ploughing through my treasure trove of books and magazines that I cannot bear to part with, I stumbled upon previous birthday issues of FAIRLADY – what luck! I read them from cover to cover and noticed that no matter how much things change, they always remain the same. The years may come and go but one thing is for sure, FAIRLADY will always be around. My late mother introduced me to FAIRLADY when I was a young girl. She said it was ‘the only intelligent magazine for young ladies’ – quite the compliment! Clearly that comment made an impression, because I’ve never missed a copy – even when I lived abroad. Thank you for making my life richer…

WHAT EXACTLY IS LADIES THAT LCHF (LTL) ? We’re so glad you asked – because it’s designed especially for you if you’re: • wondering why you aren’t losing weight – even though every man you know seems to lose as soon as he so much as says ‘LCHF’ • not sure exactly what – and how much – you can eat • struggling to plan meals and come up with recipes for your LCHF lifestyle If that sounds like you, we’ve got you covered! Our 6-week online programme is designed specifically for women like you. We know women often struggle to lose weight, so we’ve carefully engineered a course that will work. And don’t worry – your husband and kids can do it with you too. • We tell you…

My parents didn’t have the money to send me to university. I wanted to become an accountant but I knew that studying would be a financial struggle for my family. After I finished matric in 2003, I took a year off to decide what I wanted to do. The recent Cape fire was hectic. I don’t think people realise how huge the blaze was. There were times when we had more than 10 teams working on one line. I would go from Muizenberg, to Hout Bay, to Noordhoek and back. I also assisted by filming the fire, making sure that our firefighters were okay, and that the media was kept in the loop. I was the first female firefighter in Uniondale, my home town. I came across a Working on…

BUSINESS: SIYABONGA CERAMICS Owner: Siyabonga Fani Start-up costs: The initial start-up cost was R50 000. Profit: ‘It all depends on the product itself. You can sell some items for 200% more than it cost to make them, but then you still have to deduct salaries, rent, electricity etc.’ Siyabonga’s father could draw just about anything, and his mother collected paintings she found at garage sales – it’s what inspired him to be an artist, he says. When he was nine, he’d draw cartoon characters he saw on TV. In fact, he was so good at it that friends would come over so he could teach them how to do it too. Naturally, Siyabonga wanted a career that allowed his creativity to flourish, and it was during his studies that he…

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved writing and was good at it. I was always writing for school and university publications. At Wits I landed a few gigs on TV. There was no journalism programme at that time, and I majored in philosophy and international relations. At that stage I was thinking of becoming a lawyer – I’ve always been interested in humanitarian law. After obtaining my degree, I freelanced for a while for SABC’s Good Morning South Africa , the long-running breakfast show. One day they called me in and said: ‘You work so hard even though we don’t pay you. Imagine how hard you’ll work if we do!’ That was one of my breaks. I worked for several years for the SABC as a…