At 22 I was feeling restless and a little lost. I was studying biochemistry at university and in a long-term relationship with a man I thought I loved but deep down I felt trapped. I decided to break up with my boyfriend and over the university summer break to take some time to explore what life was like without the responsibilities and restrictions of a relationship. I mad....
For the last 13 years of have worked as a nurse in the Intensive Care Unit of a large public hospital. I have spent my entire working life surrounded by people who are gravely ill and in desperate need of healing. One day as I was removing the bandage from the deeply infected wound of one of my patients, I heard the still, small voice of God speak to me, “Dana, you are a nurs....
I was born in Adelaide in 1938 and, by the time I was a toddler, the shadow of Australia’s involvement in World War II hung over everyday life. I recall dark blinds drawn at night, search lights in the sky and air raid shelters being installed in people’s back gardens. When I was five, my mother became pregnant with her second child. I still remember the day that she went i....
The humid air licked at my fringe as I waited beneath the bell tower on the grass of a wine farm in Cape Town, my beloved home town. The air played with the rope that hung from the brass bell and as I looked up, I noticed a plaque to the left of where I stood. It was just a normal day out for me, acting like a tourist in my own city. Yet this …....
Some people have their whole life mapped out in front of them with goals and vision statements and five-year plans, but I am not one of those people. I grew up in a home that was defined by change, turmoil and instability. From as early as I can remember, my only real dream was to have what looked like a ‘normal’ life and keep the peace. My parent’s relationship was alway....
