Not Too Long Ago
By Fatima Khakie
Review by Naazneen Ayob


This is an awesome book for young children in which they can gain a little insight about apartheid. “Not Too Long Ago” takes place in the house of a young girl, Fatima and her parents. Fatima seems very eager and keen to learn about the past-apartheid. Fatima’s mother tells her that her father is gone for a Vaal Hearings meeting so she inquires from her father as to what the Vaal Hearings and TRC (Truth and reconciliation commission) is all about. She is told about the details of apartheid and the hardships that many people including her parents had experienced. She is grateful that now, people of different races can live together and apartheid has been demolished.
The author captures the mood of the reader in this remarkable story and enlightens many of the young readers in this splendid story on apartheid in which they can relate to and understand.
A well written story-A real inspiration!

Before Teaching

This idea of teaching a class on the work we are doing is a new, fresh and unique idea. I know that after doing it, it will not only benefit me but benefit the smaller class as well. I will have new insight into the poem and I will have had the experience of teaching someone and passing down knowledge, a great opportunity. I know that it takes a lot of work, effort, planning and patience; but it must be done. I only hope that they appreciate what we will do for them and that they learn from it. All throughout this year I have learnt to never regard something as “impossible” in the English class for anything and everything can be done.

Introduction to film study

Who knew it took so much technique to make a movie? Yes, I did know it took time but identifying all the techniques involved was a wow moment. The movie we watched, Kingdom OF Heaven was brilliant and my favourite movie by far. Each frame can be intricately analyzed and one starts to understand so much more of the whole plot. I enjoyed the movie because it was based on history, and the fact that it involved Islam was great. However, I prefer reading than watching.

On writing a book

I absolutely adore writing so this task was an interesting one. I wanted to be the best so I put all what I have into it. It was challenging to write in a lower standard especially on the topic we had, and it was ne also a challenge to include the Vaal Hearings and the TRC in the plot. One had to mention the above yet still keep the story interesting enough for young minds not to get bored. I especially liked using the computer to type out the pages and after that putting it together in a book. Searching the internet for pictures was also good.

Evaluation of term 3

Much like the previous two terms, term three was pretty much the same. Although, the work didn’t seem that much anymore and wasn’t like doing normal homework it was fun and very enjoyable to do. As for the novel Cry, The Beloved Country it was a very deep book and to think that so many underlying issues were brought out is amazing. I read the novel before the term started and only after it was taught in class I began to understand it with whole new meaning, for instance I initially was unaware of social dislocation and it turned out to be such an important aspect explored throughout the book. Doing the Vaal Hearings along with it tremendously helped, Apartheid started taking a whole new REAL look. Thus, making learning way much easier and easier to relate to. The poem we did will probably stay with me for the rest of my life and that was An Abandoned Bundle. Talking about the poem, we did something pretty unusual in those lessons, we recorded ourselves! That was pretty cool. I really enjoyed term three and it revived the love I have for literature.