IT WAS 12.30pm on a Monday in June last year when Kaya FM presenter Nonn Botha received a call that her baby boy had died.
Botha, who was working at Radio Pick n Pay in Eastgate Shopping Mall in Johannesburg then, rushed to her home in Fordsburg.
Her four-month-old toddler Keoagile apparently choked to death after being fed milk.
Fifteen months later, Botha, who hosts the Late Night with Nonn Botha show from Mondays to Thursdays (10pm to 1am) on Kaya FM, says she is still trying to heal.
Botha decided to write down her experiences and plans to release two books in January next year, opening up about her tragedy and her journey of grief .
The first book, titled Reinvesting in My Will to Live Again, captures the pain she went through, while her second book Radio Reflections talks about her radio career.
Botha, who joined radio in 2004, has been writing the second book for the past three years.
She says for two weeks after losing her son, her life took on the unbelievable character of a bad movie.
When she returned to work, her bosses forced her to go for counselling.
"I did counselling for three days and realised that the woman did not understand what I was going through."
The 35-year-old found solace when a fan inboxed her on Facebook and shared her experience of child loss.
The "guardian angel" encouraged Botha to write about her pain. In the book she has written several letters to deal with her pain.
"The first letter I wrote was addressed to God. I was telling Him to baby-sit my boy. The second one was dedicated to my son," she said.
"We have been speaking for over a year with this woman and it helped me a lot. After six months, my mother went through my journal and said this is a book."
In Radio Reflections she explains what made her fall in love with radio and gives kudos to local deejays that she looks up to.
"I know others might not like it, but I have raised the issue that other people use radio to talk about themselves and their gigs. I think we need to go back to the basics of radio. It is not about a presenter but the listener."
She also tackles the way radio stations recruit people from television who struggle because they do not know how radio operates.
Botha says she finds balancing motherhood and her night slot easy because of the support she has.
She says her parents have made it easy to raise her daughter, 9, and son, 17. Botha says since the loss of Keoagile she wants to be there for her children.
"I am learning to bake because my daughter wants that. I also have to listen to hip-hop for my son's sake."
Botha is also working on a compilation album.
The idea was inspired by the initiative she started last year where local artists like Swazi Dlamini, Afrotraction, Brenda Mntambo, Kabomo Vilakazi, among others, performed live on her show on Thursdays.
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
DJ pens her journey to healing
IT WAS 12.30pm on a Monday in June last year when Kaya FM presenter Nonn Botha received a call that her baby boy had died.
Botha, who was working at Radio Pick n Pay in Eastgate Shopping Mall in Johannesburg then, rushed to her home in Fordsburg.
Her four-month-old toddler Keoagile apparently choked to death after being fed milk.
Fifteen months later, Botha, who hosts the Late Night with Nonn Botha show from Mondays to Thursdays (10pm to 1am) on Kaya FM, says she is still trying to heal.
Botha decided to write down her experiences and plans to release two books in January next year, opening up about her tragedy and her journey of grief .
The first book, titled Reinvesting in My Will to Live Again, captures the pain she went through, while her second book Radio Reflections talks about her radio career.
Botha, who joined radio in 2004, has been writing the second book for the past three years.
She says for two weeks after losing her son, her life took on the unbelievable character of a bad movie.
When she returned to work, her bosses forced her to go for counselling.
"I did counselling for three days and realised that the woman did not understand what I was going through."
The 35-year-old found solace when a fan inboxed her on Facebook and shared her experience of child loss.
The "guardian angel" encouraged Botha to write about her pain. In the book she has written several letters to deal with her pain.
"The first letter I wrote was addressed to God. I was telling Him to baby-sit my boy. The second one was dedicated to my son," she said.
"We have been speaking for over a year with this woman and it helped me a lot. After six months, my mother went through my journal and said this is a book."
In Radio Reflections she explains what made her fall in love with radio and gives kudos to local deejays that she looks up to.
"I know others might not like it, but I have raised the issue that other people use radio to talk about themselves and their gigs. I think we need to go back to the basics of radio. It is not about a presenter but the listener."
She also tackles the way radio stations recruit people from television who struggle because they do not know how radio operates.
Botha says she finds balancing motherhood and her night slot easy because of the support she has.
She says her parents have made it easy to raise her daughter, 9, and son, 17. Botha says since the loss of Keoagile she wants to be there for her children.
"I am learning to bake because my daughter wants that. I also have to listen to hip-hop for my son's sake."
Botha is also working on a compilation album.
The idea was inspired by the initiative she started last year where local artists like Swazi Dlamini, Afrotraction, Brenda Mntambo, Kabomo Vilakazi, among others, performed live on her show on Thursdays.
For more stories like this one, be sure to buy the Sowetan newspaper from Mondays to Fridays
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