With part of the Family at Busy Corner in Tembisa Gauteng
I am so thankful right now to be here. For life nje among a whole lot of other things. It’s so nice to be back in the swing of things. My holidays were restful, we had family over and the roads were so quiet in Johannesburg, I loved it. I know we are almost halfway through the month of January already and you probably have been wondering where I was. Well I’m here. Those who follow me on social media @evamafupa have seen my posts popping from time t time. Ngikhona.
2019 gave us a lot to smile about especially on the natural hair front. We celebrated the crowning of natural hair in the beauty industry, Vimbai Chapungu was crowned Ms London 2019, the first black woman to hold that title and she walked that ramp with her natural hair. Zozibini Tunzi was crowned first Miss South Africa and then Miss Universe on the 8th of December 2019 which ended our year on a high. These ladies wore their natural hair, shifting the bars in the right direction in the recognition and celebration of beauty in all its forms, including our coils that spring up from our scalps.
Zozibini Tunzi
Vimbai Chapungu
So, this is another year, another decade. What was your 2019 like? In fact, the last decade? Mine was a roller coaster ride you guys. Actually, it would not be life if it wasn’t. The ups and downs, adrenaline rush, the dull straight rides and all of that, that makes life, life. I’m thankful as well to be on the roller coaster because I know who is controlling it. We had a baby in 2012, I started blogging the same year, started Natural Moisture the following year in 2013, gave up my engineering job to concentrate on the business in 2014, moved from Kelvin, where we had lived for a long time in 2016, opened a salon in 2017 and all the blessings in between that if I had to mention would probably result in me writing a whole book and I would not finish still. There were challenges, believe me, otherwise, that wouldn’t be life. But those challenges helped me to get up and keep walking. If that was a stretch that needed running, I would get up and run again. If walking is all my energy and circumstances allowed, then I would walk instead of running. But I kept moving.
Yes, I was in Johannesburg throughout the holidays. The furthest I went was some place close to Centurion to visit our niece and her husband who are training to become Pastors. Otherwise, all our goings and comings were in Johannesburg. Besides, there are so many places to visit and things to do in Johannesburg, we barely even started. When you have kids, keeping them at home meant giving them a whole day on gadgets, unless you have added structure to it. Which I am thankful, my husband had all that taken care of. After the morning chores, they would spend time on gadgets, you know, playing games or watching stuff and then after lunch, he would make them swim for about an hour or more, then play soccer in the yard and swim again before taking a shower and before they knew it, it would be evening, time to prepare for dinner. After dinner, gadgets were only used briefly before the family gathers for prayer and then everyone went to their rooms.
We also went for go-carting at Stoneridge Mall and for the first time time, these two, pictured above, convinced to ride as well. Otherwise, all along, I had only been going to watch my sons do it. I’m glad I did though. It was so much fun. And doing it as a family, well, the family that was there, myself, hubby and our youngest boy, because the other older boys had gone to youth camp. I’m sure I will do it again, at least, I want to do it again.
My hair was in twists all the time. Either with extensions or no extensions, but it was in twists. On other days I wore a wig on top of the twists, the ones without extensions in. Keeping my hair in twists allowed me to take care of my scalp and I really needed that. I had another dandruff attack at the end of the year and I just could not get rid of it. I suppose I was just so exhausted and my immune system was really struggling. In fact, soon after Christmas, I became so ill, I was vomiting and my body was very sore. Fatigue or burn-out, but all I know s, I felt so sleepy and I could not function even to 50% for a whole 2 weeks. Which is why I am only writing this post now. I was not feeling well. So, I had to take some time off to rest and thanks to my family, they allowed me to have exactly that and I recovered. So, I’m ready for 2020 now.
Garden of Lights
Here’s to wishing you and your loved ones a blessed 2020 and new decade ahead. May you rise again every time you fall.