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Tag Archive: pretoria
My Family – A Historical Journey through the Seasons …
Part One: Winter
There is a legend in Delhi that when a male-child is born, the parents are visited by a group of 'Hijras', a derogatory term used to describe the Transgender community. The troupe gather en-masse outside the home of the parents of the infant boy and sing and dance, and offer blessings to the new arrival, while in return a small sum of money is offered to the visiting party and all returns to the relative 'normalcy' that prevails in a home that has just experienced the birth of a child.
These were the early 1970′s, and this story was told to me in great detail by my parents, who themselves were recently arrived political exiles in India, having to leave South Africa, where my father was arrested along with Nelson Mandela and 156 others in the infamous 'Treason Trial' of 1956.
The 'main' "Treason Trial" lasted four years till 1960, though the entire trial lasted till 1961, when the 30 remaining accused (of which my father was one) were acquitted by the Supreme Court.
The outcome of the trial was that all 156 were acquitted of the charge of 'High Treason'.
During the 5 years of the trial my father and his co-accused had to travel daily to court in Pretoria from Johannesburg, some 60 kilometres away.
The accused were all charged with 'High Treason' and faced the death penalty if found guilty. My father was the youngest accused at 22 years of age.
A Flash Forward –
Later, in 1963, when my father was arrested again and held at Marshall Square Police Station in central Johannesburg, my father and three fellow political detainees managed to convince a young Afrikaner warder, Johan Greeff, into helping the four escape from the downtown Johannesburg prison. He was promised financial remuneration for his cooperation.
The news of 'The Great Escape' embarrassed the Apartheid state at a time when it felt that it had crushed the African National Congress (ANC), with most of its leaders either in jail, or having gone underground. The 'Sharpeville' massacre of 1960 resulted in the Apartheid state declaring a State of Emergency and banning the African National Congress (ANC) and other political organisations.
My father, Moosa 'Mosie' Moolla and his three fellow escapees (Abdulhay 'Charlie' Jassat, Harold Wolpe, and Arthur Goldreich) parted ways and moved from one safe-house to another, until my father, heavily disguised, managed to slip through the border into neighbouring 'Bechuanaland', now the country Botswana.
Goldreich and Wolpe managed to disguise themselves as clerics and made their way to Swaziland, a British High Commission Territory, from where they flew over to Bechuanaland (now Botswana).
The South African authorities offered a reward of 5000 Pounds Sterling for the capture of any of the escapees.
Following the escape my father and His fellow escapees were separately sheltered by members of the ANC underground for a few days.
They then parted ways for safety reasons and Abdulhay Jassat made his way to Bechuanaland where he sought political asylum.
By the time my father made his way about a month after the escape to Bechuanaland, the two white colleagues ( my father and Jassat are of Indian-origin) Wolpe and Goldreich had flown over to Tanganyka (now Tanzania) where the ANC's external headquarters were located in Dar-es-Salaam.
It should be noted that a chartered plane to ferry ANC students and Wolpe and Goldreich was blown-up on the tarmac by South African agents in the early hours of the morning.
Wolpe and Goldreich then flew over on another flight. Jassat followed suit.
An Interesting Fact –
My father and Abdulhay 'Charlie' Jassat were both born on June 12th, 1934, and the two were arrested and escaped from prison together, and subsequently lived 30 years of their lives in exile, and both men returned to South Africa following the release of Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners, and the unbanning of the ANC and all liberation movements, and the return of political exiles.
As I type these words, my father and 'Charlie' live a few kilometres apart in Johannesburg and meet fairly regularly – mostly at functions or events held to commemorate the years of the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa.
But more about my father in a bit.
A Flash Back –
My mother, Zubeida or 'Zubie', a nurse at the time, and expecting my brother Azad (which means 'to be free' in Urdu) was subsequently arrested and detained while having to endure interrogation about her husband's whereabouts. Azad was born in late 1963, a few months after my father's escape.
Thus my father did not see his first-born son till 5 years later in 1968 when my mother and young brother and sister reunited with my father on the Tanzanian border. My father had by then joined the Armed-Wing of the African National Congress, Umkhonto-we-Sizwe, or MK, 'The Spear of the Nation', which was formed in 1960 following the ANC's decision to abandon non-violent opposition against Apartheid and to take up arms.
My sister Tasneem Nobandla, 'Nobandla' or 'she who is of the people' in isiXhosa was given her Xhosa middle name by my father's comrade-in-arms and his Best-Man, Nelson Mandela, who couldn't make it to my parent's wedding because he was in detention at the time, a few years earlier!
My sister Tasneem Nobandla Moolla was born on October the 14th 1962
'Nobandla' was named when Mosie asked his comrade and Best-Man, Nelson Mandela, who could not make it to his wedding to name his new-born daughter. The two men had spent time in jail together in adjoining cells a year earlier in 1962.
Times were tough in those early years of exile, with my father off on military training with the newly formed ANC's 'Spear of the Nation', and my mother having to shoulder the extreme difficulties of life in exile, in a strange country, having left her family behind, and having to essentially fend for herself and her two young children.
This led to a decision that continues to haunt my family to this day.
According to my parents, the situation in exile in those early years of the Anti-Apartheid struggle abroad was so dire, and my father being away training in guerrilla tactics and the like, while my mother worked as a nurse trying to raise two young kids, suffering from bouts of Malaria and being short on money as well, a decision was made to send my young brother and sister back to South Africa to remain in the care of my maternal grandparents, in the hope that when things in exile 'improved' or at least settled a bit, the kids would leave the care of their grandparents and join their parents abroad.
This did not happen, and this is one of the most difficult parts of our family's history to write and talk openly about. Due to circumstances beyond their control, and due to a myriad other reasons, my young brother and sister remained separated from our parents, and grew up in Apartheid South Africa with my maternal grandparents in Johannesburg.
My mother, who passed away in 2008 after a lengthy battle with Motor-Neurone Disease, carried the pain and the guilt of that decision till she died. My father still lives with the guilt and the trauma of being separated from his children, and his family for over 30 years.
My brother Azad and my sister Tasneem, had to endure the unimaginable trauma of knowing that their parents were alive and on distant shores somewhere, yet being utterly helpless in joining them and living as a family, albeit a family in political exile.
The wounds are deep, and the trauma is still raw, all these years later, and my mother died broken-hearted, having to endure the separation of a mother from her children, as well as having to deal with a husband who was engaged full-time in the ANC and the anti-Apartheid struggle in exile.
It is only now that I can understand my mother's strength of character and fortitude in remaining sane under circumstances that no parent should ever have to go through.
My siblings, on the hand, had to grow up with grandparents, and this has led to our family having to continuously grapple with the scars of a family torn-apart by Apartheid.
My brother Azad, a lawyer, is married with two beautiful young girls, and my sister, a teacher, is married with four beautiful daughters as well.
We all live in Johannesburg, and though some progress has been made in reconciling our family, it is very painful to say that there are many unresolved emotional wounds, which are completely understandable given the circumstances.
My Family – A Historical Journey through the Seasons
Part Two: Spring
The narrative here is neither chronological, nor is it meant to be a complete history of my family thus far – that would be highly presumptuous of me to attempt – so what you, dear reader, are reading (praise be to your perseverance!) are the disjointed thoughts and memories and anecdotal and other stories that every family shares.
I must state that the facts about my father's internment and escape are all verifiable using a web-search engine, as are the facts about my parent's involvement in the struggle for liberation in South Africa, and my father's subsequent appointment by then President Nelson Mandela as South African Ambassador to Iran (1995 – 1999) and later by President Thabo Mbeki as South African High Commissioner to Pakistan (2000 – 2004) in the newly democratic country that countless South Africans sacrificed their lives to achieve.
My parents often spoke of the privilege that they felt to be alive and return to the country of their birth after spending virtually their entire lives as foot-soldiers in the African National Congress, the liberation movement that included in its ranks giants of South African history – Nelson 'Madiba' Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Dr. Moses Kotane, Dr. Yusuf Dadoo, Joe Slovo, Bram Fischer, Chris Hani, only to name a few, and with no disrespect meant to the many, many more that I have not named.
The 'privilege' my parents spoke about was that they were the 'fortunate' ones, the ones who lived to see the non-racial, non-sexist, democratic constitution being drafted, and a South Africa without the crime against humanity that was Apartheid.
So many comrades and friends and fellow compatriots did not live to cast their vote on that glorious April day in 1994, and to see Nelson Mandela being inaugurated as South Africa's first freely elected black President, a President who represented the whole of South African society.
And so it was that I was born in 1972 in an India that had just been engaged in a war with Pakistan, which in turn led to the establishment of a new country – Bangladesh.
India at the time was the in midst of austere Nehruvian Socialism, and my parents who had spent the mid and late-1960′s in Tanzania, Zambia and Britain, were deployed by the African National Congress to India, where my father was the Chief-Representative of the ANC.
My early childhood years were spent in India, and I recall the sweltering Delhi summers and the torrential monsoons that offered respite, albeit briefly, from the furnace of the Indian summer.
When I was 6 years old, my father was deployed by the ANC to be its Chief-Representative in Cairo, Egypt, and to be the ANC Representative at the Afro-Asian Peoples' Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO).
This was 1978, and as a 6 year old, I am afraid I have very few fond memories of Cairo – we lived on a meagre stipend and though we lived in an apparently 'better' suburb of Cairo called Zamalek, an island on the Nile, the flat we occupied was on the ground-floor of a high-rise apartment block and it was damp, dark, and had the unfortunate distinction of being right next to the apartment block's garbage-disposal area!
This meant a steady stream of litter, literally being flung from the windows of our neighbours in the flats above us, and often landing with a crash of shattered glass right outside our tiny kitchen.
Cairo was also where I had to unlearn the Hindi I had learnt in Delhi and pick up Arabic, which I did as most 6 year olds do when required by circumstance to learn a new language.
I faintly remember the Presidents' Sadat-Carter meetings around the time of the Camp David Peace Accord signed between Israel and Egypt and my days were spent riding my bicycle through the dusty lanes of Zamalek.
One memory that is particularly poignant is that of my mother, with her head in her hands, sobbing as she pined for her two children at the opposite end of the African continent. I remember many days walking back from school and before stepping into our apartment block, seeing my mother through the window of what was my room, head in hands, crying.
It is a memory that I carry with me still.
