‘How to Make a Cyborg’ is a coming-of-age epistolary short story following the journey of a chronically ill teenage semi-cyborg’s (Ero) final year in high school. After losing both parents at 13, she is enrolled into the prestigious Ero high school called Valley, which facilitates the beginning of her transition to become a full cyborg. The story is a futuristic take on the emotional toll of cultural assimilation. Like the story’s protagonist, many South African citizens of colour have had to assimilate for economic advancement. The loss of one’s tongue has become the loss of one’s flesh. Joburg is still the golden nugget atop a grossly unequal society, and the line between home and away becomes the blur between man and machine.