UZZI - I got injured during an attempted robbery – some guy was trying to rob me. I had been
drinking so I think he thought he could take a chance on me. He came at me with a gun. He
first hit me with the butt of the gun on my forehead and tore the area above my right eye,
as I staggered backwards. He then pumped a bullet straight into my chest. He ran away without
even taking anything. That day, I thought I was going to die.
BEAUTY - One day I came home to find her ironing and her daughter sitting on the floor weeping, I once
more chastised her over her treatment of the child. Without skipping a beat, she lifted the
hot iron she was using and threw it at me. It landed on my back and scalded my skin, just
below my right shoulder blade. It left a mark visible to this day.
MR LIPS - A couple of minutes later, that same guy who knocked over our booze summoned me to come to the door. As I stepped out the house onto the patio, he lurched at me with a knife cutting me from the top lip through the bottom one to the end of my chin. It caught me off guard. I did
not truly realise how hurt I was so I ran after him and he disappeared into the shacks. Later my friends took me to the hospital.
BAHLEZI - My brother and I have always had some simmering tension, I guess you could call it sibling
rivalry. Yet each time he visits me here in my house with my girlfriend I have always welcomed
him with open arms. As usual when he came this one particular time, I prepared some rice
and meat. An argument started over my preparation methods and I admonished him for cooking
too much meat (which my family and I would need to live off for the week). He got angry
and grabbed one of the knives from its holder on the kitchen counter-top. I thought he was
kidding but he came lunging for me. He first stabbed me in the chest, I turned and he stabbed
me a second time in the back. A third strike was aiming for me chest again – I raised my left
arm to shield myself and the knife penetrated my forearm just above the inside of my wrist,
piercing through me and emerging on the other side. I pulled the blade out and ran out of the
house into a nearby house asking for help.
PRECIOUS - I do not know a me before the scar as I have always had it. I was burned over a brazier while
in the care of my young Uncle. It is said I fell off a high-chair onto the brazier and some
coal found its way into my hoodie – scalding my left-side and leaving me marked for life.
SHAHIR - When I was 16 yrs old I discovered I had a tumor in my left forearm. It had previously been
misdiagnosed as a sports injury but after 2 yrs of pain in the arm I was pretty relieved to know
what was causing my distress. But discovery, was only the beginning.
The surgery was difficult resulting in the two major scars because the doctor could not find the
tumor. After the surgery we found out it was malignant and I started chemotherapy and
radiotherapy shortly afterwards.
MADIBA LINE - I got into a fight at a shebeen –and I don’t even remember what we were fighting over. All I
remember is a guy coming at me with the edge of a broken bottle. He cut me across the head
and I bled so much I thought I was going to die. But now the scar looks nice and many people
say I have ‘Madiba’s line’ it looks like how Madiba used to part his hair when he was younger.
So now I have stature and I brag about my scar.
