My name is Jama Ngcobo. I was born and raised in the city of Durban-KwaZulu-Natal, in a township called Inanda. My childhood echoed the typical childhood of a kid e’lokishini (township) in the early 2000s. I had always been described as a quiet and shy person growing up and often found myself getting lost in my imagination.
I believe that my mind carried more personality than it let out, the stories it created always held a fascination for me. Each story I created, provided me with a character that I would portray. I remember finding myself getting carried away in an attempt to bring these characters to life when no one was watching. But to me at that time, these stories were nothing short of fantasies inspired by my experiences.
During my secondary school years my imagination took an unpleasant detour. It was around two years after I completed my secondary education that I found my mental state in what I can describe as the pit of hell. It was during this time that I found myself adopting the process of putting pen to paper, using journaling as a tool to capture all that my mind was communicating to me. This led me to the pursuit of writing and storytelling, and as someone who believes in purpose and impact, my role as a writer on this journal serves to share some of my experiences and perspectives on various topics through writing and foster a community with those who resonate.