Stories

When we share our stories, understanding, empathy and trust grow. Our relationships improve and we get a stronger sense of community. At Heartlines, we’ve seen how story-sharing has impacted and connected thousands of people beyond anything we could have imagined. Here are some of those stories.

All stories

Living with dyslexia

A lecturer once said to me that if she were my mother she wouldn’t be wasting her money on someone like me.

A white young man at a Xhosa initiation school

Brandon and Yanelisa are friends who come from very different backgrounds: one of them is a white, English young man; the other a black, Xhosa young man.

It all started when I was seven

Overcoming abuse is never an easy thing, especially if the abuse began in your childhood. Zandile, a brave young woman shares her story with us.

I have lived a life of pain

South African actor Israel Sipho Matseke Zulu (Israel Makoe) opens up about his name, growing up in Alexandra township and how being incarcerated changed his life.

Raising a child with Haemophilia

Nerissa, a mother of two, shares her story of what it's like to raise a child with Haemophilia and how she's raising awareness about the condition.

Being an outsider

Daily I live with the thought that I, too, may find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, guilty of being a foreigner.

I knew I was dark before I knew I was black

Black is beautiful or is that light-skinned black? Zama talks about growing up with darker shade of skin compared to the rest of her family

I blamed my father for my brother's death

Growing up without a father can impact one's life in many ways. Listen to Khani as she tells why she believes that her father's absence in her brother's lives, led to them going astray.

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The apartheid secret police tapped my phone

From tapped phones to being banned from addressing large crowds. Listen to Brian share his story about creating a non-racial South Africa during apartheid in South Africa.