Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Blast from the past

I was going to a meeting that was due to start in 10 minutes, and I was more interested in mentally preparing myself rather than watching the people in the lift.

That's why I almost missed connecting with Simao Kikamba, an old friend from the mid-90s, when we both lived in Yeoville.

Luckily Simao noticed me when I was getting off the elevator, and his mind made the connection despite not seeing me since 1996 or so ( I think?)

In the seconds it took to close the elevator, he gave me his office suite number and suggested that I come see him after my meeting.

Of course I went, and we had a wonderful time trying to condense the past decade and a coupla years into a couple of minutes of conversation.

That didn’t work out too well, so we’re planning to keep in touch by emails. And when I’m in the building, I’ll make an effort to pop in to say hi.

The great thing about meeting Simao is that it reminded me that dreams do come true, even it they take time, and the road is tortourous.

Back in the day, Simao and I were aspirant writers with more dreams than track record, devouring books, writing every spare moment we had and knocking on publishing doors.

Now I work as a commercial writer and he has published his debut novel, Going Home, and won awards.


Going Home was published by Kwela Books in 2005 and was based on these events and on his experience as a black immigrant in South Africa.

The book won the Herman Charles Bosman award for English fiction in 2006. The book is also going to be translated into Italian.

If you want to buy it, Going Home is available through Amazon and Exclusive Books.

Keeping things fresh


Spent most of the afternoon doing monthly client reports ( traffic reports, recommendations on how to improve impact of media tools), and refreshing the OneLove web site design.

Didn’t really add new elements, but I grouped content so that similar content /tools were in the same region of the web site.

What do you think?

Does the new arrangement make it easier to navigate the site? Internet was very slow late afternoon ( as is becoming irritatingly usual), so I had to work offline a bit. Will have to catch up this evening.

3 comments:

Pamela said...

I also enjoy bumping into people that you have not seen in a while. I really does remind you of how much you have achieved or what you have done over the past while.

I don't know what the website was like before, but it seems pretty cool and easy to navigate now.

iWrite2Know said...

Wow! It should a non-explainable feeling to meet a friend after a long time. Within a split second transcending back into the years behind should be so nostalgic. I hope you keep in touch with the old found new friend of yours.

Damaria Senne said...

@iwrite2know- Thanks. it is a wonderful feeling. We've already made moves to keep in touch, sending each other long explanatory emails about what we've been up to, exchanging family photos etc.

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