by Shaz ‘Sicka’ Mthunzi

Like most people, I enjoy having nice things every once in a while. I am obsessed with cars that have power and balance, brands like Mercedes Benz, Land Rover/Range Rover. I wish to see myself owning all of them in future, living in a beautiful, warm home with my very own “wife and kids”.

I’m a musician who loves listening and collecting old school music. I recently found myself listening to Benny Goodman, who is a jazz musician. I love a bit of jazz every now and then. Although people in my age group won’t agree, to me, music is more than just sound. I hear with my ears, but to me music is like being addicted to morphine and when ever you get a dosage of that drug everything falls in place.

Sicka outside Munch Museum, Oslo. Photo by Zanele Muholi (23/02/2015)

I promised myself that my house will have a music room. When it comes to clothes I’m not really a brand person. When I wear clothes I want to be the only person who owns that attire. I wear clothes designed for me or if someone has bought me. I am told I’m very talkative and I’m good with people. I can’t disagree with that because I love people and I love learning and understanding other people, guess it comes as a package of my many talents that I’m blessed with.

Most people see my calling to be a sangoma as torture. However, to me it is something I would never trade for anything because I have passion for helping others and tend to forget about myself. I want to travel a lot; Norway was just the first step to traveling. I want to see myself performing as the first African lesbian hip-hop artist in places like New York USA, Tokyo Japan, Paris France, Dubai, Australia, London England. I would also love to perform all over Africa but I fear for my life. In most African countries homosexual people are being victimized on a daily basis.

When I was contesting to be Mr Lesbian Daveyton 2014 I was asked if I had a wish what would I wish for? My answer was peace and freedom, because peace brings calmness in human beings and homosexual people will have the freedom of expressing themselves without being discriminated or victimized. I want to see a lot of things change in my country and the world. To have gay family on a Colgate advertisement, be in a township community that accepts gay people, see a lot of churches accept homosexual people.

As an artist growing up in a township like Daveyton, which is full of life and LGBTI entertainment, I would like to see more townships making room for more LGBTI entertainment. Our lives should not be about us only being victimized, let us have fun and celebrate our homosexual lives.

Being in Norway has taught me a lot about life and the world. It makes me curious, I find myself asking questions about the influences our world and time posses. Norway is an hour behind from South Africa, during their winter because they have very short days. People in Norway are very fit and their shops have good quality and healthy food and they maintain an equal environment.

Their low temperature keeps their skin light and clean. I would love to visit Norway again and have more experiences and also because Norwegian people are very warm and welcoming. My favourite sports are swimming, cricket and my newest favourite is skiing. I tried it for the first time and “fell” in love with the snow. I feel Norway has changed the way I take care of myself. I find myself drinking tea, which is something I am not used to. I find myself having healthy habits, which is a good thing because it means a longer life for me. I even have a favourite tea, called sweet mint, a mixture of peppermint, ginger, black tea and schisandra. I also found new love with wholesome bread with some paste we discovered, (how nice) I am definitely enjoying my stay in Oslo. I am not very keen on food when its hot, my mum always tells me she loves and is proud of me, but would be happier if eat my food hot, I burst with laughter and tell her I’m going to eat and she shouldn’t stress. Wintertime is when you will see me eat because comfort food makes me happy and when its cold your body needs heat, so eating cooked food keeps you warm. I think its safe to say I am winter’s biggest fan. When its cold your body needs heat so eating cooked food keeps you warm. In time I will have more things to like after exploring places, food and everything and anything.

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2015 Feb. 22: Paving a new way forward