Another indelible memory is when we visited the WWII museum of the battle of al-Alamein, in al-Alamein. Walking past the graves of the fallen in the war against Nazism, we came across many South African names, and I remember vividly how my father explained to me what Fascism and Nazism meant, and how important it was at the time for the world to fight it.
As we walked through the tombstones of the WWII soldiers from all parts of the world, my father explained to me how Apartheid in South Africa was a scourge (though not in those words!) like Fascism and Nazism, and how just as the world had joined forces to fight Hitler and Mussolini, we too had to fight against Apartheid in South Africa, and that is why I was not at 'home' with my brother and sister.
'Home'. That was something for a 9 or 10 year old to hear, because I had grown up always being told about 'home' being South Africa, which was as distant to me as the stars above the Pyramids. I was aware from as young as I can remember my parents' sometimes angry insistence that home was not where we happened to be, at a particular time, whether in Delhi or in Cairo, but in distant South Africa.
I however, could not understand why 'home' was not where I was. In Delhi I spoke Hindi like a local, and had friends and felt that 'home' was our little flat on the 1st floor of a block of flats in Greater Kailash. But then came the move to Cairo, and in no time at all I completely forgot my Hindi, and learnt Arabic like a local, and had friends and felt that 'home' was our dinghy flat in Zamalek.
And then in 1982, my father was re-deployed from Cairo back to Delhi, and suddenly there I was, 10 years old, meeting my old friends and not knowing a word of Hindi!
So the idea of 'belonging', of 'home', of being rooted in a place and time was alien to me from a very young age. I remember dreading when the next 'move' would be, given that my parents were political exiles and often having to pack up our few belongings and travelling at very short notice. I do not want it to sound like it was particularly unpleasant in any way, because there also was the thrill a child has of the packing and the plane rides, and the new places that were so, so new to me. Cairo and Delhi probably had only the following things in common: the heat, the population, and the fact that both Egypt under Gamal Abdul Nasser and India under Jawaharlal Nehru were two of the four countries (the others being Sukarno's Indonesia and Marshall Tito's Yugoslavia) that founded the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) during the Cold War.
The year is 1990, and my parents and I found ourselves in Helsinki, Finland, where in November 1989 the ANC deployed my father as ANC Secretary to the World Peace Council (WPC) which had its headquarters in Helsinki.
For the 17 year old that I was to suddenly, in a matter of weeks, pack up and leave high-school, friends and a girl-friend at the time, was particularly harsh for me.
I remember spending the winter of 1989 holed up in our two-bedroomed flat in Helsinki, not knowing what had just taken place. I pined for the girl I was (kind of!) dating back in school in Delhi, and I was thoroughly shocked by the below-zero temperatures of winter in Scandinavia, and thoroughly disheartened by the short days and long, long nights. I did love the snow however!
Then it happened. We heard the news that Nelson Mandela and all political prisoners in South Africa were to be released, unconditionally, and that the liberation movements and the ANC were to be unbanned!
This changed everything.
It was a chaotic and heady time, with high hopes and renewed life as the once impossible dream of returning 'home' was to be realised.
A very memorable trip was made by my parents and I, by ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm, Sweden. An overnight ferry-ride, the trip was magical, for we were to meet Nelson Mandela, free after 27 years on Robben Island and in Sweden to meet the President of the ANC, comrade Oliver Reginald Tambo, Mandela's old friend, law-partner and life-long comrade in the ANC. President Oliver Tambo, who had been in exile for almost 30 years was a dynamic and charismatic and intellectual giant who had built the ANC in exile from being just another liberation movement in exile into the voice of the South African freedom struggle, launching successful campaigns to isolate Apartheid South Africa from the world community.
Unfortunately President Oliver Tambo had suffered a stroke and was convalescing as a guest of the Swedish government; themselves staunch allies in the fight against Apartheid. Nelson Mandela met his old comrade in Stockholm and we met the godfather of my sister, and the would-be best-man of my father in a hall in Stockholm. I have photographs of the tears and joy as Mandela hugged my father and mother, and as old comrades including Ahmed Kathrada who also spent 27 years in jail with Mandela and the other Rivonia Trial accused, met after nearly 30 years! I was overwhelmed, as were countless others to finally meet the man who had become the face of the worldwide struggle against Apartheid.
That my parents knew the Mandelas as young friends and comrades only made the reunion on a Scandinavian day all the more special.
There was a sense of vindication, of oppression though still not defeated, but definitely in its final moments, as we acknowledged that we all stood on the cusp of something so many had not only dreamed about, but dedicated their entire lives to achieve.
We spent a few days in Stockholm and Uppsala, and then hopped on the ferry back to Helsinki, to finally begin preparations for the return home.
The trip we made was on freezing November night, when we boarded a train from Helsinki to Moscow, and then flew to Maputo in Mozambique where we spent a night, before boarding a South African Airways flight to Johannesburg.
I will never forget the stifled sobs of my mother as the pilot announced we were flying over South African soil.
My parents and I returned to South Africa on a November day in 1990, as part of a batch of returning political exiles.
I was 18 years old and met most of my family members for the first time.
Part Three: A Summer Digression
And now, dear reader (may your patience be praised!), I am going to steer this ship of memories as we embark on a journey of emotions – a subjective voyage through the feelings that I have felt, the emotions that I have experienced during the course of my 40 year old life.
You, dear reader, may stop reading right now if you find outpourings of emotion and wearing one's feelings on one's sleeve not your cup of Earl-Grey! If however, and I sincerely hope you do decide to read through this 'summer' of life's memories, I assure you that what you will read will be savage honesty, however painful and hard it is to bare one's soul for all to see the flawed human-beings that we all are.
And so it was that just past my 18th birthday in September of 1990, I found myself 'home' in South Africa, after 18. Years of dreaming what 'home' would be like and how my brother and sister and cousins and aunts and uncles would take me into their homes and lives.
I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and kindness showered on me, the 'returning' boy who was not really returning, but was dipping his toes into the early 1990′s, a period of South African history, just preceding the first free and democratic election in 1994 that was one of the country's most trying of times.
The Apartheid regime, having unbanned all political organisations and liberation movements and releasing political prisoners such as Nelson Mandela and others, was still not willing to relinquish power, and had embarked on a cynical and dirty campaign of fomenting violence in the sprawling black townships in Johannesburg, Durban and other cities around the country.
There were killings and hit-squads that roamed and terrorised communities while negotiations between the Apartheid government and the African National Congress (ANC) offered hope and then broke down, and then were restarted until finally, on April the 27th, 1994, black South African, for the first time in their lives, cast their ballots which resulted in sweeping Nelson Mandela's ANC into power, with Nelson Mandela or 'Madiba' as he is known becoming South Africa's first black President.
I attended the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as South Africa's first truly democratically elected President in Pretoria on a crisp May 10th morning along with friends and comrades, and we openly wept as the South African Air-Force flew overhead, the flag of our new 'rainbow' nation fluttering below.
My early days in South Africa were ones of family dinners and visits to relatives and old family friends and comrades in the struggle. My father started work almost immediately at the ANC's headquarters in central Johannesburg, and I attended my final year of high-school, also in central Johannesburg.
Looking back now, I see myself then as a caricature of the immigrant who just wants to fit in, always being on one's best behaviour, and under no circumstances allowing the turmoil within to bubble to the surface.
I was born to parents who were non-religious; my father definitely more so than my mother, who 'believed' in God, though was never one to make a show of it.
I grew up not really knowing what religion I was born into, as my parents never, and though never is a strong word, it is applicable here; my parents never mentioned religion at home.
My mom would cook up a storm on Eid-ul-Fitr every year, the feast that is the culmination of the fasting month of Ramadaan, but then we never fasted or paid attention to religious ritual or practice. I can say that religion was absent from our home, whether we were in India, Cairo or Helsinki.
I am forever indebted to my parents for having raised me with and this may sound pompous of me to say, humane values, rather than strictly religious ones, not that the two are mutually exclusive!
I attended a school in Delhi in the 1980′s, Springdales, an institution founded by two great humanitarians, Mrs. Rajni Kumar and her husband Mr. Yudhishter Kumar, both human-beings who possessed the highest qualities of compassion, humanity, and a burning sense of the need to tackle injustice, wherever and in whatever shape or form it was to be encountered.
My years at Springdales in Delhi, though I was hardly a promising academic student (having failed standard 8!), I now look back and am forever indebted to the culture of tolerance and respect for all people, regardless of station in life, religion, caste, gender or race, that my still-beloved Springdales inculcated in me.
The culture of Springdales School and the manner in which my parents raised me, has led to a life-long aversion to intolerance in any shape, colour or form, and a strong belief in the power of rational and critical thinking.
I thank my parents again, and my Springdales, for bestowing on me this invaluable gift.
And so I find myself, now in the teen years of the new millennium, still always feeling that I am on the outside, looking in – and I find this vantage point to be, strangely, comfortable now, I must admit.
I do not have much time for religion or for cultural affiliations. Again, this is not meant to be offensive to anyone, these are the feelings I am comfortable with. I cannot stress this enough, just how my upbringing and my years at Springdales have hewn into my consciousness, and the absolute need for the respect for all.
I am growing weary of talking about myself, as I am sure you, dear reader, are as well, and so I shall stop this monologue with the words of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara who when responding to a woman who also bore the 'Guevara' name and who had written to Che asking him where in Spain his ancestors came from. This was Che's response …
"I don't think you and I are very closely related but if you are capable of trembling with indignation each time that an injustice is committed in the world, we are comrades, and that is more important."
Thank you, dear reader, for your patience, and for your taking the time to read these ramblings of mine.
Part Four: Thoughts about Exile, Home, Identity, Belonging
I look back to that November evening in Helsinki, Finland in 1989, where the temperature was around -20 degrees Celsius, and we stood on the railway platform with our little luggage (mostly books, photographs etc) with tickets to Moscow via Leningrad (yes, it was still called Leningrad back then).
I recall my mother and father, by then already in their late 50′s, and preparing to return to their home, South Africa, after almost three decades living in exile all across the globe, from Zambia to Tanzania to England to India to Egypt to India again and then to Finland, and now following the Apartheid regime's unbanning of the African National Congress (ANC) and other political parties and the release of Nelson Mandela and political prisoners, my parents were to return to a country they had called 'home' for as long as I can remember. South Africa was always; always home, no matter where we happened to be.
