A Father, A Stranger? Mzansi’s Memoirs of Fatherhood

Cool Dads Foundation, founded by Bongani Luvalo, encourages young fathers to be emotionally and physically available in their children’s lives. It also advances the development of young men to ensure that they respond positively to their responsibilities as fathers and, in turn, eradicate the pervasive pattern of absent fatherhood.

Cool Dads foundation requested different black fathers from diverse backgrounds (social status, interest, tribe, education and family setup) to give an account of how they grew up, their relationship with their fathers and its influence on their fatherhood. Two common factors joined these men; they were boys at one stage, and now they are fathers to their children, trying to either rewrite history or write a better story about fatherhood.

These memoirs offer society an opportunity to understand the trajectory of fatherhood from a male perspective.