Lisa Johnston
Guest Author
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/ 28 November 2005

Ratting out TB

If the international experts gathered at the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases Symposium on Tuberculosis in Tanzania last month thought they could smell a rat, they weren’t far off the mark. Perched at the back of the conference centre was a gargantuan beast munching contentedly on a bit of blackened banana.

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/ 20 May 2005

Charcoal revolution

You have to wait your turn if you want to speak to Kudzanai Chiurai these days. When I arrive at the Obert Contemporary at Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, he is being interviewed by the SABC. Next up is Reuters, who want to film him for CNN, but the crew is still waiting at the South African/Zimbabwean border for the release of the alleged mercenaries, so I am slotted in a bit earlier.

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/ 20 April 2005

The wild west goes north-east

Reverend JJ Scholtz is creating an Oklahoma utopia in Mpumalanga’s agricultural heartland of Ermelo and plans to churn out gangly-legged cowboys and cowgirls armed with lassoes, chaps and the Bible. ‘If you look at what makes the United States the great nation it is today, it all goes back to the grass-roots principles of the […]

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/ 11 March 2005

Remembering REM

REM rocked Jo’burg on Thursday night and, as usual, didn’t disappoint. In terms of value for money, patrons certainly got what they paid for — the hits just went on and on and on, with the lighting system adding real gloss to the presentation. Lisa Johnston was there.

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/ 14 September 2004

Seeding self-worth

A group of teenage boys sit in a circle at a juvenile remand centre calling out words that describe their ideas about what violence is and is not. Interestingly, but not necessarily surprisingly, the words "family" and "marriage" appear in both columns. This exercise forms part of a "hip" training programme that is giving youngsters who have taken a wrong turn the opportunity to get their lives back on track.

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/ 6 August 1999

Be a material girl

Women may be making their mark in the workplace, but they still have a lot to learn when it comes to money and investing, writes Donna Block There’s no doubt about it – women are making their mark in the bastions that were once only open to the male of the species. They have finally […]