Whether it was in our ground-floor, bleakly dark flat in Zamalek, Cairo where we had to keep the fluorescent lights on during the day, or in our 1st floor flat in Safdarjang Development Area in Delhi, or in our cramped 2-bedroom flat in Helsinki, Finland, I was always told about 'home', about family and about the country that I grew up loathing (Apartheid South Africa) as well as the country that I grew up idealising, for South Africa was after all 'home', that mythical place where family stuck together and where my brother Azad and my sister Tasneem grew up, separated from their parents, and where finally, at long last, Nelson Mandela walked free after 27 years in Apartheid's jails.
I often look back on my years growing up as a child of political exiles, and I am thankful, as I grew up without the hardships that so many fellow exiles had to endure.
I am also thankful, for the depth of humanity that I saw in strangers and friends and people who took us in, and loved us, and extended hands of solidarity and assistance and warmth when we were most alone.
I owe a debt of gratitude to so many people, ordinary folk, workers, labourers, academics, doctors and engineers, school-teachers and students, who chose to identify with the plight of the oppressed people of South Africa, just as they chose to support the cause of justice, of freedom and of self-determination in Namibia, Western-Sahara, and Palestine.
I can vividly remember the pain and anguish that my mother endured, being separated from her family and her children, and I remember her tears, her quiet sobbing when I used to return home from school, knowing that my father was away travelling, often for months at a time.
It is not easy to put everything down on paper, and indeed it is impossible to capture all of one's experiences, yet I feel it is very important that I share these thoughts with you, dear and patient reader, not because of what I wish to say about myself, or even about my parents, but to honour and to remember and to cherish the strong bonds that were forged during those sometimes hard times, and to convey to all, that no matter what one hears about our differences as people, be it differences of creed, of colour, of nationality, there is a 'human' connection that I have seen that simply extinguishes the claims by the religiously fanatical, or by the jingoistic nationalists who seek to impose upon us a barrier, a wall, a divide that cannot be breached. I have mentioned what I am about to write earlier, and I only repeat it because I believe it needs to be repeated, so forgive me, dear reader, if I seem to be revisiting old ground.
The old ground that I feel I need to revisit now is that of a story that my mother used to tell me, repeatedly, and always with tears in her eyes, and always with her crying openly as she retold this story over and over again to me.
Let me place the story in its historical context. The year was 1971, and India had just been at war with Pakistan, and my parents had arrived in what was then called Bombay and had rented a small apartment in one of Bombay's high-rise blocks of flats.
It is important to remember that India had gained independence only 24 years earlier, so the wounds and the trauma of the division of India (into Pakistan and East-Pakistan) were still very fresh.
My father was sent by African National Congress (ANC) to India, in order to work to further strengthen the support that the liberation movement had received from India.
My mother, who was a nurse by profession, had started working at Bombay's Breach Candy Hospital, and my father was busy establishing links within the sizeable South African student community that Bombay was home to.
One day my father decided to jump over a railing, in order to catch a bus, and slipped and fell.
I shall now let my mother tell her story …
… Now we had just arrived in India, and though Mosie and I spoke Gujarati, we still didn't know Hindi or Marathi (the language spoken in Maharashtra, the state in which Bombay/Mumbai is located), and here comes Mosie, limping and in pain. I am a nurse and so I took a look at his foot and it looked bad, but what were we to do? We didn't know anyone, we didn't have a telephone, and we didn't speak the language. So I went and knocked on our neighbour's door. An elderly lady opened the door and I explained in English that we were new in the apartment-block and that my husband had suffered a possible fracture. The old lady then asked me to sit. I sat. The elderly lady then asked me my name and I said 'Zubeida, but you can call me Zubie'. I then told the lady all about South Africa, about how I had been separated from my two children, about Apartheid, about Nelson Mandela, and about how we were freedom fighters and were in exile. The old lady broke down and sobbed, and I cried too, feeling her warmth towards me, even though I was a total stranger. Then the elderly lady told me that they were Punjabis and during the partition of India, they had to flee their home in what later became Pakistan because they were Hindus. The old lady sobbed when she told me about the rioting, the massacres, the pain of leaving everything behind and fleeing with only the clothes on their backs, and then she grabbed my hand tightly and said that she understood everything, and she shared my pain, because she too had been a refugee once … (at this point my mother would be crying openly while telling me the story) … and that from then on, she was my elder sister. This from a woman who had experienced the horrors of partition, and who realising I had a Muslim name, chose to share her life story with me, and who could understand what we were going through. Anyway, we called a doctor who turned out to be a Parsi 'Bone-Setter' … (laughing between tears now) … and later when we moved to Delhi and her daughter Lata got married to Ravi Sethi and also moved to Delhi, she told Lata that 'Zubeida hamaari behen hai' (Zubeida is my sister) and that Lata should keep in touch with us. That's how Papa and I know aunty Lata and uncle Ravi …
Hearing my mother tell me this story over and over again, emphasising that aunty Lata's mother had gone through hell at the hands of Muslims, and still she chose to see my mother not as a Muslim, but as a fellow human-being, who shared a similar life in the fact that my parents were also refugees, having fled their country, and that aunty Lata's mother 'took' my parents in, and shared a bond that cannot be described sufficiently in words, as words would only dilute the depth of feeling that the two women shared for each other, only makes my belief in the power of the humanity that binds us all together that much stronger.
Yes, there will be those who will say that those were different times, and that nowadays things have changed.
Yes, there will be many who may call it idealism, romanticism, or simply burying one's head in the sand, but I still hold on firmly to the belief that aunty Lata's mother and my mother shared, one person to another, regardless of religion, colour, caste, wealth, status or any of the many other 'yard-sticks' that people are measured by, and by emphasising our shared humanity, rather than by highlighting our differences, that we can, and that we shall, indeed, overcome, someday.
Part Five: Thoughts about Exile, Home, Identity, Belonging
This scribble is going to be a rambling, not too coherent piece all about my thoughts on identity, belonging, exile, and about 'home'.
So, my dear friends, I invite you to accompany me, with sufficient forewarning I hope, on this scribbled ramble…
Looking back now, I can say that I grew up with two very separate yet entwined ideas of 'home' – 'home' being both the idealised country of my parents, who spoke of 'home', which meant South Africa, as being the place where 'family' was an umbrella of safety and a source of comfort, and the other reality of what 'home' meant was the reason I was born in exile in the first place, the country that had become a pariah of the world, with its brutal, oppressive system of Apartheid racial-segregation.
Now this may seem odd from today's historical vantage point, but back when I was growing up in India and Egypt, there was a definite sense that we would never see 'home' again.
The hopes and aspirations with which my parents lived by, and probably had to live by, was that freedom would come in our lifetime. But a lifetime can be a long time, so there was also the possibility that we may never see the end of Apartheid, and this fear, which I think is shared by exiles, refugees, and all displaced human beings, was always just below the surface.
This ever-present and often repressed fear was fuelled by the deaths of fellow exiles who passed on before South Africa's transition from Apartheid state to democratic nation took place in 1994.
I recall an old ANC comrade, an elderly man in his 60′s, who lived with us in Cairo in the early 1980′s, and to whom I became quite close, who later took ill and passed away in a Cairo hospital.
I was 8 years old at the time, and even though my parents did not tell me that 'uncle' had passed away, I knew it. I sensed it from his deteriorating health earlier, and from the grave expressions my parents wore for months after 'uncle' 'left'.
My parents carried their own feelings of guilt and pain, of leaving behind a young son and daughter (my siblings Azad and Tasneem whom I did not grow up with) in South Africa, who grew up with my maternal grand-parents in Johannesburg. My parent's guilt and pain never left them, and I remember my mother as she lay bedridden with Motor-Neurone Disease almost 14 years after freedom still carrying the anguish of the separation of parent from child.
My father still carries the pain with him, and I think even more so today because of the difficulties and emotional minefields that he has to navigate through knowing that he did not share his two eldest children's childhood, and only now, after all these decades, are the relationships being strengthened, and that too is still a work in progress.
I can only imagine the pain, emotional trauma, anguish and heartbreak that my sister Tasneem, and my brother Azad felt growing up knowing that their parents were out in the world, yet remaining separated from them.
It is a legacy of pain, of homes and of families split up and separated that remains with us today, of Apartheid's continuing brutalisation of South Africans.
These complex and conflicting issues that we as family, and we as a nation have to deal with may still yield some measure of peace, if that is at all possible, given the weight of the past.
I have so much more to say, dear reader, but it can wait for later.
I can say that my experiences growing up here, there and everywhere have been a convoluted scattering of disjointed places, of half-remembered faces and of many a restless night spent contemplating the questions of identity, home, belonging and of what 'anchors' a person.
Perhaps there are reasons for the times when that vagabond exile blood gets restless and that itch, that impatience, that urge to move, to flee, to rejoin the nomadic community surfaces.
And perhaps, there are reasons too, for my ability to suppress the sometimes fiery urge to trade quiet suburban stasis for the unknown path of the unnamed exile.
I leave you, respected reader, with a poem I scribbled some time ago
Tags: A Family History, AAM, about Exile, African National Congress, Anti-Apartheid, apartheid, Apartheid Museum, autobiographical, Autobiography, bds, belonging, Bhagat Singh, bigotry, cape town, Castro, Ché, Chris Hani, depression, dignity, Durban, Ernesto, family, Fidel, gender, Greed, Guevara, hate, home, hope, Hunger, IDAF, identity, immigrant, Independent, intolerance, johannesburg, Lenasia, Lillian Ngoyi, lonely, love, madiba, Moolla Family, Multicultural, Multiracial, nelson mandela, Non-Racial, Oliver Tambo, Partnership, passion, Passions, peace, Poems on uBuntu, prejudice, Prejudices, pretoria, racism, refugee, religious intolerance, SACP, Sardar Patel, Sarojini Naidu, Separated, society, solidarity, south africa, Soweto, Steve Biko, struggle, togetherness, truth, Ubuntu, Walter Sisulu, Womens Role in the Struggle
The Traveller and the Baobab Tree …
A summer breeze,
drifts down lonesome pathways and byways and alleyways,
touching worlds,
torn apart.
The breeze engulfs,
a pristine sky of blue,
scattering the murmuring clouds,
that blanket the blazing African heavens,
in swirls and immaculate shrouds.
A passing shower,
of gentle misty rain,
settles,
on freshly scented-earth.
It soothes,
it caresses,
the exhausted thoughts,
of,
a weary traveller,
who sits,
alone, all alone,
under a Baobab tree.
The traveller walks alone,
at peace with the fragrant soil,
collecting memories of smiles embraced along the way.
