Sisterhood of the Travelling Mgowo

Heritage Day had us thinking. When did it become Braai Day? 
Somewhere between the specials, campaigns and Heritage Day content, it feels like we’ve lost a bit of what the day is actually meant to represent.
So we got into our own cultures and what they mean to us personally. Sinesipho speaks about being Xhosa, Mixo about growing up Tsonga, and somehow we end up everywhere from language and family traditions to marriage, kneeling for men and why women always seem to be the ones working at cultural gatherings while everyone else is having a great time. 
There are parts of our cultures that we love and really want to hold onto, and then there are parts where we’re like… guys, can we talk about this?
And maybe that’s part of having a relationship with your culture too. Knowing where things come from, asking questions and figuring out what still feels like home to you.

Trigger warning: This episode discusses gender-based violence, murder, abuse and the deaths of women. Please take care while listening.
To everyone listening,
We had this conversation because of what has been happening in South Africa.At some point, we have to ask ourselves what we’re doing with all of this.GBV can’t only be a conversation for when another woman is killed. It has to be something we talk about in our homes, in our friendships, in our families and in the spaces where men are comfortable enough to say things they might not say publicly.
This conversation is about that responsibility. About the friends who know. The family members who see it. The people who hear the joke, witness the behaviour or know what someone is capable of, but choose to stay quiet.
We talk about what accountability can actually look like, the kind of content young people are growing up with, childhood neglect, misogyny and why simply posting online cannot be where our involvement ends.
We don’t have all the answers. But we do know that these conversations need to keep happening, and they need to happen much closer to home.

There’s a lot to unpack this week. From South African music and the importance of creating spaces to really engage with local artists, to parenting, online misogyny and the way we’re raising the next generation.
We chat about Mamakashaka and Friends’ “Track by Track” initiative, what gentle parenting actually looks like beyond the internet discourse, and why we need to be careful about how quickly we turn tragedy into an excuse for violence or harsher parenting.
We also get into the “pink pill” pipeline and how seemingly harmless content can quietly reinforce some pretty harmful ideas about women.
A little bit of music, parenting, social media!

Let’s talk about what happens on South African social media when women announce pregnancies and the moral judgements they’re subject to when they do. We consider and challenge perceived societal expectations, conditioning and patriarchal biological timelines.

In this episode, we dive deep into the recent online uproar sparked by two popular influencers announcing their pregnancies in their 30s. Exploring the stark differences in how the public reacted to both announcements based on relationship dynamics.

Sinesipho reflects on her own lived experience, interrogating why marriage and relationship status are continually placed on a moral pedestal.

Tune in for a raw conversation on safeguarding our shared humanity, learning to stop performing care online, and shifting our politics toward building an intentional community that truly protects and nurtures vulnerable populations.

In this week’s episode, we’re getting honest about what it actually looks like to do the work on yourself.
With one of the hosts approaching 32, the conversation gets into therapy, emotional regulation, ADHD, loneliness and the uncomfortable process of learning how to actually sit with your feelings instead of running from them or trying to analyse everything to death.
They talk about what changed after an ADHD diagnosis, learning to understand and name their own needs, and the strange vulnerability of letting people into spaces you’ve spent years protecting. There’s also a conversation about not taking every bad interaction personally and learning when something has nothing to do with you, and when it’s simply time to protect yourself and move on.
Most importantly, this isn’t about becoming a “better” person than everyone else. It’s about doing the work because you want to be here for your own life.
And looking back at their 20s, they get into the things they wish they had known sooner, trusting your intuition, holding onto your individuality, enjoying where you are and letting yourself both give and receive love.