Daneel Jantjies: “We are all just walking each other home”

Firstly, thank you Paulet House and The Jakes Gerwel Foundation. It has been quite the ride.

These past few weeks have been intense and subliminally peaceful at the same time. Paulet house has been my home away from home, and I struggle to put into words what this whole experience has meant to me. As I pack my bags and ready myself to go and do life again, I cannot help but wonder how I will adjust. Take one day at a time, I guess. We get so caught up in trying to make a living that we forget to live. In my time here in Somerset-East, I have learned invaluable lessons, not only as an aspiring writer, but as a person, a woman.

Your words are not mere words. They hold the power of life and death. Your words can captivate, navigate and at times decay the mind. It is so over-whelming sometimes. Knowing that you pen down whatever pops up in your head. It comes like waves crashing along the shoreline, sheer violence yet oh, so beautiful. You become so open towards everything. Sights, smells, tastes, feelings. Everything plays a vital role in your becoming. Every wall, every flower, every book, every nook, every cranny, every person imprints on you one way or the other.

We are in the business of plot twists and pretty words. We do it for the mom that was her child`s biggest cheerleader, for the dad who works his fingers to the bone, for the younger siblings who look at us starry-eyed and full of wonder. We do it for the teacher who said that our potential is so huge and bright that it could light up the whole City of Cape Town. We do it for the naysayers and the non-believers. We do it for the pregnant teen who thinks her life is over. We do it for the child-headed households. We do it for those souls who have been crippled by depression. We do it for the never-give-up brigade. We are out here creating humans, nothings into somethings and honestly it is one of the best feelings in the world to have.

This is our art. The crux of our being. And I would not want it any other way. So, I will always extend grace to everyone I encounter in my lifetime because “we are all just walking each other home.” *

Walking each other home via the scenic route: JGF/LitNet/Huisgenoot Kommadagga Workshop mentor Fourie Botha and mentees Tshego Nkwane, Susan Meiring and Daneel Jantjies. Wading in the river is Paulet House Chef Gilbert van Zyl.

Photographer: Alan Hobson, A&A Adventures

*Quote is from Ram Dass in his book: Ram Dass and Mirabai Bush: Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying

Daneel Jantjies

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Daneel Jantjies is ʼn gebore Swellendammer en beskryf haarself as ʼn “small town girl met groot drome”. Sy skryf hoofsaaklik gedigte en kort skryfstukke wat deur haar omgewing en sy mense geïnspireer word: “Klein dorpies dink ek, is enige skrywer se droom. Daar is altyd iets wat jy sien of hoor, en die semi-stilte van die platteland gee net soveel meer skryf-inspirasie.” Sy is baie geheg aan haar familie en hulle vorm ʼn groot deel van wie sy is. Ook die gedeelde liefde vir lees en skryf, vir letterkunde en taal, is iets wat haar van jongs af voed. Hoewel Daneel, die skrywer, en Daneel, die gewone mens, nie altyd ooreenstem nie, weerspieël haar skryfwerk dieselfde mensgerigtheid as wat sy in haar daaglikse omgang met mense toon: “Die lewe kom met snaakse draaie, so as my skryfkuns vir iemand kan help of ʼn inspirasie kan wees, dan slaag ek in my doel.”

• Daneel Jantjies: Lank lewe die liefde – An ode to Sophie