Guilt, Gifts and Gratitutde

Prologue


Guilt, Gifts and Gratitude

I’m a white woman. I’m eighty years old.
And I have a burden - a burden of Guilt.
I also have a basket - a basket of Gifts.
Before I end this life’s adventurous journey
I’d like to shed the Guilt, share the Gifts,
And express my Gratitude.

The Guilt blossomed during my childhood,
growing up in a life of white privilege in the 1950s,
in apartheid South Africa.

The Gifts to share are stories -
gleaned from experiences over the years in Southern African countries.

And told in Gratitude, for lessons learned
from African wisdom, generosity and resilience,
especially in the face of ongoing arrogance and inhumanities of my race.