Zebra

Tik, or crystal meth, is a drug dealer’s dream: it’s easy to make, cheap and users quickly become addicted. Unfortunately for those who live with the addiction, it makes them prone to violence and paranoia. Not to mention the (often permanent) brain damage they suffer.

Ellen Pakkies had a tik addict for a son and, in 2007, made headlines when she strangled him. Sylvia Walker takes a look at the circumstances surrounding Pakkies and the toll tik has taken on her community at large in Dealing in Death: Ellen Pakkies and a Community’s Struggle with Tik.

For more on the true costs of tik addiction, see this article by Phakamile Magamdela, who spoke to a tik addict, “Richard”, who, although now deep in debt, counts as a survivor:

Drug use in general can be a costly habit. Richard, who recently discovered the highly addictive drug known in the Western Cape as ‘tik’, has learnt this the hard way.

Because of the sensitive nature of the subject under discussion, Richard, aged 32, prefers that I don’t identify him by his full name. This man was once a respected and high-earning accountant. But now he has lost his job, thanks to his addiction to methamphetamine or crystal meth, notoriously known as tik. Like many people in the Western Cape, Richard discovered the cost of being addicted to tik when it was too late.

• Read the complete article at Health-E News

Book details

• Dealing in Death: Ellen Pakkies and a Community’s Struggle with Tik by Sylvia Walker
  EAN: 9781770200319
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Image courtesy ProjectThriller

In September 2007, Ellen Pakkies, a working mother from Lavender Hill on the Cape Flats, strangled her son to death. The judge in the subsequent trial sentenced her to community service for her crime. Dealing in Death asks what had driven Ellen to this horrific deed, and why the ostensibly light sentence for such a heinous crime? And why did Ellen’s tragic story grip the imagination of the country?

The scourge of drug addiction has swept across South Africa in recent years, affecting every level of society. The use of tik, particularly in the Western Cape, has skyrocketed over a short period of time, unlike anything else ever experienced.

It was Abie Pakkies’s addiction to this drug and the horrendous impact it had on his and his family’s lives that drove Ellen to murder. Her trial exposed the dark underbelly of a community crippled by drug and alcohol abuse and focused attention on the plight of those who live in poverty and do not have recourse to drug rehabilitation centres and other measures effective in the treatment of drug addicts.

Dealing in Death looks at the global and local drugs culture, the predicament of Ellen Pakkies and other mothers like her, and an impoverished community and the apartheid laws that gave birth to it.

About the Author

Sylvia Walker has a Business Science Marketing degree from UCT, and has worked in the financial services industry for most of her life. She is passionate about the empowerment of women, and through her personal experience knows that addiction is one of the most harrowing challenges a woman can face. She has written numerous articles for the media over the years. Dealing in Death is her first book.

Book details

• Dealing in Death: Ellen Pakkies and a Community’s Struggle with Tik by Sylvia Walker
  EAN: 9781770200319
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

At a recent conference in Johannesburg hosted by the Goethe Institut, a debate was stirred up around the question of whether art should be used as a “weapon” in the struggle for equality. Antjie Krog, author of Begging to Be Black, presented her thoughts on the controversial Bok van Blerk song “De La Rey”, about an Anglo-Boer War general, that many have read as an explicit rejection of South Africa’s post-apartheid political dispensation – a call for a new “Afrikaner uprising”. Not so, said Krog: the song has been misunderstood, and has an altogether more positive meaning:

Three years ago three young and unknown Afrikaner men, Bok van Blerk, Johan Vorster and Sean Else, produced a song about one of the lesser-known generals of the Anglo-Boer War: Koos de la Rey.

The Anglo-Boer War destroyed about a third of Afrikanerdom, with 26000 women and children dying in the first concentration camps of the 20th century.

De la Rey is portrayed in romantic heroic terms, contrasted with the boers in their trenches (themselves an invention of De la Rey) and the women and children in the concentration camps.

• Read the complete article in the Sunday Times

Video: Bok van Blerk’s “De La Rey” song with English subtitles

• Not playing? Watch at MasakhaneSA TV

Book details

• Begging to be Black by Antjie Krog
  EAN: 9781770220706
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Zebra Press and Bookworld invite you to the launch of John Bishop and Tiki Dickson’s light-hearted collection of sports miscellany, Talking Balls.

