Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

These are the things that sit with us Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Our country has a complicated history, and this history has affected the present. These are the things that sit with us makes visible the undocumented everyday experiences that shaped the lives of ordinary South Africans during the country's brutal and painful past. It is a record of things that 'sit' within all of us. By sharing their memories, the storytellers map the scope of the wider, more difficult conversation about the meaning of justice and the missing parts of the discourse of reconciliation in South Africa. It creates a space for a conversation about South Africa's history and what it means to talk to and to hear the other within the context of this history. In publishing each story in Xhosa, Afrikaans and English, we hope that the book will stimulate conversation among South Africans across languages.