My Brother Themba

Michele van Rensburg was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa to parents of English and Afrikaans heritage. She developed a strong social conscience growing up during apartheid and undertaking years of voluntary work in disadvantaged communities. In her late 30s, she moved to the United Kingdom with her English husband and two young sons. Here she developed her social conscience further by studying through the Open University, gained an honours degree and became a social worker. She worked for 10 years as a local authority child protection social worker. This was followed by 10 years as a children's guardian in the Family Court system, simultaneously working 5 years as an associate lecturer at the Open University, tutoring and mentoring the next generation of social workers. The human stories gathered throughout her life in South Africa, as well as her work with vulnerable children and families in the United Kingdom, led to many characters and 'stories' being locked inside her mind. After taking early retirement, she began to return to these stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things and people in high positions with feet of clay. This inspired her to share these tales with you. Michele van Rensburg is married and lives in North Yorkshire, England. She has two adults sons. She is an avid reader, keen rugby and cricket fan, enjoys the countryside wherever she is, as well as visiting her holiday home in central France every summer. She is a very proud grandmother and hopes to share her love of the countryside, literature and sport with her grandchildren.