I was a 16-year-old high school learner in 2008 when Afrophobic violence broke out in SA. It started in the township of Alexandra and rapidly spread to other parts of the Gauteng province.

Within days, it had spread to other provinces, and by the end, 62 people had been killed and many others injured. But while the injuries that have been quantified are those that were physical, there were many psychological injuries that we do not speak about enough. One of those who were psychologically injured by that wave of violence was a young man named Daniel Phiri, my high school sweetheart...