Born a twin in Mannenberg, where her family stayed for about seven years, then Mitchells Plain, and finally Strandfontein Village, Fatima was always surrounded by food. She spent her childhood days either playing in her grannies garden, where she planted vegetables; or in her mother’s kitchen.

“I often think back to that day mom asked me to cook a big pot of chicken on an open fire. We pricked holes in a sink plate to release heat from below. I was so proud of myself and I think mom was too,” Fatima says. 

One day, while she was spending time in the vegetable garden that she had started with her granny, Fatima heard their next-door neighbour asking her mother for something to eat. Fatima’s mother responded and said that she could only offer her a few soup bones. Fatima overheard this conversation, ran to her mother and offered to give the neighbour a few potatoes and a cabbage that she grew in her garden.

After her selfless gesture, Fatima grew fond of helping others through food. She says she was happy to have assisted their neighbour and adds, “I discovered my calling that day.”

Fatima also realised that food was not only a means to sustain oneself, but also a source through which people can effectively help sustain others. She often watched her mother sing while she was cooking and believes that this image made it easier for her to fall in love with the idea of being a chef.  

Fatima’s mother has always been a central part of her cooking journey, but when her mother passed away, Fatima grew extremely sad and missed her mother a lot. So in an attempt to pay homage to her mother’s memory, Fatima created the cooking blog on Facebook and as they say, the rest is history.

But Fatima’s successful journey didn’t come without a few hurdles along the way. Setting up her Facebook account and understanding the platform was a slight challenge for Fatima. “Luckily I could call on my well-informed family members who could help,” she says.

With Fatima struggling to understand how the platform worked, a thing of the past, Cape Malay Cooking with Fatima Sydow soon filled up recipes and so did her followers. A thousand loyal followers turned to 10 000 loyal followers. 10 000 became 25 000 and before she could come to terms with her unexpected success, her page had reached 300 000 people.

Her page is filled with hearty meals from Carrot and Pea Stew, Ox liver with mash and caramelized onions. There’s Mac and Cheese, Peppermint Fridge Tart, Koesisters, Cabbage bredie and you’ll even find a Penny Polony Smoortjie in there somewhere.

What people love about Fatima’s food and her recipes is that it is ‘home food’ – food for the soul, and that is easy to follow. Her recipes take people back to the food their mothers and grannies prepared. It also provides the non-cooks an opportunity to learn an uncomplicated recipe.

Fatima has also authored cookbooks; she says she’s always wanted to write and being from a family of librarians or people who generally enjoys reading books, It was an easy move. The Journey of Cape Malay Cooking was published in 2015 and Cape, Curry and Koesisters launched this month.

“With The Journey of Cape Malay Cooking, many of my devoted fans and followers on Facebook reached out to me and asked me when I was going to publish a cookbook. I was blessed to do a second book, this time with my twin sister Gadija. She’s a librarian so with her help and cooking knowledge, writing Cape, Curry and Koesisters were a bit of a breeze.”

The two sisters also host a cooking show together on DSTV’S channel 147, VIA. Their show ‘Kaap, Kerrie en Koesisters’ airs every Monday at 17h00 and reflect Cape Malay cooking and culture. The two sisters also take audiences on a captivating journey of their lives growing up in Mitchells Plain, while observing a few unsung heroes and forgotten traditions along the way.

The Cape Malay Culinary queen’s advice to newbie’s in the kitchen is “Just get into the kitchen and cook. Don’t be discouraged when your attempts don’t deliver the desired results, try again until you get it right.” 

She urges aspiring cooks, who want to create an online presence for their recipes, to be as authentic as possible. She says chefs should not be afraid to be real in the kitchen because people end up enjoying your food because of you.

Fatima is a chef yes, but she’s so much more than that. Her colourful recipes bring people together and serve as a great conversation starter. She’s the aunty everyone wants to be around and it’s all due to her infectious energy and lust for life.  

Note: A special thanks to Fatima Sydow for making time to speak with us.

The post Fatima Sydow: The Cape Malay ‘Antie’ with Over 304 000 Followers appeared first on Coloured South Africa.

Growing up in Blackheath – a real city boy – in a home with a slightly peach coat of paint, Marvin always knew what he wanted to do with his life. Raised in a loving environment, Marvin remembers enjoying the unending support of his family throughout all his endeavours.

