I HAVE LIVED, LOVED & LAUGHED
At 26, a young man looks back on a life that tried to break him but instead forged him. Raised in a destitute home, where survival came before dreams, he discovered early that his mind was his escape. From primary school through high school, he was a quiet genius, impressing teachers while hiding hunger, fear, and longing behind borrowed smiles.
A sponsored bursary carried him to the University of Cape Town, a world far removed from where he came from. But brilliance alone was not enough. Pressure, identity loss, and poverty followed him there. Slowly, the boy who once led classrooms began failing exams and doubting himself. Eventually, he walked away from university, carrying shame heavier than his suitcase.
Only one person never walked away from him; Thando, his lover, anchor, and believer. While the world measured success in degrees, she measured it in courage. Through rejection, empty pockets, and broken confidence, she stayed.
Choosing writing over despair, he turned pain into pages. What began as survival became purpose. Through many setbacks, he rose into one of the country’s best-selling authors, proving that sometimes the story you fail to live becomes the story you were born to tell.