Touch My Blood - The Early Years (Paperback)

As a teenager, Fred Khumalo greeted his friends with a handshake and the words "touch my blood". It implied friendship and trust. The saying became his name. More than that, it became the way he viewed the world. Everything touched Fred Khumalo. Twice he was bewitched. Twice his father - the "country bumpkin" - took him to inyangas to have the "demons" banished. Twice his mother - the "city girl" - took him to a doctor to have the "fevers" cured. He smoked dagga with conmen and criminals, he pickpocketed "corpses" on the Friday night trains and worked as a gardener in the larney suburbs. He studied journalism and shacked up with whiteys in a commune, for a while the only darkie in a crazy swirl of booze, drugs and sex. And then the bloody fighting that tore apart KwaZulu/Natal in the 1980s touched his life and sucked him into a place of horror and violence that threatened to destroy him. When a friend died in his arms with the worlds "They really got me, Touch my blood. They really got me", Khumalo realised that if he was to outlive the madness, he had to run. From the journalist and Sunday Times columnist comes a startlingly honest, humorous and poignant autobiography about growing up in a time of laughter and heartache.

General

Imprint:	Umuzi
Country of origin:	South Africa
Release date:	March 2006
Authors:	Fred Khumalo
Editors:	Annari van der Merwe
Dimensions:	222 x 148 x 18mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	196
ISBN-13:	978-1-4152-0004-9
Categories:	Books
LSN:	1-4152-0004-1
Barcode:	9781415200049

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Review This Product

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 | Review by: Zakiyya I.

First of all Fred Khumalo rocks as a writer. His writing is engaging ,easily readable and highly entertaining. He manages to bring alive his experiences - sometimes too alive - uncomfortably so. Second of all, this is an important book to for all South Africans to read. It is a reminder that some of our predecessors suffered terribly at the hands of our other predecessor, and we need to be reminded of this, because the effects of our history continue to haunt us and will do so in the near future. It is also important to be reminded of and understand this past of ours so that we can make sure that we don't allow our country to go down that route again. Thirdly, this book is about courage and perseverance, about dreaming and making dreams happen. And finally, it's a book about hope. It provides the kind of encouragement to individuals that are facing adversity, and it provides hope for a nation that has come so far from those dark days. Recommended for teenagers and adults.

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