There are people who will always be remembered. Miriam Makeba is one. Hermanus FynArts presented Sima Mashazi’s interpretation of her Miriam Makeba story at the Overstrand’s Municipal Auditorium. I was there to soak in the Pata Pata vibe and recalled my own Miriam Makeba story.

In 2004 I met a confident but approachable Makeba in Cape Town at Lisel Erasmus Kritzinger’s book launch of Inspirational Women at Work. The book shared the stories of inspirational women such as Miriam Makeba, Pam Golding and Mamphela Ramphele in one bundle of encouragement. Miriam was kind enough to sign my book on the page where she was quoted “One should love what one does to be able to do it to your best ability. You cannot be a sometime singer. You have got to be a full-time singer or a full-time businessperson”.

The book means a lot to me but the opportunity to meet these wonderful women will be a memory that will always nudge me on to live up to their achievement.