Writing as a Coping Mechanism By Rayda Jacobs
Born in 1947, I grew up in apartheid South Africa. At the age of five, my parents divorced and a writer was born. Skin color – even a fair complexion in a Muslim family – separated people in those days. My brother and sister bonded and I was left out. I was a loner and found solace in reading books and scribbling things down in a diary. The diary was comforting. It was a place to retreat when no one listened…