South Africa 36

Listen to South Africa 36, a 60-year-old woman from Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, South Africa. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 60

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 24/09/1957

PLACE OF BIRTH: Bo-Kaap, Cape Town

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: (Cape) Malay

OCCUPATION: pharmacy assistant

EDUCATION: National Senior Certificate (Matric)

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS: N/A

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: N/A

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: Nadia Barnard

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 05/11/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I grew up in what they call Bo-Kaap. My grandmother was from Walmer Estate. Well, they moved, different places: from the Bo-Kaap up to Walmer Estate, back to District. You know, at the time there they moved from one place to another place. And they lived in the flats in the Bo-Kaap, which was called the Bakgat Flats. They lived there. They had — my mom had four siblings, four sisters and one brother. But apparently my granny had more; there was two sets of twins that passed away, so, ja. They were a lot of children; I think about twelve. But out of the twelve, only five survived. Ja.

My mother got married; my father was also from the Bo-Kaap. And they settled in the, the, in, in the Bo-Kaap, in Jordaan Street, and we went to Vista High School, which is right against the mountain. Beautiful view, every day you look down. In the beginning, when we were at primary school, the first three years, I was at Rahmania, which is a Muslim school in District Six, because my granny looked after us. Then when there were three children, my mother gave up her job, so back to Bo-Kaap. And then, taken out of Rahmania, out of the Muslim school, put into St. Paul’s School, which is Anglican. So I went to church every Thursday morning and Friday morning. I loved going to church, coming in, and kneeling. You come in, you go to the bench, and you kneel and you sit down. I loved it. To me — I went to Sunday school, every Sunday singing “Away in the Manger” and you know all the Christmas songs, ja. I loved it. You know, we lived in Jordaan street, and then there was a factory, and the factory had like a stage. So Sunday school was on the stage. So every Sunday, I was there, on that platform; I knew it; I sang it off by heart.

And on Monday to Friday, Monday to Thursday, I went to Muslim schools, which I was very good in, ja. I finished the Bible in Arabic, thrice. But I — and, you know, we grew up in Bo-Kaap, opposite neighbor with Christians, next-door neighbor. We were, you know — it was a mixed community. My mother baked for Auntie Ruth, Auntie Audrey, auntie whatever for, for Christmas. And you know we had to be inside before the sunset; that’s Maghrib time. Then, Auntie Drieka or Auntie Ruth will call: “You must go inside now; it’s almost Maghrib time now!” They knew. It was lovely growing up in the Bo-Kaap. Really.

TRANSCRIBED BY: Nadia Barnard

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 07/11/2017

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

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