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These two sisters from Belhar have found a way to honour and promote both their coloured culture and the love for their sick mom in one go.

They founded Hello Coloured Life, an online store producing merchandise featuring their mom’s favourite “sêgoedjies” on mugs, T-shirts and lanyards.

Sisters Deidré Mackenna and Delmary Delport say their mom Cecelia, 63, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2015 and to keep her memories alive, they decided to start their company.

Deidré, 34, says: “This disease has stolen many of my mom’s memories, so this sparked the concept of remembrance, remembering a culture beyond its oral history, giving our culture something tangible, and giving our mom something tangible to remember us and herself.

“Hello Coloured Life started as a blog, a space where we could write, breathe and just be.”

With February also being Gay Pride Month, the sisters have partnered with Atlantis group Haus of Safire, founded by five friends who have created a safe haven for the LGBT community in their area.

The new range is called Jirre Gayle, says Deidré, adding that the focus is “to celebrate Gayle language and its history rooted in the narrative of the Cape coloured homosexual male”.

They will be running a digital campaign shot and edited by Deidré, who is the creative director and designer, which will have live interviews, video stories and “a space to teach the Ursula’s about the tea… all while we launch with pride”.

Some of the slogans on the merch read: “Jou ma se Pride”, “LGBT QWAAI+ Inclusivity issie move”, and “Jirre Gayle, let me translate for you” and “Transphobia is mos lankal Olga”.

For more information, contact Deirdre via WhatsApp on 073 217 9702 or message Hello Coloured Life on social media.

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