We did a creative writing workshop in Clanwilliam. The students were asked to think of a memory for a story. They had to start their story with “I remember” and write until the memory was free. This is what they shared.
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Ennerenzia Kotze
I remember when I met my best friend. It was a sunny day in the school holidays when she walked past me. I was sitting there and she came to me and said, “Hi, my name is Gretchen. I stay in Vredendal and I don’t have friends here. Would you be my friend?” And then she gave me a big hug and made a few jokes with my cousins. I can talk to her about everything and she will be there whenever. She talks to me about her problems and I talk to her about mine. If she asked me of anything I would do it.
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Dannilene Jacobs
I remember that one weekend we went to Veldrift. It was our whole grade 6 class or I think it was all of us. It was a long trip but we arrived safely. When we got there Righarta threw Johanna Strauss’s rugby ball into the water so he swam after it. It was very cold that day but unfortunately he did not get the ball. We walked up to the mountains and the other Maritz threw the other Johan with a snow ball in his face. On that weekend we all became very close with each other. Best weekend ever!
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Lletanieel Maarman
I remember that day that Juan Lee come to me and asked me to play with my drums. I taught him a lot of skills and few weeks later he was better than me. I took the bass guitar from my dad and we started a band. And now we’re trying to do a cool thing in Clanwilliam and we want to write songs to sell.
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Stevens Venchenso
I remember that day when I met a friend. I said that he must wait for me under a tree where we would meet, and then buy for us some sweets to eat. When she looked into my eyes and kissed me, I knew from that moment that she was my lady and she loved me. One day a friend from here wanted to hit her then I came and beat the boy up.
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Leslene Mouton
I remember the first person who had extreme hair. It was when she came to visit that day and I saw her. She was with her brother at the shop and I asked her, “Kayrin what happened to your long black hair and where is the half of it?” I looked at her with shocked eyes at her amazing hair. It looked awesome. It was spikey and the other half was gone and she had a star drawn on her head, and it was very shiny.
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Grant Smit
I remember the first time I rode a horse, I was 9 years old. We were at my grandfather’s place in Plettenbargbaai, my father, mother, brother and I. My grandfather had about fifty to seventy horses and he told me and my brother to pick our own horses to ride. I chose a horse named Whisky while my brother chose King.
I had already sat on my horse and my grandfather was helping my brother to get on his horse, when suddenly a snake appeared. It was big and had black and red stripes all over it. The horse was afraid and it began to run and run very fast.
It was a very sunny day and I was afraid the horse might run away with me, so I took the ropes and I pulled them hard and turned around. As I rode him back to my grandfather, I felt the air going through my clothes. And from that day I started riding horses almost every day, and fed him good so that he can be healthy and fast.
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I remember that day we were playing rugby against Vredendal then I threw my own or the first 10 minutes then my coach was happy when he heard that I was one of the best players of that on I played wearing the same number all the time.
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I remember the day when I scored my first goal. My friends thought that I would never score a goal but I kept on practicing. One day my team and I played in Graafwater and I told my coach to put me on striker position in the last minute. I scored a goal and from that day on I played no. 7 striker!
When I scored the goal it felt so good; it felt as if it was my thousandth goal when I touched that ball. I remember looking up in the sun and hearing some of my friends even applauding for me, as I drank my drink and I pictured memories of my goal.
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Raquel Koeberg
I remember my first kiss, I was 9 years old. The weather was cold and I was wearing my jeans with my favourite top and my All-Stars. My lips were red with lip-gloss. My Dad saw me with a boy named Danwill. He was okay with it but he said only for a month. I think my first kiss was a lovely and good moment. It was okay for me; it was good. I liked it so much!
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I remember the day I met Dannillene. It was a Saturday and a lovely, summery evening. She was wearing a black and white dress with pumps. And I was wearing my best shorts with my crop top and pumps. I didn’t know her then but I didn’t like her. To be honest I didn’t know why I didn’t like her, but that Saturday evening we were sitting at the corner my friends and I drinking cool drink. I saw her at the shop and I thought maybe I should go and ask for her name. I did and we talked and became best friends.
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I remember the day I started playing drums. It was a sunny day and the sun was shining. I was scared, there were some people watching and I was totally nervous. I started playing and everyone else was starting to jam to it. I could hear my family cheering out my name from the audience. It was amazing! I played and I felt proud. I’m sure I had beautiful dreams that night and it felt like dom dom doem dam bang dang doem. I was very happy.