Finally, the wandering soul,
seeks rest,
finding peace at last,
yet …
knowing its price,
is to let go …
… of,
each memory,
and every smile,
that once burned true,
but now,
awaits release,
from the ache of the lingering past
afzaljhb@gmail.com
Tags: African Heritage, African National Congress, African Poetry, African verse, Apartheid Museum, Baobab, cape town, Castro, Ché, Chris Hani, Contented, democracy, dignity, Durban, Ernesto, Fidel, Guevara, home, johannesburg, Lillian Ngoyi, Limpopo, madiba, Mzansi, nature, nelson mandela, Oliver Tambo, peace, poems, poems about Africa, Poetry on Africa, pretoria, rebirth, SA writer, solidarity, south africa, South African Poems, South African Poet, Steve Biko, Traveller, travelling, Tshwane, Ubuntu, Verses on Africa, Walter Sisulu
Heritage Day ( 2014)
Heritage Day (2014)
Reclaiming loose shards of hope,
gathering up slivers of a splintered rainbow,
today we reflect,
today we pause,
today we wrestle our collective plundered consciousness,
today is ours!
Tomorrow,
the struggles continue …
Amandla!
Tags: African National Congress, afzal moolla, alone, anc, cape town, Castro, Ché, Chris Hani, City, Delhi, democracy, dignity, Durban, emancipation, Ernesto, exile, family, Fidel, gender, Guevara, Heritage Day, home, identity, immigrant, International, johannesburg, liberation, Lillian Ngoyi, London, madiba, nelson mandela, Oliver Tambo, peace, poems, poetry, pretoria, refugee, SACP, solidarity, south africa, South Africa Heritage Day, South African, Steve Biko, struggle, Walter Sisulu, Washington, What is 'home', woman
For Comrade and President Oliver Reginald Tambo ( 1917 – 1993 )
For Comrade and President Oliver Reginald Tambo (1917 – 1993)
Escaping the omnipresent shadows,
eluding the sweaty palms of the torturer,
running to shed this sorry skin of shame,
in hiding, here and there, with no one,
yet everyone to silently blame.
Leaving the lips once kissed behind,
to a refuge impossible to find,
not a word of sad welcome,
severing all ties that bind.
We salute you! You who fought at home and you who left to fight,
from afar, on often a bleak and distant shore
scribblerofverses@gmail.com
Tags: A.N.C, African National Congress, afzal moolla, Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, anc, Angola, Apartheid Museum, Castro, Ché, Chief Albert Luthuli, Chris Hani, communist, comrade, Comrades, democracy, dignity, Ernesto, exile, Fidel, freedom, Frelimo, Guevara, Heritage Day, home, IDAF, identity, immigrant, International Defence & Aid Fund, johannesburg, Joshua Nkomo, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Kwame Nkrumah, liberation, Lillian Ngoyi, Lusaka, Luthuli, Luthuli House, madiba, mk, Mozambique, Mwalimu, Namibia, nelson mandela, Oliver Reginald Tambo, peace, poems, Poems about Apartheid, Poems about Justice, Poems on Freedom, Poems on South Africa, poetry, president, pretoria, refugee, Revolution, Samora Machel, Shell House, Slovo, Socialism, solidarity, Solomon Mahlangu, SOMAFCO, south africa, Steve Biko, struggle, SWAPO, Tanzania, Umkhonto we Sizwe, viva, Walter Sisulu, What is 'home', Zambia, ZAPU, Zimbabwe
For Comrade Chris Hani (1942 – 1993)
Mowed down
by hot lead,
your blood flowed
into our African soil.
Murdered you, yes, they did.
Silence you, they never will,
for your voice,
your spirit,
speaks to us still!
Tags: African National Congress, amandla, apartheid, Apartheid Museum, cape town, Castro, Ché, Chris Hani, communist, comrade, Cuba, democracy, dignity, Durban, Employment, Fidel, Food, freedom, Guevara, Hector Petersen, Helen Joseph, Hunger, Lillian Ngoyi, madiba, Mayibuye, nelson mandela, Oliver Reginald Tambo, Oliver Tambo, peace, pretoria, Revolution, SACP, Socialism, Solomon Mahlangu, south africa, South African Communist Party, Tshwane, viva, Walter Sisulu
Solomon Mahlangu: My Blood will Nourish the Tree that will Bear the Fruits of Freedom
Solomon Mahlangu: My Blood will Nourish the Tree that will Bear the Fruits of Freedom:
Solomon Mahlangu was trained as an MK soldier with a view to later rejoining the struggle in the country.
He left South Africa after the Soweto Uprising of 1976 when he was 19 years old, and was later chosen to be part of an elite force to return to South Africa to carry out a mission commemorating the June 16th 1976 Soweto student uprising.
After entering South Africa through Swaziland and meeting his fellow comrades in Duduza, on the East Rand (east of Johannesburg), they were accosted by the police in Goch Street in Johannesburg.
In the ensuing gun battle two civilians were killed and two were injured, and Mahlangu and Motloung were captured while acting as decoys so that the other comrade could go and report to the MK leadership.
Motloung was brutally assaulted by the police to a point that he suffered brain damage and was unfit to stand trial, resulting in Mahlangu facing trial alone.
He was charged with two counts of murder and several charges under the Terrorism Act, to which he pleaded not guilty.
Though the judge accepted that Motloung was responsible for the killings, common purpose was argued and Mahlangu was found guilty on two counts of murder and other charges under the Terrorism Act.
On 15 June 1978 Solomon Mahlangu was refused leave to appeal his sentence by the Rand Supreme Court, and on 24 July 1978 he was refused again in the Bloemfontein Appeal Court.
Although various governments, the United Nations, International Organizations, groups and prominent individuals attempted to intercede on his behalf, Mahlangu awaited his execution in Pretoria Central Prison, and was hanged on 6 April 1979.
His hanging provoked international protest and condemnation of South Africa and Apartheid.
In fear of crowd reaction at the funeral the police decided to bury Mahlangu in Atteridgeville in Pretoria.
On 6 April 1993 he was re-interred at the Mamelodi Cemetery, where a plaque states his last words:
'My blood will nourish the tree that will bear the fruits of freedom.
Tell my people that I love them.
They must continue the fight.'
Mahlangu died for a cause!
The Struggle Continues…
(special thanks to a friend who shared this tribute to Solomon Mahlangu)
Tags: 1976 student uprising, anc, apartheid, freedom, heroes, history, martyr, martyrs, mk, political, politics, pretoria, racial discrimination, racism, racist, Revolution, south africa, Soweto, struggle, Swaziland, The Spear of the Nation
for my mother, Zubeida Moolla 1934 – 2008
I remember the tears she shed,
as she longed for her distant abode,
she wept often then, as she pined for her children, Tasneem & Azad,
and felt the future looked bleak, on that dim, lonely road.
when that telegram came one afternoon,
'regret to inform you stop father passed away stop',
She wept often after that, for their last goodbye had been said too soon.
on that glorious day in a February not that long ago,
when the prisoner finally walked out, breathing the free air,
she wept less after that, for then she knew where they were to go.
soaring high above the clouds heading back to her land,
those tears came out in soft sobs, but her eyes were smiling,
defiant and full of new hope, as she held tightly on to his wrinkled hand.
some years later, on that peaceful late April morning,
when she stood and proudly bore the ink on her aging thumb,
she wept a lot that April evening, knowing that a new day was dawning.
I also remember that on a Thursday not long ago,
as she was slipping away slowly, she seemed not to weep,
after all the miles and places, and after all the tears that she had cried,
I remember that she wept little then, as she drifted off into an eternal sleep.
(for my mother, Zubeida Moolla 1934 – 2008)
Tags: apartheid, democracy, equality, exile, freedom, hope, johannesburg, love, moolla, mother, parents, pretoria, south africa, struggle
Remember us…
(Dedicated to the countless South Africans who gave their lives for freedom and democracy)
Remember us when you pass this way,
We who fell,
Who bled,
We who fell so that countless others may stand,
We who bore the brunt of the oppressor's hand.
Leave a flower or two as you pass along,
Sing! Sing for us a joyous & spirited song.
Remember us when you pass this way.
Remember us in your tomorrows,
As you remember us today
Amandla! The Struggle Continues…
Tags: african, apartheid, bigotry, democracy, equality, freedom, Grief, hope, human-rights, justice, Memory, nelson mandela, poverty, pretoria, racial discrimination, racism, Remember, social-justice, society, south africa
And Just When I Felt Lost
when i feared that you were slipping away
i feared more for myself, in truth I say, than for you
you came back to us
your light shone, ablaze
reaching inside of me with the warmth of your dignity
with your infinite gentleness
with your effortless peace
with all that makes you, you
soothing me as you soothed a nation
and a people, and people everywhere
of every hue
and of every creed
and of the human spirit itself
you gave of yourself
92 and frail and weak and alive
oh yes alive!
you breathed my fears away
you embraced me as you have always done
you made me cry
weeping tears of joy for you
for your light to shine on through
you shined so brightly
as I basked in your warmth of you being you
you cradled my shaken being in your hands, lined with age and with wisdom and with a pureness so bright
that just knowing that you are back home, smiling that fatherly smile of yours
was enough for me, to slip into the waiting arms of this warm and joyous night
though i know that you cannot be with me forever more
you came back to me on this night
and just knowing that you are still here with me now
is enough now, for within me, you will reside forever more
just knowing that you are resting and recovering at home
filled, and fills me with peace and with joy
with the peace and the joy that has been your gift to me, and to us, one and all
shaking me to my very core
as you have selflessly done
throughout my life, and on countless occasions before
He is home
you are home
i am home with you
as your light of life continues to shine
warm and dignified and forever true
Viva Nelson Rolihlala 'Madiba' Mandela Viva!