Therefore, when he told his parents that he wanted to study arts at the University of Stellenbosch, they were his biggest supporters. However, while studying at the University of Stellenbosch in 2006, Marvin realised that he was no longer sure of his choice and dropped out of varsity hunting for other career paths.

While figuring out his next move, Marvin recalls flipping through his TV-channels one day and watching The Hills (an American reality television series). A particular character who worked in an Events and Marketing environment caught his attention. It wasn’t long thereafter that Marvin enrolled at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, studying Events and Marketing; majoring in Communications.

While studying at the university in 2010, Marvin dislocated his right knee while exercising and had to stay at home for six weeks with his leg elevated.

“I felt so unproductive, but being able to write my thoughts down, made the six weeks slightly bearable. I wrote short stories and poems. Writing took my mind away from the condition I was in and it ended up being a lovely escape,” he says. Today, when asked by people how he started writing, he jokes and responds, “I literally fell into it.”

After his recovery, Marvin went back to varsity to complete the rest of his education, but faced, yet another challenge. Missing classes resulted in Marvin failing two subjects and he had to rewrite them in 2013.

During his last year, Marvin interned at Heart FM radio for six months. On his last day at the station, Marvin received a call from KFM wanting to interview him for a position that had opened. Four days later he received a call saying that the job was his. “It was so overwhelming. Here I am fresh out of varsity with little work experience about to work for one of South Africa’s biggest radio broadcasters.”

When his contract with KFM ended, Marvin received another opportunity to intern at Media24 for six months where he grew extremely driven. He wanted to prove to himself and his community that he too could achieve success.

While working at Media24, Marvin got the biggest shock of his life. Media24 offered him a full-time position as a content producer. Here he gained invaluable knowledge and expertise about the industry. After working there for four years, Marvin said his goodbye’s and was ready to move on to bigger and greater things.

Thereafter he worked as a freelance writer for various publications and did TV-commercial modelling and acting. “I worked with Samsung, Lenovo, Heineken, and Castle Lager.”

But even though Marvin enjoyed life as a freelancer, he never lost sight of his plans to establish himself as a writer. He continued applying for writing jobs of which countless applications to the Suidooster TV-show was one of them. The management team could no longer ignore his persistence and finally offered him a volunteer position in 2018. “It wasn’t what I wanted or hoped for, but it was a start and I was willing.”

As his time at Suidooster also came to an end, Marvin was again pleasantly surprised – the production team offered him the production assistant position. He accepted, but soon felt that his career was heading in the wrong direction. In his heart, he still pursued writing and felt that he was moving slightly off track.

With these thoughts in mind, Marvin made the difficult decision of resigning in hopes of landing a writing job. it’s a good thing he did because later that year Marvin started writing for the Son Newspaper with the concept of producing weekly column pieces that review Suidooster episodes with a comical spin. “We are celebrating eight months of publication this month and I’m so happy that I persisted and never gave up on what I wanted.” His column, Marvin Borcherds Waai Met Suidooster, is published every Sunday in the Son and can also be found on Facebook.

Marvin’s persistence is now, revealing other hidden talents – one of them being scriptwriting. He is currently working on filming one of his scripts with film director, Jaak Erasmus, and promises to keep us all up-to-date as the film develops.

He believes that his journey has taught him resilience, patience and more importantly that success is not determined by the balance of one’s bank account, but how your craft or gift is able to light up someone else’s momentary darkness. “I therefore now live by the three P’s; Patience, Perseverance and Prayer,” he adds. 

Note: A special thanks to Marvin Borcherds for making time to speak with us.

The post How Marvin Borcherds Accidentally Fell into a Career of Writing appeared first on Coloured South Africa.

Andrea heard of the audition through talent scout and director of the Just You Agency, Elsubie Verlinden, who helped Andrea with the audition process. A few hours after Andrea’s audition, Elsubie called the young singer and congratulated her on being chosen to represent South Africa at the International ARTS Convention happening in Florida in June.

Andrea is only 14-years-old now, but she’s been singing since the age of five. As a child, she enjoyed singing to all her favourite dolls while holding onto a hairbrush, which she used as her microphone.

She also loved listening to the songs her mother and father played. In fact, it was their musical preferences, which sparked Andrea’s interest in music. As parents, they enjoyed their daughters’ artistic skills and it led to them enrolling Andrea at a music school for vocal lessons and a few piano classes too.

