This is a story of a girl named Ntombikayise, a girl fond of her father. She came to Joburg to pursue a career in journalism with the support and encouragement of her father, who ensures that through his hard earned money, Ntombikayise studies and accommodation is paid for. He looks after her well being in general and the dream of being a journalist comes true. However in her second year of study, she receives the tragic news of her father’s passing, which changes everything. With her father gone, her mother finds it challenging to support her dream and orders Ntombikayise to come back home. Dealing with the loss of a father and now having to drop out of tertiary, Ntombikayise pursues the all so “glamorous” entertainment industry with the hope that it will be a quick solution to her fading dream. Ntombikayise pursues the all so “glamorous” entertainment industry with the hope that it will be a quick solution to her fading dream. An open wound and a loud roar of a father, puts her in a vulnerable state. Dancing… Yeah dancing seems to be a healing and safe space, so she thought, however she becomes a centre of attraction to men, where dating is not for finding love but every man is seen as an opportunity to step closer to a dream. Choose, choice, chose… Which one is it? To go back home to mommy dearest and gaze at her father’s grave while a second death is happening within her, or to become a rebellious child and pursue a dream, any dream, she guessed, as long as it’s taking her far from dealing with the internal turmoil. The raging war, not of an absent father, but getting over a present Father that was snatched by death. “Be entertaining,” they said. Be loud, be fun, be known, be great, be all that seems possible. The truth is I’m Ntombikayise and I’m stranded.