Tags: africa, african, afzal, afzal moolla, apartheid, cape twon, faith, health, historic, histroy, home, johannesburg, justice, live, long, long live, madiba, mandela, moolla, mosie, nature, nelson, nelson mandela, oppression, pretoria, racial discrimination, racism, religion, south africa, spirituality, viva, winter, writing
For our Father, Nelson 'Madiba' Mandela
you are our eternal inspiration
our hopes
our dreams
our conscience
you gave everything of yourself
so that we may live and love and laugh and dream and breathe the air of freedom, dignity and liberty
you lead us through the darkest days with your unshakeable principles and your belief in us
you brought peace and freedom to us
and when at times we felt all was lost
you stayed with us as a father would
you lent us your wisdom
and you chastised us too
and we are here today because of you
you stayed with us, Nelson Rolihlala 'Madiba' Mandela, through all the crests and valleys of our turbulent times
you stayed with us, father
today, we hope and pray and wish
that you, our father Madiba
stay with us still
stay with us, Madiba
Tags: africa, afzal, afzal moolla, amandla, anc, apartheid, cape town, darkest days, eternal inspiration, freedom, health, human-rights, illness, madiba, mk, nelson mandela, poem, poems, poetry, president, pretoria, qunu, religion, robben island, sick, south africa, spirituality, turbulent times
Old Sof'town*
In old Sof'town,
the jazz struck chords,
the jazz lived, it exploded,
out of the cramped homes,
rolling along the streets,
of old Kofifi,
in tune to countless blazing heartbeats.
Bra' Hugh breathed music, Sis' Dolly too,
and Bra' Wally penned poems that still ring true.
Father Trevor preached
equality and justice,
for all, black and white and brown,
and all shades, every hue,
even as oppression battered the people,
black & blue.
the fires of resistance raged,
'we will not move' was the refrain,
even as the fascists tore down Sof'town,
with volleys of leaden rain.
the people were herded,
like cattle,
sent to Meadowlands,
far away and cold and bleak,
as the seeds of resistance,
sprouted and flourished,
for the coming battle.
the bulldozers razed homes,
splitting the flesh of a community apart,
only to raise a monument of shame,
and 'Triomf' was its ghastly name.
In Jozi today,
we remember those days,
and those nights of pain,
that stung our souls.
like bleak winter rain.
Yes, we remember old Sof'town,
as we struggle onward,
to reclaim our deepest heritage,
and build anew,
a country of all hues and shades,
of black and of white and of brown.
And yes, we will always remember,
and yes, we will never forget,
the price that was paid,
by the valiant sons and daughters,
of old Sof'town,
those vibrant African shades and hues,
of black,
of white,
of brown.
* Sophiatown was also called Sof'town and Kofifi.
Tags: africa, african, afzal, afzal moolla, amandla, apartheid, aviation, boer, climate, crime against humanity, dutch, father, forced, forced-removals, group-areas, huddleston, jazz, johannesburg, kofifi, mandela, masakela, mental-health, nature, outdoors, poem, poems, poetry, pretoria, serote, sophiatown, south africa, transportation, triompf, wally serote
For Mother Teresa
the clarity of beauty between the murky folds of life
the simple truths of living
between the horror and the endless strike
the innocent smiles of the children at play
while the elder preach hate and division and continue to slay
the endless yearning for that simpler better place
away from the hollow emptiness of this ostentatious space
the open vistas of this pale blue dot
the soft reds and fruity greens as this home is all we have got
the tears of the dispossessed who have been cruelly cast aside
and while we look the other way from their tears we may never hide
the endless hunger and despair and killing and greed
in the name of God or of ideology or of some or the other creed
and to see it all
and still stand tall
to hold on to the humanity
that resides deep within us all
may be our only saving grace
and though all of this sounds quaint and saccharine sweet
I need to remember all that I've said
the next time I look into a teary-eyed desolate face
that being human is simple if we only look beyond ourselves and see
that we are all one, him and her and them and us and you and me…
Tags: afzal, afzal moolla, calcutta, cape town, charity, endless hunger, faith, gaming, ghetto, human, johannesburg, justice, kolkata, mother, mother teresa, open vistas, pale blue dot, peace, political, pretoria, religion, right, slums, society, soft reds, south africa, teresa, videogames
A Rant – The Quiet Hypocrisy
it seeps in through gradual osmosis
and soon is ingrained in pliant minds
it mutates and thrives in tunnels of vision
and then is fused into the fiber of unreason
the quiet hypocrisy that drips of the tongues
spouting broken words of unfathomable callousness
the mutilated reeking carcass of cynicism
obscured by the veneer of polished discourse
stinks of inaction and of insipid rationalization
the probing and prodding and splintering of each thought
curdles the shallow layer of feeling
interring the basic simple and only humanity
that is gleefully ripped into isolated fragments
the quiet hypocrisy of battles fought and of causes embraced
is plain to see in the faces of the earnest
as they cling onto their bitter loathsome prejudices
whilst buying redemption under a placard of well-meaning
the quiet hypocrisy of these selective battles waged under the flimsy pretense of caring
stinks to the highest heaven promised in mantras and duas and prayers and chants
as the spectacle of the apartheid within the mind is worn on each tailored sleeve
the choosing of these battles in the name of faith and clung onto simply because of a common creed
is a pathetic spectacle of segregated thought
buried under the folds of righteous bluster
so before you jump on that bandwagon of indignation because 'your' people are in pain
take a look at the hidden fascism that simmers just below your holier-than-thou sudden spurt of heartfelt rage
for the quiet hypocrisy that is unknowingly imbibed
is apparent for all to behold
for when the 'other' endure the injustice carried out in 'your' peoples' name
you stand mute and silently complicit for your indignation simply melts away
as the quiet hypocrisy that is firmly rooted in you
exults in pious pretences while 'your' own continue to hate, rape, pillage and slay
it saddens me that so much vitriol drips off my pen in such effervescent times
but I cringe as each moment another quiet hypocrite rants about the despotism of the 'other'
while smiling complacently and smugly and soaking in the quiet hypocrisy of remaining mute about 'my' peoples' own crimes
Tags: africa, afzal, afzal moolla, caste, current-events, extremism, fundamentalism, hate, hatred, human-rights, hypocrisy, intolerance, johannesburg, poem, poems, poetry, politics, pretoria, rant, religion, south africa, spirituality
barefoot in the paddies of rice
breaking her back for some precious grains
in jo'burg town with a black eye
smacked around by him the previous painful night
in the streets of neon hazed manila
along the pristine hedges of rotten London
on the crowded pavements of lonesome New Delhi
across the rolling plains of the vast bounteous pampas
over the winding back-ways of the sloping and grimy favelas
on the glittering pavements of rich and sweetly-scented Jeddah
through the blindingly false boulevards of that sad Los Angeles town
of cook and sweeper and wife and mistress and punching-bag
through your streets and mine
standing up as she is beaten more down
loving a little as the bruises on her face turn purple
feeding the little ones with morsels of hastily cooked beans
in factories and in mills and in buses
in schools and in brothels and in place in-between
staying alive on the alms of the rich
violated by those who from the pulpit preach
my sister and yours
my mother and yours too
my lover and your beloved as well
caged by society in its invisible prison
a slave of norms and culture and religion and caste
but she is the conscience of me and you
screaming at us silently in hunger and despair
and though fearful of you men she may seem
be warned that she may not forever be this alone
for she too dreams and thinks and believes
for she too needs and wants and loves and weeps
in the silent night of complacency while impotent mankind sleeps
and she too will rise and in rising slay
the beasts that in your callous hearts prowl and lay
and she too will demand her rightful place
for every mother and sister and lover and daughter has a real face
Tags: afzal, afzal moolla, bigot, cape town, chauvinism, discrimination, equal, female, freedom, gender, gender equality, girls, johannesburg, justice, ladies, lady, macho, male, poems, poetry, politics, pretoria, sociaety, south africa, un, woman, women, womens day, writing


One of the primary indications of age is the loosening of facial tissue, a characteristic that often creates the appearance of sagging skin in the face and neck. While a facelift has long been a powerful solution to address skin laxity and jowling, patients seeking a less invasive facial rejuvenation option may benefit from FaceTite— a highly effective treatment that employs radiofrequency (RF) energy to tighten facial skin and achieve exceptional results without the scarring, recovery time, or post-treatment discomfort associated with surgical procedures.
Tiffany McCormack, our Reno-area plastic surgeon, now offers FaceTite at our state-of-the-art medical spa. While facelift surgery is considered the gold standard of skin tightening and facial rejuvenation, FaceTite can still achieve a more refreshed, youthful aesthetic for men and women who desire a minimally invasive way to resolve signs of aging in the lower face.
FaceTite is an innovative facial rejuvenation treatment that utilizes radiofrequency energy to smooth and tighten aging skin in the lower face and neck. For qualified candidates, the procedure can be an ideal solution to treat mild to moderate signs of aging with little to no scarring and a relatively short recovery period. FaceTite delivers controlled RF heat energy to the surface of the skin as well as beneath the underlying structures via a specialized wand. The gentle emissions of heat work to tighten face and neck skin while stimulating collagen production for comprehensive improvement in your facial aesthetic. Unlike surgical anti-aging procedures, this is achieved without the need for skin excision.
Healthy individuals who experience mild to moderate skin laxity, jowling, and other signs of age are typically considered good candidates for FaceTite. During a consultation, Dr. McCormack will listen to your cosmetic goals and examine your concerns to determine whether FaceTite is the most ideal procedure to address your reasons for treatment. If it is determined that FaceTite is not the best solution to attain the aesthetic you desire, Dr. McCormack may recommend other options, such as a facelift or injectable dermal fillers.
What Can FaceTite Do For Me?
FaceTite often serves as an exceptional alternative to facelift surgery for patients with the requisite cosmetic concerns. The treatment can yield roughly half of the results that are usually achieved with a facelift. The dual temperatures delivered uniformly to the surface of the skin, as well as subcutaneously (beneath the skin surface), have been proven to achieve natural-looking and even facial contouring. Because FaceTite only requires small incisions to distribute the RF energy, there is usually significantly less post-procedural discomfort and scarring after treatment. Depending on your unique needs, FaceTite typically yields a more toned and tightened facial appearance for very minimal downtime when compared to other facial contouring options. Plus, the technology stimulates your body's natural collagen production, further promoting the youthful characteristics of your skin tissue and enhancing the overall results.
How is FaceTite Treatment Performed?
Unlike surgical facial rejuvenation, FaceTite usually utilizes either local anesthesia or light sedation as opposed to general anesthesia. During treatment, an internal wand is inserted into the targeted area through small, strategically placed incisions. RF heat energy is emitted to liquefy fat, activate collagen production, and tighten tissues internally, while the external portion of the wand simultaneously distributes RF energy to the surface in order to rejuvenate, smooth, and tighten the overlying skin. The temperatures of the heat gradient are monitored and regulated by Dr. McCormack in real-time throughout the entire process, optimizing patient safety. The procedure typically takes approximately one hour, although the length of your treatment will depend on your unique needs.
What is FaceTite Recovery Like?