Soon thereafter, Andrea started participating in local Eisteddfod competitions where music, drama and poetry are performed. While attending Beaumont Primary School in Somerset West, Andrea’s love for music had evolved so much that, she joined the schools arts and culture program, performing at school concerts and fundraisers.

As an 11-year-old girl, Andrea was pretty much just having fun. However when her school was invited to Singapore to take part in an interactive musical titled ‘we create the World’, Andrea’s opinion of the arts changed. To her it was more than just a means of having fun, but rather a promising career she could follow.

Returning home from the trip to Singapore, Andrea grew even more curious about the music industry. After she completed her schooling at Beaumont, Andrea joined Rhenish Girls’ High School in 2018 and to no surprise; the first department she joined was the music department.

Andrea loves music and says she cannot wait to showcase her talent to international agents, managers and casting directors.

With that in mind, it is only normal that Andrea starts to feel a bit nervous, but says she knows how to counter them. Practice-practice and more practice is how she chooses to calm her nerves. Her training routine includes attending vocal lessons and she has a few performances lined up before her trip in June.

In addition to this, Andrea has also been attending two artist boot camps in Johannesburg, where industry professionals have been teaching her the different styles of acting as well as other performance techniques.

“I’m really grateful for the doors that have been opening for me and cannot thank my parents enough for their support on my journey. They are constantly reminding me to reach for my goals and that means the world to me,” Andrea says.

The singer has plans to pursue a career in music and acting, and she believes that opportunities like the International ARTS Convention will be the foundation of her acting and music career. “I hope to get a few a call-backs after my visit to Florida, but I’m more excited about the seminars that I’ll be attending.”

But the pop idol isn’t all about “that life” of all work and no play. She says she is not planning to waste a good trip to America without doing some sightseeing. A trip to Walt Disney World Theme Park is at the top of her bucket list and she jokes that she might even bring home a funny American accent.

Andrea has worked hard and she deserves every opportunity coming her way. Her advice to aspiring singers like herself is to work hard and not give up. She believes that if you work hard towards what you want, opportunities will come knocking, and doors are bound to open.

Note: A special thanks to Andrea Martinez for making time to speak with us.

Source: www.media24.com (Helderberg Gazette: Riata Nel);

The post America Wants to Hear Andrea Martinez Sing appeared first on Coloured South Africa.

The 34-year-old experienced a very happy childhood growing up in Kleinvlei Eesteriver, with his parents and two older siblings. His father, being a pastor, meant that Gerald spent most of his days going to church or attending some religious event. Gerald believes that his upbringing grounded him spiritually and allowed him to find his life’s purpose at a very young age. He says he always knew that he wanted to study medicine, but never really anticipated the adversity that came with it.

During his time at Eesteriver Secondary School, Gerald’s mother was retrenched, his sister fell pregnant, and his brother became a drug addict. His father was the only one working, which brought a lot of strain on the family. Gerald’s world was completely shattered, and a home where laughter once echoed, become a place of awkward silence with occasional feuds about money.

With their financial constraints, Gerald remembers going to school on an empty stomach and no lunchbox. He adds, “My schoolwork suffered and my health too when doctors diagnosed me with Ulcers. I remember walking home from school one day, questioning God and everything that was going wrong in my life. I was so depressed, I felt lonely and neglected.” At this point Gerald was crying and was forced to ask himself two very important questions; “was I going to walk the same path my older brother did? Or was I going to choose differently?”

He chose different – But even after choosing to lead a different life, nothing much had changed for Gerald and his family. They were still struggling financially and Gerald was still struggling in school. By the time he wrote his matric exams in 2002, he knew that he wouldn’t do well. “I needed an exemption to study at Stellenbosch University, but passed grade 12 without one,” he says.

Gerald’s poor matric results crushed him and deepened his state of depression. However, despite everything that went wrong in his life, Gerald was not ready to quit.

In that same year, Gerald heard of the Schimathus-Post-Matric program offered at Stellenbosch University and he applied immediately. The program allowed Gerald to rewrite and improve his grade 12 results in Physical science, Mathematics, Language studies, and Computer studies. And of course, from thereon, nothing could stop him.

Things went so well that Gerald got a bursary, took residency at Stellenbosch, and obtained his bachelor’s degree in Functional Human Biology in 2006 – majoring in Physiology and medical nutrition. Next was his honours degree, which he also did at Stellenbosch and scored 71% for his research in physiology and 73% for his theoretical work.

