Stories

When we share our stories, understanding, empathy and trust grow. Our relationships improve and we get a stronger sense of community. At Heartlines, we’ve seen how story-sharing has impacted and connected thousands of people beyond anything we could have imagined. Here are some of those stories.

All stories

My attacker infected me with HIV

Eleven years ago, Romila was attacked and raped on her way home. Aside from the trauma of the initial attack, she later found she was HIV positive.

An Indian woman married to a black man

My father was not happy that I was dating a black man and found it extremely challenging to accept my relationship.

Living with dyslexia

A lecturer once said to me that if she were my mother she wouldn’t be wasting her money on someone like me.

A white young man at a Xhosa initiation school

Brandon and Yanelisa are friends who come from very different backgrounds: one of them is a white, English young man; the other a black, Xhosa young man.

It all started when I was seven

Overcoming abuse is never an easy thing, especially if the abuse began in your childhood. Zandile, a brave young woman shares her story with us.

I have lived a life of pain

South African actor Israel Sipho Matseke Zulu (Israel Makoe) opens up about his name, growing up in Alexandra township and how being incarcerated changed his life.

Raising a child with Haemophilia

Nerissa, a mother of two, shares her story of what it's like to raise a child with Haemophilia and how she's raising awareness about the condition.

Being an outsider

Daily I live with the thought that I, too, may find myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, guilty of being a foreigner.

I knew I was dark before I knew I was black

Black is beautiful or is that light-skinned black? Zama talks about growing up with darker shade of skin compared to the rest of her family

I blamed my father for my brother's death

Growing up without a father can impact one's life in many ways. Listen to Khani as she tells why she believes that her father's absence in her brother's lives, led to them going astray.

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The apartheid secret police tapped my phone

From tapped phones to being banned from addressing large crowds. Listen to Brian share his story about creating a non-racial South Africa during apartheid in South Africa.

What can you tell us about life?

You've become what you despise, a stereotype. It's a blacked-out blur, but I'm pretty sure it ruled.

What's Your Story - Church