FaceTite treatment typically involves an abbreviated recovery period when compared to a traditional facelift. Some minor bruising or swelling may occur, but these reactions should resolve quickly. Patients can often return to their normal routines soon after the procedure, but strenuous exercise should be avoided for one to two weeks. Rest assured that Dr. McCormack will provide you with detailed recovery instructions specific to your procedure in person. The results of FaceTite usually improve within the following months, but rejuvenation is often apparent immediately after treatment.
To learn more about FaceTite facial rejuvenation, or to schedule a consultation with Dr. McCormack, please contact our practice.


UK employers require Sponsor Licence to employ skilled foreign nationals from outside of the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland. The sponsor licence is granted by the UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) under the new UK immigration points-based system.
UKVI grants UK employers with a sponsor licence under the Tier 2 and Tier 5 visa categories which allow employers to employ and sponsor the non-EEA migrants.
With a successful UKVI sponsor licence application, employers can then issue Certificates of Sponsorship required as part of non-EEA employees application.
Applying for a Sponsor Licence, however, is a complex process and involves submitting the right documents and evidence to satisfy UKVI requirements.
Data from recent years show that more than 15% of sponsorship licence applications are refused by the UKVI and as there's no right to appeal for unsuccessful applications, you will need to wait for a specified period of time and make a new application at full cost.
As such, it's crucial to get it right for the first time and seeking professional help with your sponsor licence application can help you save both time and application costs.
If you are thinking about employing a non-EEA national (this can be someone who already works for you or your new hire to fill one of the positions you have available), we can assist you with both applications for your company and your employee.
Need Help With Sponsor Licence Application?
We have an experienced team dedicated to Tier 2 Sponsor Licence applications and we will be happy to assist with your application. Contact us today to see how we can help you in obtaining a sponsorship licence.
Assess your particular circumstances and advise on the merits of Tier 2 Sponsor Licence application and any subsequent Tier 2 General visa application, if the employee has already been identified.
Assist with the preparation of the application for sponsor licence, including filling the online application form and advising on the documentary requirements.
Once the sponsor licence is granted, we will assist you with issuing CoS for any employee you have identified.
If Resident Labour Market Test needs to be satisfied, we will assist and advise you on the requirements for advertisements.
Once the CoS is issued, we will assist with the preparation of Tier 2 General visa application and book an appointment if required.
Continue reading for our detailed guide on Sponsor Licence application.
Depending on the job requirements you are looking to fulfil, you can apply sponsor licence that allows you to sponsor migrants in Tier 2 and Tier 5 visa categories of the UK immigration points-based system.
Tier 2 Sponsor Licence is the most common application that allows you to employ skilled workers for permanent job positions but you can choose to apply for both if required.
A Tier 2 Sponsor Licence enables a UK employer to employ (i.e. sponsor) skilled and highly-qualified migrants from outside the EEA and Switzerland to fulfil a suitable job position.
After a migrant (who could be in the UK or outside the UK) has been sponsored by a UK employer to take a particular job, he/she has to apply for a visa under Tier 2 category. If they are successful in the visa application then they are allowed to start working for that employer in the specified job.
To acquire a Tier 2 sponsor licence, the employer has to make an application to the Home Office. The application has two parts: firstly an online application and secondly the physical submission by post or courier of certain documents.
Documents such as financial accounts, certificate of employer's liability insurance, premises lease, documents relating to VAT, PAYE, national insurance, etc.. are required to submit along with the application. These are the sort of documents that will show that the employer is a respectable organisation that pays due taxes and follows applicable laws and rules.
The Home Office will assess the application, and in some cases also pay a visit to the employer's premises and carry out an audit, most particularly of the HR systems, to assess whether the HR systems are sufficiently rigorous to manage migrant workers. If the Home Office is fully satisfied then the employer will be granted a Tier 2 sponsor licence.
The employer is given an online system called the "sponsorship management system" (SMS) which they will use for all matters relating to Tier 2 sponsorship visa in the UK.
When the employer wants to sponsor a migrant to fill a particular job they may have had to advertise the job beforehand, so as to test whether a resident worker in the UK could have been available to take the job (this is called the "resident labour market test").
For the employer to sponsor the migrant the employer must also issue a "certificate of sponsorship" (CoS) for the migrant. This is an online virtual document which contains various detailed information about the employer, the migrant and the job, and it has a unique reference number. When the migrant submits the visa application they must quote this reference number.
You should be free from criminal convictions for immigration offences or certain other crimes, such as fraud or money laundering.
You shouldn't have the previous history of failing to carry out the sponsorship duties.
You should have appropriate systems in place to monitor sponsored employees.
You will need to specify the type of workers or migrants your business is looking to sponsor and accordingly apply for a suitable licence.
Tier 2 – Skilled workers with long-term or permanent job offers. Tier 2 visas include Tier 2 General, Intra-Company Transfer, Minister of Religion and Sportsperson.
Tier 5 – Skilled temporary workers. Tier 5 visas include Charity Worker, Religious Worker, Government Authorised Exchange, International Agreement and Creative and Sporting.
You can apply for a sponsor licence covering Tier 2 visas, Tier 5 visas, or both.
As part of the sponsor licence application, you will need to appoint someone within your business to manage sponsor roles once you have been granted the licence.
All the responsibilities are managed using the UKVI's tool – sponsorship management system (SMS).
Level 1 user – responsible for all day-to-day management of your licence using the Sponsorship Management System.
All these roles can also be allocated to the same person within your business.
You will need to use the online application service of the UKVI to get started with the process. After completing the application, you will also be asked to send the required supporting documents to the following UKVI address.
UKVI provides a general estimated time of less than 8 weeks, claiming that 8 out of 10 applications are dealt with in less than 8 weeks.
Supporting documents are mainly related to the proof of verifying your business. You will need to submit at least four documents to show that you are a genuine business.
The fees for the sponsor licence application depends on the type of licence you want to apply for and whether you are a small business or a medium and large organisation.
you employ 50 or fewer employees in your business.
Once you submit your application, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) will review your online application along with the supporting documents you provided along with your application.
The UKVI may visit your business to make sure you're a credible business and capable of carrying out your sponsorship duties after you are issued a licence.
The Tier 2 Visa system in the UK is, in its entirety, quite complex, and the UKVI is notoriously particular in their assessments, especially with the sponsor licence application process.
Our lawyers have more than 10 years of experience working with corporate clients and we have helped businesses of all sizes successfully obtain Sponsor Licence over the past years.
If you need assistance with your Sponsor Licence application, please get in touch with our London-based immigration lawyers on 020 7439 3000.
You can book a consultation with one of our Sponsor Licence application experts to discuss you case.


Above: A nailed-on cliched photo-image of the type under discussion in the text-block below. Credit: Bess-Hamiti.
What is wrong with making a cliche? That is a question some students ask these days. What they mean by the question is: if they love a photo of the ocean still-and-flat at dusk then why are they being told that it's not a good photo? (Or an image of a sunset seen through rows of tree-trunks in a forest. Or a dilapidated swimming pool all overgrown, etc.) Could it be that the students do have a point? And their point is this I think: you teachers have fetishized being different-and-original up to the point that ordinary beautiful things are not allowable in your aesthetic world; you have become too rigidly demanding in your injunction against the familiar and the well-worn. You are suffering from a phobia to cliche, meaning that you abhor and fear cliches, and when you are placed in close proximity to a cliche you go into panic and anxiety. You literally live in fear of cliche, when you see a cliche your eyes hurt and you feel sick. We are being taught by modernists who are ill people. You teachers are people who see a photo of something beautiful and get a headache, or want to throw up. It is you, the teachers who are unwell and weird, and we the students, who are making wonderful images of really beautiful things.


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A Friend In London
Eurovision NI's Song of 2018: Group Two Results
All week you have been voting in our Group Two poll to determine which song will be named our favourite song of 2018 from previous Eurovision contestants. The poll closed last night and we can now reveal the results.
This entry was posted in Song of 2018 and tagged 2018, A Friend In London, Aminata, Brendan Murray, Dima Bilan, Elina Born, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, Jamala, Morland, Norma John, Sanna Nielsen, Song of 2018, The Fizz, Tim Schou, Up For the Fight. Bookmark the permalink.
Eurovision NI's Song of 2018: Group Two!
November 5, 2018 — Leave a comment
It's the second week of our latest feature to find out the Top 30 songs released by former Eurovision stars in 2018. Again this week we take you through ten of the biggest hits of 2018 and ask you to vote for your three favourites from the bunch! Continue reading
This entry was posted in News, Song of 2018, Song of the Year and tagged 2018, A Friend In London, Altar, Aminata, Brendan Murray, Denmark, Det Vander Nu, Dima Bilan, Drunk Love, Elina Born, Estonia, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, Finland, Group 2, Ireland, Jagatud Saladus, Jamala, Jüri Pootsmann, Kasia Mos, Latvia, leo, Morland, New Songs, Norma John, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sanna Nielsen, Song of 2018, Sweden, The Fizz, Tim Schou, UK, Ukraine, Up For the Fight, Way Too Fast, Wild Eyes, WIngs, Zero Love. Bookmark the permalink.
New Music Round Up: April 2018!
Next month will see the 2018 edition of Eurovision take place in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon. Ahead of that we look to some of our favourites from past contests to see what they've been up to and what new music releases they've treated us to this month. Among them are Spanish singers Barei and Manel Navarro as well as new offerings from Tim Schou, Francesco Gabbani, Ira Losco and Fabrizio Faniello. Enjoy! Continue reading
This entry was posted in New Music Round Up, News and tagged 2018, A Friend In London, Another Summer Night, April, Barei, Do It For Your Lover, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, Fabrizio Faniello, Francesco Gabbani, I Do, Ira Losco, Manel Navarro, New Songs, New Tomorrow, Nirvana, Occidentalis Karma, One In A Million, Say Yay!, Selfie Del Selfie, Seventh Wonder, Tim Schou, Unexpected, Voulez Vous Danser, Walk on Water, You Number One. Bookmark the permalink.
New Music Round Up: February 2018!
