These are 25 experiences that most South African 90s babies would resonate with:
Ladies, your mom always dressed you in a pretty ruffle dress when attending church or special events
And, you entered beauty pageants
Ladies, you will agree that the summer school tunics that we wore as part of our school uniform were revolting
Hairstyles in school usually consisted of gelled, spiky hair for boys, and relaxed hair, braids and a requirement for hair to be tied back for girls
The school principal’s day was never complete without him or her yelling at some poor school kid, and they always looked stressed
Having silkworms or a hamster was quite a trend in primary school
The biggest myth to emerge from school kids was the half-man, half-woman, terrible looking ghost named Pinkie Pinke, who only lived in the girls’ toilets and harassed girls who didn’t go in groups when wanting to use the toilet
South African schools had an in-house food store called a tuckshop
As soon as the bell rang signifying the first lunch break of the day, hordes of school kids would race to the tuckshop to buy some lunch and snacks
You loved Chappies bubblegum, especially the banana, bubblegum and watermelon flavours
The pink Chappies bubblegum sucked because the sugar dissipated quickly and it would become rock-hard after a while
The ‘did you know’ information on the Chappies bubblegum wrapper was the 90s version of Google search
If you lived in Johannesburg, Ghandi Square on a Friday afternoon after school was the place to be. High school kids would congregate there, hang out, drink, smoke and meet new people
Street bashes were a norm, especially in the townships. These were big parties which were hosted from Saturday night through to Sunday morning
You and your friends would always go to parties in a pimped out Volkswagen Caravelle, popularly known as the ‘cara cara’
A ‘cara cara’ experience was never complete without kwaito music blaring through the speakers and party revelers whistling and screaming ‘ayo yo!’ while leaning out the window
You had the time of your life with your friends at the last two days of the Rand Easter Show at music concerts hosted by Metro FM and YFM
You were always upset when your parents disallowed you from going out with your older cousins
Weekend lunch consisted of a kota or bunnychow, or a shared meal with friends consisting of sausages called ‘russians’, fried chips and a 2 litre bottle of Coke. The ‘7-colour’ lunch was always eaten on Sunday afternoon. It consisted of chicken, beef, rice, pumpkin, spinach, beetroot, coleslaw and potato salad
Growing up as a girl, you had a Barbie Doll. Having a doll house and Ken were quite the luxury toys
You played ‘kgati’ (a rope-jumping game), ‘diketo’ (a coordination game played with stones), ‘intonga’ (a stick fighting game) ‘kho-kho’ (a tag sport played by teams who try to avoid being touched by the opposing team members) or ‘mgusha’ (a game requiring one to jump over a rope created with old stockings) until sundown with other kids living on your street
You knew to be home before the streetlights came on, or else you would experience your mother’s wrath
It was compulsory for everyone to eat dinner together as this was family time
Bath time consisted of a bar of Sunlight soap (the olive green one), Dettol or Savlon (to pour into bath water for extra cleanliness) and an orange sack (for exfoliation)
If you were a naughty kid, not a day went by without you getting a spanking. Sometimes, your mom, grandma or aunty made you pick a branch from a tree that they could use to spank you with.
Great childhood memories indeed 🙂
*images from The Root, Stupid Blue Planet, Khaya Dlanga, Mthokompofana, Fennwood Hills, Crofton House, Biotope Journal, FatCake City and WordPress.