Despite such great academic results, Gerald still struggled emotionally throughout university. He constantly thought of his family and their financial state, “I had to remind myself of the future that I wanted for both me and family. I realised being a doctor was my dream, and that I would have to fight to get out of my circumstances,” he says.

With his dream now being fuelled with determination, Gerald flourished in University and obtained his masters degree in 2010 while working on multiple medical research projects as well as sports medicine projects. In 2011, Gerald joined the University of Cape Town where he obtained his Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Medicine in 2014.

He has since then gained valuable experience in the industry and was even invited to lecture at the Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Disease in Africa. He has collaborated with institutions like the Desmond Tutu TB centre where he was involved in academic, research and staff development.

But his greatest moment; In fact, his breakthrough moment was when he was offered to do a research training scholarship in Germany. The opportunity forced Gerald to think outside of his comfort zone and through this he has establish a career in medicine research and is now an NRF rated researcher.

These ratings identify researchers who count among the leaders in their field of expertise and gives recognition to those who constantly produce high quality research outputs. “I was also funded by the South African Rooibos Council to try and figure out how Rooibos tea is able to protect the heart, and we hope to publish our findings in an international peer-reviewed scientific journal soon,” he says.

Currently he is the principle investigator at Tygerberg Medical School where he leads a range of biomedical and clinical studies. With 14 years of experience, Gerald admits that there were times that he was exhausted, but never wanted to give up. He also says that there were times that he lost faith in his capabilities, but overcame this by dividing his academic journey into smaller, more obtainable milestones.

Dr. Gerald Maarman is passionate about the health of others and with World Health Day on Sunday (07 April) fast approaching; he asks that people take their health more seriously, exercise, eat healthy, visit their house doctor, and go for regular cancer checks.

The research doctor is also a keen singer, preacher, and writer. He recently launched his music video with gospel star Neville D and is currently working on his first book. He says the book will delve into how one can achieve success in the face of adversity and promises to reveal some of the things he has never shared before. So we wait – patiently.

Note: A special thanks to Dr. Gerald Maarman for making time to speak with us.

Source(s): www.sun.ac.za (Elbie Els); www.linkedin.com (Gerald Maarman)

The post How Dr. Gerald Maarman Fought Adversity to Become Top Medical Scientist appeared first on Coloured South Africa.

Stacey, who is also a multiple Award-Winning Author, BrandSA Ambassador, motivational speaker and Awards Custodian was also impressed by the fact that the show primarily focusses on helping young minds transition into their teenage years. The children’s program airs every Saturday from 07h00 to 09h00 in the morning and delves into topics like puberty, exams, self-esteem, and bullying.

The show is very popular and Linnay has hosted everyone from TV stars to government officials. The young radio host says her most memorable moments on the show was her interview with Titus O’Neil from the world of wrestling entertainment and with Jacques Blignaut, who plays Vince Meintjies on 7de Laan. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I could be a radio presenter. My life has completely changed since joining EldosFM,” she says.

In addition to being a popular radio host, Linnay, often referred to as “nay-nay” by close friends and family, is also a top achiever in school. During her years at Heerengracht Primary school in Eldorado Park, Linnay always placed top throughout all her grades. By the time she reached Grade 7; Linnay had set such a great example to her peers that the school elected her as head girl in 2018. Eden Daniels who is the principal at the school said in an interview with Westside Eldos Newspaper, that she is proud of Linnay and admits the young one has always shown great leadership qualities.

Linnay has since then completed her primary education and is currently a student at the Concord College in Johannesburg where she also plans to obtain great results. She says that she always planned to be a General Surgeon someday, but is not entirely sure anymore. She admits that radio had something to do with this and is therefore still deciding on what to do in the future. However, something the youngster is sure of, is her plans to focus completely on her education and work harder so that she can keep up her standard of good grades.

But even with her desire to do great in school, Linnay also hopes to do more community work and says that she would like to see a drugless community one day, a community that is safe for her and her friends to play in. One thing is for sure, whatever the award winner decides to do with her life; she is definitely a must-watch.

The little star clearly has a deep passion for the youth and urges her peers and other young children to focus on school, be themselves, not give in to peer pressure, stand up for what they believe in and more importantly, to fall madly in love with themselves.