March 1, 2018 — Leave a comment
With selection shows in full swing, we take a break from this year's Contest and look at the new releases from some of our favourite singers from the past few years. February sees new releases from former winner Jamala, as well as France's Amir, Armenia's Iveta Mukuchyan, Croatian Jacques Houdek and a duet between Norwegian producer JOWST and last year's runner up Kristian Kostov. Continue reading
This entry was posted in New Music Round Up and tagged 2018, A Friend In London, Altar, Amir, Aram MP3, Bulgaria, Burning Bridges, Croatia, Cyprus, Dashterov, Demy, Denmark, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, February, France, Glas, Greece, Hovig, I Still Believe In You, Ilinca, Iveta Mukuchyan, Jacques Houdek, Jamala, JOWST, Kristian Kostov, Les Rues de ma Peine, ManuElla, New Music, New Music Round Up, Norway, Nu Acum, Omar Naber, Poli Genova, Pravi Sretnik, Right Now, Romania, Siraharvelem Qez, Slovenia, Tim Schou, Tvoya, Ukraine, WIngs, Words are Never Easy. Bookmark the permalink.
Eurovision NI's Song of 2017: 20-11!
For the past eight weeks you have been participating in selecting our favourite songs from former Eurovision contestants released in 2017. On Sunday we revealed the final 40 songs still in contention for the title and today we paused the poll, verified the results and can now reveal the songs that have finished 20 to 11. Let's find out who made the cut!
This entry was posted in Song of 2017 and tagged A Friend In London, Blue, Elena Temnikova, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, greta salome, JOWST, Laura Tesoro, Manel Navarro, Simon Webbe, Song of 2017, Sunstroke Project, Tim Schou, TWIN TWIN, Zoe. Bookmark the permalink.
Eurovision NI's Song of 2017: Group One Results
All week you have been voting in our first poll to determine which song will be named our favourite song of 2017 from previous Eurovision contestants. The poll closed last night and we can now reveal the results.
This entry was posted in Song of 2017 and tagged 2017, A Friend In London, Alex Vorboyev, Aminata, Donny Montell, Elena, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, Hadise, Iveta Mukuhyan, Levina, Lindita, Loreen, Michal Szpak, Robin Stjernberg, Sergey Lazarev, Song of 2017, Tim Schou, Vaidas Baumila. Bookmark the permalink.
Eurovision NI's Song of 2017: Group One!
October 30, 2017 — Leave a comment
Over the next nine weeks we will be looking closely at some of the songs released in 2017 by former Eurovision contestants. We will be asking you to vote for your favourite from the lists before compiling a final Top 30 just before the end of the year. Continue reading
This entry was posted in Song of 2017 and tagged 2017, A Friend In London, Alex Vorobyov, Aminata, Body, Donny Montell, Elena, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, Hadise, Hayastan Jan, Hot Bhangra, I Love You, Iveta Mukuchyan, Levina, Lindita, Loreen, Michal Szpak, Morrison, Robin Stjernberg, Rock Whine, Sampiyon, Screw Me Up, Sdavaysya, Sergey Lazarev, Sista ordet, Song of 2017, Stop Right There, Tai Buvai Tu, Tic Tac Clock, Tim Schou, Vaidas Baumila, Your Arms. Bookmark the permalink.
New Music Round Up: October 2017 (Part One)!
October is traditionally a spooky month as it ends with the advent of Halloween, but it's not all ghouls, ghosts and goblins. Instead of a trick, here is a treat: the release of even more superb tracks from our favourite Eurovision stars from the past few years! Here is Part One of our New Music Round Up for October!
This entry was posted in New Music Round Up and tagged 2017, A Friend In London, Aminata, Aram MP3, Armenia, But I Do, Croatia, Dark Angel, Denmark, Dominoes, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision NI, Eurovision Song Contest, Freddie, Hungary, Ira Losco, Latvia, Malta, Negdje, Netherlands, New Music, Nina Kraljić, Nincsen Holnap, OG3NE, Ola Salo, Prime Time, Rob Galea, Robin Bengtsson, Russia, Sergey Lazarev, Sksum Enq, Sweden, The Ark, Tim Schou, Whispering, Young Vince. Bookmark the permalink.
New Music Round Up: August 2017 (Part One)!
September 1, 2017 — Leave a comment
The summer may be over, but while August brought the rain, it has also been raining musical goodness from our favourite past Eurovision stars. This month has seen new releases from Russia's Sergey Lazarev, Icelandic singer Svala's band Blissful, Turkish singer Hadise, as well as new music from the 2012 winner Loreen. Check out the new songs below and what we had to say about them!
This entry was posted in New Music Round Up and tagged A Friend In London, Albania, Alex Vorobyov, Blisful, Champion, Denmark, Elliphant, ESC, Eurovision, Eurovision New Music Round Up, Eurovision NI, Hadise, I Love You, Iceland, Jungle, Lindita, Lithuania, Loreen, Make it Better, Morrison, New Music, Rock Whine, Russia, Sergey Lazarev, So Beautiful, Svala, Sweden, Tai Buvai Tu, Tim Schou, Vaidas Baumila. Bookmark the permalink.
Eurovision Top 100 (2007-2016) Full Chart
Over the past week and a half we have been gradually unveiling our top 100 songs from the last ten years of Eurovision (2007-2016). Now that all has been revealed, here is the full countdown from number 100 to number one! Continue reading
This entry was posted in Eurovision Top 100 2007-2016, News and tagged 1944, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, A Friend In London, Alex Swings Oscar Sings, Alex Vorobyov, Alexander Rybak, All Night Long, Allez Ola Ole, Alter Ego, Always, Alyona Lanskaya, Amir, Andras Kallay Saunders, andrius pojavis, Ani Lorak, Anouk, Aphrodisiac, Armenia, Aysel and Arash, Azerbaijan, Believe, Birds, Blue, Boggie, Bosnia Herzegovina, Buranovskiye Babushki, ByeAlex, Calm After the Storm, Can-Linn feat. Kasey Smith, Carry Me In Your Dreams, Chanee and N'evergreen, Change, Charlotte Perrelli, Cheesecake, Children of the Universe, Conchita Wurst, D'Nash, Dalal/Deen/Ana/Jala, Dancing Lasha Tumbai, Düm Tek Tek, Denmark, Diana Gurtskaya, Dima Bilan, Dmitry Koldun, Donotan/Cleo, Douwe Bob, Drip Drop, Eleftheria Eleftheriou, Elena, Elina Born and Stig Rasta, Ell and Nikki, Elnur Hüseynov, Emmelie de Forest, Eric Saade, ESC, Euphoria, Euroband, Eurovision, Eurovision Song Contest, Fairytale, Farid Mammadov, Feed You My Love, Fight, Flying the Flag, Georgia, Get You, Getter Jaani, Giorgos Alkaios and Friends, Giorgos Alkaois and Friends, golden boy, Goodbye to Yesterday, Gravity, Greece, greta salome, Guy Sebastian, Hadise, Hanna, hear them calling, Heartbeat, Hera Bjork, Hero, Heroes, Hold Me, Hold On Be Strong, Hotel FM, Hour of the Wolf, I Can, I Love You Mi Vida, In A Moment Like this, Ira Losco, Is It True?, It's My Time, Ivi Adamou, J'ai Cherche, Jade Ewen, Jamala, Je ne sais quoi, Jedward, Jessy Matador, Jon Lilygreen and the Islanders, Kalomira, Kati Wolf, Kedvesem, Kejsi Tola, Kenan Dogulu, Krista Siegfrids, Kurt Calleja, La La Love, Laura Tesoro, Leave Me Alone, Lena, Life Looks Better in Spring, Lighthouse X, Lipstick, Ljubav je, Loic nottet, Loreen, Lose Control, Love Kills, Mandinga, maNga, Mans Zelmerlow, Margaret Berger, Maria Haukaas Storeng, Maria Haukaas Stroeng, Maria Olafs, Marry Me, Minus One, Miss Kiss Kiss Bang, Moldova, Molly, Monika Linkyte and Vaidas Baumila, Monster Like Me, Morland/Debrah Scarlatt, Moustache, My Slowianie, Nadav Guedj, Natalia Barbu, New Tomorrow, Nina Zilli L'Amore E Femmina, No Prejudice, Only Teardrops, OPA!, Party For Everybody, Paula Seling and Ovi, Peace Will Come, Pirates of the Sea, Playing With Fire, Pollaponk, Popular, Qele Qele, Rhythm Inside, Rise Like A Phoenix, Roberto Bellarosa, Rockafeller Street, Running, Running Scared, Safura, Sakis Rouvas, Sarbel, Satellite, Scooch, Secret Combination, Serebro, Sergey Lazarev, Shady Lady, Shake It Up Sekerim, Should've Known Better, Simon Mathew, Sirusho, Slow Down, Softengine, Solayoh, Soldiers of Love, Soluna Samay, something, Something Better, Song#1, Stay, Sweden, Taken By A Stranger, TEO, The Ark, The Balkan Girls, The Common Linnets, The Worrying Kind, This Is My life, This Is Our Night, This is the Night, This Time, Thunder and Lightning, Tonight Again, Tooji, Top 100, TWIN TWIN, UK, Unbroken, United Kingdom, Verka Serduchka, Vukasin Brajic, Waldo's People, Walk on Water, War for Nothing, Waterline, We Could Be the Same, What About My Dreams?, What's the Pressure, Wolves of the Sea, Work Your Magic, Yassou Maria, Yohanna, you are the only one, Zaleilah, Zlata Ognevich. Bookmark the permalink.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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ClassifiedsReal Estate
New Hamptons mansion comes with a cottage in the dunes
An East Hampton Village house with a pre-existing permit allowing a beachfront bungalow on the property is on the market in December 2014 for $39.5 million. Credit: Douglas Elliman Real Estate
By DANIELLE BRAFF Special to Newsday Updated December 11, 2014 9:44 AM
An East Hampton Village home with a pre-existing permit that allows a beachfront bungalow is on the market for $39.5 million.
The 8,000-square-foot new construction has eight bedrooms and 9½ bathrooms on three acres, complete with an infinity pool, bungalow and tennis court.
But the bungalow is what really gives this home a fun feel, as homes built today aren't allowed to have a bungalow right out in the dunes, says Raymond Smith, managing broker for the East Hampton and Southampton offices of Douglas Elliman Real Estate and co-listing agent of the property with Oren Alexander. "You'll never get this again," he says.
Since the home has been newly constructed, it has "all the bells and whistles," Smith says, including 13-foot ceilings in the basement, a full generator and a seaside infinity-edge swimming pool on the ocean side.