Who has the worst swing of any successful golfer? Which novice helped Bruce Fordyce win his first Comrades? How will Eskom improve Bafana Bafana’s chances in the 2010 World Cup? Which Springbok rugby personality sidestepped Australian passport control … twice?

Talking Balls answers these questions, and more, in a collection of entertaining writings by South Africa’s top sports journalists – and a few enthusiastic gatecrashers – about the lighter side of sport.

Edward Griffiths, Andy Capostagno, Peter Roebuck, Neil Manthorp, Dan Nicholl, Lungani Zama, Ben Trovato, Ray White, John Bishop and the late Peter Robinson are among those featured alongside such sports personalities as John Smit, Graeme Smith, Trevor Immelman, Mark Andrews, Makhaya Ntini, Bakkies Botha and Hashim Amla.

Covering a variety of sports, Talking Balls offers insight into sporting life both on and off the field, from the drugging of Nick Mallett and the Proteas’ spoiling of Australia Day in 2009 to the hilarious antics of professional soccer players and behind-the-scenes banter.

Light-hearted and playful, the stories in this collection capture the unique spirit of the sporting world and are guaranteed to amuse, inform, uplift and entertain.

Don’t miss the Pietermaritzburg event!

Event Details

• Date: Tuesday, 03 November 2009
• Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
• Venue: Bookworld, Cascades Shopping Centre, McCarthy Drive
  Pietermaritzburg | Map
• RSVP: Bookworld, 033 3471361

Book Details

• Talking Balls: A Collection of Light-Hearted Writings About Sport by John Bishop with Tiki Dickson
  EAN: 9781770220683
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Oshun Books is pleased to invite you to the double launch of Jill Jacques’ Living in the Now and Lisa Fromsdorf and Marie Opperman’s The Ayur Veda Handbook.

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday, 30 September 2009
• Time: 5:30 PM for 6:00 PM
• Venue: Exclusive Books, Morningside, Shop U37, Morningside Shopping Centre
  Cnr Outspan, Rivonia and Wagon Streets
  Morningside | Map
• RSVP: morningside@exclusivebooks.com, 011 798 0210

About the books

In Living in the Now, Jill Jacques distills her experience in Eastern and Western philosophy, as well as the works of contemporary thinkers and teachers, into practical and manageable ways of becoming mindful of the present to reduce stress and improve one’s quality of life.

She presents the obstacles to mindfulness encountered by people with different personality traits, and gently and sensibly negotiates their identification with the ego. Her clear style helps the reader to navigate complex topics such as the delusion of time, and her practical exercises at the end of each chapter consolidate her wisdom, allowing readers to internalise it.

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Lisa Fromsdorf and Marie Opperman’s The Ayur Veda Handbook explains how the oldest known system of health care offers a solution to our modern health and dietary problems.

Ayur (life) and Veda (knowledge) encompass getting the mind and body in balance. Imbalances are caused by improper stress and time management and/or an inappropriate diet and exercise programme. Before the balancing can begin, the three different doshas have to be recognised – a dosha is a combination of mind and body type – so that you can find the dosha that best represents the person you are.

Book Details

• Living in the Now by Jill Jacques
  EAN: 9781770200302
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

• The Ayur Veda Handbook: Find the right diet and lifestyle for your dosha by Lisa Fromsdorf, Marie Opperman
  EAN: 9781770200241
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Catch Donna McCallum, author of The Fairy Godmother’s Guide to Getting What You Want and the figure behind Fairy Godmother Inc., in action with a set of videos sourced from the dozens to be found online.

The Fairy Godmother has a pack of fans, and she’s getting more all the time through her YouTube channel. Get watching with “Donna McCallum in Action”, “Adin getting wand-wacked by the Fairy Godmother”, “Donna McCallum Interview”, and finally, the most popular video of all, “Dream Mapping Testimonials”:

• Not loading? Watch on Fairy Godmother TV
• Click for more Fairy Godmother videos

Book details

• The Fairy Godmother’s Guide to Getting What You Want by Donna McCallum
  EAN: 9781770200210
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Online auction and selling hub bidorbuy is becoming a firm favourite with South Africans. With an increasing number of consumers looking to the internet to purchase products, Your Guide to Buying and Selling on bidorbuy helps make buying and selling fast, fun and fret-free.