Note: A very special thanks to Linnay Jooste and her mom, Buddy Jooste for making time to speak with us.

Source{s}: www.westside-eldos.co.za; {Zoë Van Rooyen}; www.staceyfru.co.za; {Dorcas}

The post Linnay Gets African Child of the Year Award appeared first on Coloured South Africa.

Growing up in Kraaifontein Carmen’s only dream was to be a winemaker, an idea she got through reading her mother’s novels and guidance she received from a family friend who worked on Stellenbosch Farmers Winery. After matriculating from Scottsdene High in 1990, Carmen applied to study at Elsenberg Agricultural College, but was rejected because; the college only accepted white students. Hoping to get a different result Carmen applied again in 1991, but was rejected for the same reason.

That year Carmen began to sell chocolates over the Easter period, and shoes on Cape Town station, while working at a factory that manufactured padlocks. “I’ve had so much experience working with padlocks, I’m sure I can bust open a few locks myself,” she jokes.

After applying to be admitted in 1992, the college rejected her again, because she did not do military training and had no background in agriculture. “I was confused by this, what on earth did military training have to do with winemaking,” she says.

Following yet another disappointment Carmen continued working at the factory and during this time, she completed a diploma course in agriculture, which she did through correspondence. Confident that she would finally be accepted, Carmen applied again and was finally accepted to start in January 1993. She also threatened to expose the college if they denied her application again.

Carmen’s student life was not any easier. Being a woman of colour made her an easy target for racial attacks and insults from both students and lectures. The insults often led to panic attacks and almost caused her to drop out. She however, confronted the school management and the bullying soon stopped. “It wasn’t an easy journey, but when I finally graduated from Elsenberg in 1995 I was overjoyed,” she says.

Her rise to the top began at Distell working in the cellar. Distell, also launched Takulu Wines (a black empowerment initiative) around that time and Carmen led the project. During this time, she won double gold in the National Veritas selection for her Tukulu Pinotage, both in 1999 and in 2001. Her Pinotage ranked in ABSA’s Top Ten Pinotage category in 2000. In addition, she has two harvest internships under her belt, one in California, and the other in France.

Her award-winning career did not end there though. When she joined Zonnebloem White Wines as an assistant winemaker, she initially had her eyes set on the white winemaker position, so when the position became vacant she applied immediately. She was unsuccessful – management told her that she was not qualified for the position – and so she resigned.

Following her resignation, Carmen began bottling some of SA’s finest wines for Stellenbosch Vineyards and Amani, acquiring a few more awards along the way. She won the 2008 Decanter International Red Bordeaux Red Varietals Trophy for her Amani Cabernet Franc/Merlot 2006 and the 2007 National Female Entrepreneur in Agriculture award, but she was far from done. She had plans to create her own wine brand.

Creating a brand is not cheap and despite her obvious talents, the banks would not give her a business loan. It was in 2011 that she received a call from Rowan Gormley of UK-based Company, Naked Wines, offering her a job as a winemaker. Even though it took Carmen a year, she finally said yes, which may well be one of the best decisions she ever made.

Her collection, which includes a Shiraz 2017 and Chenin Blanc 2018, is consistently among the top ten sellers of Naked Wine brands. It has been described as “insanely popular”, especially in the US and UK. Her remarkable career came to a climax in 2015 when she was named the 2015 winemaker of the year, an award that comes with a R6 million cash prize.

Over the years, the South African wine industry has grown fond of her story, but it is perhaps her generous heart that is most indicative of who she is. In 2009, she started The Carmen Stevens foundation, which aims to feed hungry children in the Western Cape. She says schoolchildren faint in class, because of their lack of nutrition. Carmen believes that the foundation has achieved a lot, but is quick to point out that she cannot take all the credit. She says that she was “part of a group of people that have collected over R2 million to feed more than 12,293 schoolchildren every day.”

When Carmen is not creating award-winning wines or raising funds for children, she can be found spending time with her two beautiful daughters. The three love cooking together and often go “restaurant hunting.” Looking towards the future, Carmen plans to expand into Asia and Africa where she is sure to harvest a few more awards along the way.

Note: A special thanks to Carmen Stevens for making time to speak with us.

Source{s}:www.the-buyer.net {Su Birch}; www.netwerk24.com; www.forbesafrica.com; www.nakedwines.com

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