The Helper's Son

The Helper's Son is a story of race, culture and identity. Jongikhaya, the child of a domestic worker, was born black but raised white by his mother's employers. Growing up in apartheid South Africa, Jongikhaya reveled in his shifting consciousness: often fluctuating between the comfort of a well-manicured lawn in an opulent suburb in Cape Town, to the fast and furious life in Gugulethu's dusty streets. Over the years, his blackness became more accentuated, causing his two worlds to collide. Disenchanted, Jongikahya veered on a dangerous path of resentments and despondency, turning against everyone that loved him. A tragic family killing plunged him into an abyss of despair. In his quest to find meaning, Jongikhaya embarked on a sojourn across the seas, to a foreign land. Never one for good omens, a combination of forfeited scholarship, a tangled love affair and a strange encounter on a bus, would see him return home to confront his demons.