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By DANIELLE BRAFF Special to Newsday
Electric heaters can be 'very dangerous in the wrong hands,' fire expert says
After two LI dognappings, all eyes are on the most-pilfered pooches
Tour a $9.75M waterfront home in Belle Terre that has 11 bedrooms, a helipad and indoor and outdoor pools


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Demos in Review
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USDA forecasts record farm sector profits for 2022
December 6, 2022 by USDA Economic Research Service
The USDA Economic Research Service has released its latest financial forecasts for the U.S. farm sector.
Net farm income, a broad measure of profits, is forecast to increase by $19.5 billion (13.8 percent) from 2021 to $160.5 billion in calendar year 2022. This expected increase follows an increase of $46.6 billion (49.3 percent) in 2021 from 2020. Net cash farm income is forecast to increase by $39.4 billion (26.5 percent) to $187.9 billion in 2022, after an increase of $31.7 billion (27.2 percent) in 2021. In inflation-adjusted dollars, 2022 net farm income is forecast to increase by $10.7 billion (7.2 percent); net cash farm income is forecast to increase by $30.1 billion (19.1 percent) compared with the previous year. If realized, net farm income would be at its highest level since 1973 and net cash farm income at its highest level on record (in inflation-adjusted dollars).
Note: In the text below, year-to-year changes in the major aggregate components of farm income are discussed only in nominal dollars unless the direction of the change is reversed when looking at the component in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Overall, farm cash receipts are forecast to increase by $105.7 billion (24.3 percent) to $541.5 billion in 2022 in nominal dollars. Total crop receipts are forecast to increase by $45.5 billion (19.0 percent) from 2021 levels to $285.5 billion. Receipts for corn are forecast to increase by $19.6 billion (27.6 percent), soybeans by $14.5 billion (29.5 percent), and wheat by $2.8 billion (23.7 percent) in 2022, accounting for much of the forecasted growth in crop cash receipts. Total animal/animal product receipts are expected to increase by $60.2 billion (30.8 percent) to $256.0 billion, following increases in receipts for all commodity categories (in nominal terms).
Direct Government farm payments are forecast at $16.5 billion in 2022, a $9.4 billion (36.3 percent) decrease from 2021 levels. Direct Government farm payments include Federal farm program payments paid directly to farmers and ranchers but exclude U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans and insurance indemnity payments made by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. Much of this decline is because of lower supplemental and ad hoc disaster assistance to farmers and ranchers related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic compared with 2021.
Total production expenses, including those associated with operator dwellings, are forecast to increase by $69.9 billion (18.8 percent) in 2022 to $442.0 billion. Nearly all categories of expenses are forecast to be higher in 2022 in nominal terms, with feed and fertilizer-lime-soil conditioner purchases expected to see the largest dollar increases.
Farm sector equity is expected to increase by 10.6 percent in 2022 to $3.34 trillion in nominal terms. Farm sector assets are forecast to increase 10.0 percent (nominal) in 2022 to $3.85 trillion following expected increases in the value of farm real estate assets. Farm sector debt is forecast to increase 5.9 percent in 2022 to $501.9 billion in nominal terms but fall by 0.4 percent when adjusted for inflation. Debt-to-asset levels for the sector are forecast to improve from 13.56 percent in 2021 to 13.05 percent in 2022. In 2022, working capital is forecast to rise 4.7 percent relative to 2021 in nominal dollars but fall by 1.4 percent when adjusted for inflation.
Animal/animal product receipts forecast to increase in 2022
Total animal/animal product cash receipts are expected to increase by $60.2 billion (30.8 percent in nominal terms) to $256.0 billion in calendar year 2022 relative to 2021. Growth in receipts is forecast for all major animal/animal products, with the largest percentage increases expected for chicken eggs, broilers, and milk.
Milk receipts are expected to increase by $15.9 billion (38.1 percent) in 2022, mainly due to higher forecasted prices. Cash receipts from cattle and calves are expected to increase by $13.9 billion (19.1 percent), also largely due to expectations for higher prices. Growth in prices is projected to outweigh lower quantities for hog receipts, resulting in an increase of $1.5 billion (5.5 percent) in 2022.
Broiler receipts are expected to increase by $17.4 billion (55.2 percent) in 2022, mostly due to a higher price forecast. Despite slightly lower quantities relative to 2021, expected higher prices should also drive receipts for turkeys $1.1 billion (19.0 percent) higher during the year. Cash receipts for chicken eggs are expected to more than double, with forecasted growth of $10.0 billion (115.0 percent), the result of expectations for much higher prices in 2022.
See data on value of animal/product production (in the value added table) and animal/product cash receipts.
Direct government farm payments forecast to decrease in 2022
Direct Government farm program payments are those made by the Federal Government to farmers and ranchers with no intermediaries. Typically, most direct payments to farmers and ranchers are administered by the USDA under the Farm Bill or other authorities. Direct payments can also be from new supplemental programs authorized by Congress. Government payments do not include Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) indemnity payments (listed as a separate component of farm income) and USDA loans (listed as a liability in the farm sector's balance sheet). After reaching a record high of $45.6 billion in calendar year 2020, direct Government farm program payments are estimated to have decreased to $25.9 billion in 2021. They are forecast to decrease further to $16.5 billion in 2022. The overall decrease in 2021 and 2022 direct Government payments reflect lower anticipated payments from supplemental and ad hoc disaster assistance, including lower COVID-19 assistance.
Supplemental and ad hoc disaster assistance payments in 2022 are forecast at $11.9 billion, a decrease of $7.1 billion, or 37.3 percent from 2021, primarily because of lower payments from COVID-19-related assistance programs.
USDA pandemic assistance for producers, including the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), provides relief to producers whose operations are directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Payments in calendar year 2022 from these USDA programs are forecast at $1.2 billion compared with $23.5 billion and $7.5 billion in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
Non-USDA pandemic assistance—payments from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA)—ended on May 31, 2021, and no payments are expected in 2022. Non-USDA pandemic assistance is estimated at $8.6 billion for 2021, based on October 2, 2022, data from the SBA. The PPP payments were designed to help small businesses keep their workers on the payroll through forgivable loans. Forgiven loan amounts are treated as a direct payment to farm operations.
Other supplemental and ad hoc disaster assistance, which includes farm bill designated disaster programs, are forecast to be $10.7 billion in 2022, an increase of $7.8 billion from 2021, largely because of the recently passed Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act, which created the Emergency Relief Program (ERP) and the Emergency Livestock Relief Program (ELRP), and the assistance to distressed borrowers from the Inflation Reduction Act.
Conservation payments from the financial assistance programs of USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are expected to be $4.2 billion in 2022, up $635.4 million or 18.0 percent from 2021. The increase in conservation payments is due to a marginal increase in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) enrolled acres and an increase in payments from NRCS programs.
The Dairy Margin Coverage Program (DMC) is forecast to make $85.7 million in payments in 2022. Some payments were first triggered in August 2022, because of a drop in milk prices. Milk prices are forecast to fall further through the remainder of the 2022 calendar year.
Farm bill commodity payments under the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs are forecast to decline by $1.9 billion, or 84 percent, in 2022 to $354 million. ARC payments are expected to be $105 million in 2022, a decrease of $12.5 million or 10.6 percent from 2021 levels. PLC payments in 2022 are expected be $248.6 million, a decrease of $1.9 billion, or 88.2 percent, from 2021 levels. ARC payments are expected to decrease in 2022 because of higher commodity prices for all covered commodities, especially corn and soybeans, in 2021 compared with 2020 levels. PLC payments are also expected to decrease in 2022 because of higher prices for all covered commodities in 2021 compared with 2020.
See data table on government payments.
Production expenses forecast to increase in 2022
Farm sector production expenses—including expenses associated with operator dwellings—are forecast to increase by $69.9 billion (18.8 percent) to reach $442.0 billion in calendar year 2022. This would represent the largest year-to-year dollar increase in nominal terms on record. When adjusted for inflation, production expenses are forecast to increase by 11.8 percent from 2021 to 2022, yet remain below the record-high levels of 2012–14.
See data tables on production expenses.
Nearly all expense categories are forecast to rise in 2022 compared with the previous year, with the most significant increases in nominal terms for the following categories:
Fertilizer-lime-soil conditioner expenses are forecast to increase by $13.9 billion (47.0 percent) to $43.4 billion in 2022.
Feed expenses, the largest single expense category, are forecast to increase in 2022 by $11.3 billion (17.4 percent), to $76.6 billion because of higher prices for feed commodities.
Interest expenses (including operator dwellings) are also forecast to increase in 2022 by $8.0 billion (41.0 percent) to $27.4 billion.
Fuel and oil expenses are forecast to increase by $6.6 billion, or 47.4 percent, to reach $20.5 billion in 2022, which is the highest percentage increase among the main expense categories.
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Renault is an iconic French car manufacturer that has been producing vehicles since the late 19th century. During this time they have maintained their position at the fore of automotive innovation and regularly produce award winner vehicles. With Renault cars sold in around 125 countries worldwide, Renault has established themselves as a forerunner in automotive production.
With a proven track record in Formula 1 and Rally championships when you buy a Renault you can be sure that you're getting a car that benefits from the latest technological and safety advances. Plus, Renault is still winning awards today for their innovations and impressive new cars. Recent awards include the Auto Express Driver Power Best Supermini Bronze Award for the Renault Clio.
Continuing to be at the fore of innovation Renault has developed a 100% electric hatchback Zoe. Stylish design and a practical 160-mile capability have catapulted the Zoe into the mainstream, with it even scooping Parkers 2018 Best Eco Car Award.
While continuing to innovate Renault is also keen to continue their heritage. Which is why popular models like the Clio and Megane have both been in production since the nineties. Styling and technology have benefitted from multiple upgrades so that both cars provide outstanding drive-ability with day to day practicality and comfort. While RenaultSport versions of both models add further dynamism.
Discovering the right Renault deal for your needs shouldn't be a problem as at Stoneacre we have a selection of offers available. From interest-free finance options and no deposit deals, there is sure to be something suitable. What's more, if you don't see the right deal for you just get in touch as many of our Renault deals can be modified to suit your preferred terms.
As a family run business, we offer our customers an unrivalled level of service and nothing is too much trouble. So what are you waiting for? Give us a call or pop into our Renault dealerships and we're confident you'll find a new Renault at an unbeatable price.
In addition to our great deals on new Renault cars, you can make further savings by part exchanging your outgoing car, putting it towards a deposit or cash price.
Through our free to use online tool, you can quickly get a no-obligation valuation for your vehicle, helping you get a good idea of what it's worth.