Here’s a feature on the bidorbuy consumer experience with hard stats to back up the website’s general reputation for smooth and clean transactions, from SA’s Ecommerce Guide:

Users have an extremely positive perception of bidorbuy. Almost 94% of the buyers find bidorbuy system “good” or “excellent. A little more than 90% say that they have had a good or excellent experience with bidorbuy sellers. The percentages among the sellers are almost identical: over 93% are happy with the way the system works, and 88% are happy with the buyers too.

Only 1.34% of buyers who participated in the survey had a “poor” or “very poor” experience of any kind with the sellers. Still, about 40% say they are apprehensive about being cheated by a fraudulent seller. That percentage is practically the same among the respondents who have never transacted on bidorbuy.

• Read the complete article

Book details

• Your Guide to Buying and Selling on BidorBuy by Andy Higgins, Lana Stevic
  EAN: 9781770220522
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

Oshun Books is proud to present a new work on mindfulness, Living in the Now – a godsend of a book for people with busy lives!

In Living in the Now, Jill Jacques distills her experience in Eastern and Western philosophy, as well as the works of contemporary thinkers and teachers, into practical and manageable ways of becoming mindful of the present to reduce stress and improve one’s quality of life.

She presents the obstacles to mindfulness encountered by people with different personality traits, and gently and sensibly negotiates their identification with the ego. Her clear style helps the reader to navigate complex topics such as the delusion of time, and her practical exercises at the end of each chapter consolidate her wisdom, allowing readers to internalise it.

Among many personality types, the perfectionist, the procrastinator and the controller will learn the elegance of living in the present, and realise, with relief, that they can stop resisting their lives and become more fulfilled.

Book details

• Living in the Now by Jill Jacques
  EAN: 9781770200302
  Find this book with BOOK Finder!

As children we were all enthralled by fairy tales and the awesome power of fairy godmothers. Donna McCallum brings that magic into the world of adults with The Fairy Godmother’s Guide to Getting What You Want. This is no guide to fanciful tricks and wishful thinking though, but a challenge to change.

Ahead of the book’s launch tonight, get to know the author via this recent interview at NewsOnline:

“Hello, I’m the Fairy Godmother!” Donna McCallum says, holding out her hand with a wide smile. The Gateway coffee shop where we agreed to meet has suddenly fallen silent. This beautiful, vivacious young woman is decked out in a swish, formal black suit – complete with large blue, glittery fairy wings!

“Here’s a bottle of stress relieving bubbles and, by the way, I’ve also got my wand,” she promises as she sits, orders a red cappuccino and begins her story.

Once upon a time in Cape Town, Donna became an entrepreneur. She started her first business at 19 and worked her way through the ranks. However, by the time she sold her marketing and advertising business a few years ago, she was a burnt out workaholic haunted by a deep empty feeling. She had realised that her highly successful advertising and marketing business was not what she wanted in life and opted for a lucrative buy-out.

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Forthcoming from Zebra Press

Online shopping is experiencing a boom worldwide, and bidorbuy.co.za – South Africa’s largest online marketplace – is at the centre of this rapidly expanding industry. With over 300 000 users, bidorbuy services the increasing number of South Africans drawn to the convenience and affordability of internet shopping, and to the opportunities that the site offers for making money.

Your Guide to Buying and Selling on bidorbuy is a comprehensive, practical guide takes readers through the online trading process step by step. It shows them how to register as a user on bidorbuy, create an effective product listing, interact with other consumers and conclude a sale successfully. It also provides useful information on functional matters such as payment, tax concerns and shipping. Screenshots from the bidorbuy website accompany the text and key concepts are further illustrated by means of real-life examples and case studies.

Whether readers are new to the world of online shopping or are experienced internet traders, this book will make buying and selling on bidorbuy simple, enjoyable and financially rewarding.
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