Download PDFSylvester M. Ralengau (27) was born in Lesotho, and raised in South Africa. He is the first of three-boys raised by a single mother.
Sylvester completed his matric at Teto High School. He grew with a passion for acting but that changed when he fell in love with modelling, poetry and writing short stories. He is a member of a couple of organisations and movements such as New Bronville, Diocese of Kroonstad Development and Donate a Dress Foundation which helps matric learners with dresses.
When 3 girls he grew up with got raped, it broke him and encouraged him to also share his story of abuse which he had kept a secret for 10 years. In New Bronville, they have programmes about peer education, which also address Gender Based Violence (GBV), drug abuse, sexual issues and teenage pregnancy. As a gay man activist, he received a lot of criticism. But seeing more gay men opening up, gave him courage.
He also believes that as an activist one needs to learn and expose themselves to new challenges to help themselves to develop. “If you are not angry, you are either a stone or you are too sick to be angry. You should be angry, use that anger, write about it, dance it, talk about it.
This article was submitted as part of the Imbila Yesu publication produced daily for the duration of the Winter School in 2022 (17-22 July 2022). It appeared in Edition No. 1, released on 21 July 2022.
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