Like A Phoenix, She Continues To Rise

From the outside looking in, it’s easy to think that as a Mandela, life for Zoleka comes on a silver platter. But you couldn’t be more wrong; hers is a story of falling from grace, going through the most unimaginable pain, and learning to forgive yourself

- Thina Mthembu

With her due date fast approaching, the beautiful woman gracing our cover this month is the resolute Zoleka Mandela. At the age of thirty-eight, this mother, wife, activist, and breast cancer survivor travels around the world campaigning for road safety, a project she holds close to her heart as a mother who lost her daughter tragically to the hands of a drunk driver. Her story on this issue of Mamas & Papas magazine talks of a journey filled with bumps and curves, but with the best results at the end in the form of a miracle baby girl.

Our cover-mom currently expecting her fifth child says, she and her husband Thierry Bashala found out she was expecting while they were mourning her late grandmother, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, and while she had just survived her second diagnosis with breast cancer. So though happy with the pending arrival, the news was received with a bit of trepidation. What did this mean for her and baby’s life? Were they safe? What would be the point of being pregnant, only to not be there after delivering? These were questions that she was faced with, but knowing that her grandmother, daughter and God were looking over her, surely something good would come out of all of this. So with the autumn leaves setting in, we sat down to talk about the life of an expectant mother who has seen and survived the trials of life.

WE LAST SPOKE TO YOU FOUR YEARS AGO WHEN YOU WERE EXPECTING A LITTLE ONE, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?

I fell pregnant again! On the real side though, so much has happened. In 2016 I was diagnosed with breast cancer again. I underwent 30 radiation sessions. I finally got my degree in psychology after 17 years. My book