Parcel Baby: Aliases, Apartheid, Neurosurgery is a book that stems from a remarkable life story and a persistent desire to share it. My connection to this project began a few years ago when I first met Shafik and Gabby at the Vice-Chancellor’s residence at the University of Cape Town. During our initial conversation, Shafik shared a great deal about himself, including details of his origin in India and his career as a neurosurgeon. He also spoke about his late daughter, Rosanne, mentioning that she would have been a year older than me. This touching statement naturally led to further conversation and it was during this first meeting that Shafik mentioned he was writing a book about his life. True to his word, he emailed me the manuscript the very next day. I printed it out and I still have that original copy. In that early draft, he mentioned his age as “66 going on 67”.
Over the years, Shafik worked with two different editors to bring his book to fruition. The first editor struggled with the complexities of the family tree. With Shafik’s father having had four wives and sixteen children, and his mother having one child from a previous marriage and then eight with his father, it was a big family to keep track of. Two of his sisters were named Fatima and cousins became brothers-in-law. Understandably, the first editor found it challenging to navigate these connections and stepped away from the project after a few meetings. The second editor made good progress researching the family history through archival records but the project eventually stalled and remained in limbo for several years.
Then, in August 2023, Shafik mentioned that he wanted to revive the book and was determined to finish it. Knowing how much this project meant to him, I volunteered to help. While I’m not a professional editor (a fact that has been pointed out to me!), my experience with academic writing gave me faith that it could be done. More importantly, I was captivated by Shafik’s story and eager to help him share it.
We began the project and I requested all the existing content to be sent to me. Unfortunately, these were ancient Word files, riddled with formatting issues and unreadable characters. The project quickly transformed from editing to a full-scale rescue mission. But I was committed to seeing the book through to completion and we set a launch deadline to keep us focused. Cassiem (under the alias Shafik Ahmed) arrived in South Africa on 30 October 1950 so we set our book launch to take place on 30 October 2024 (fourteen months away), on the day that marked the 74th anniversary of Shafik’s arrival.
As some of you know, Shafik experienced a stroke in August 2024 and spent nearly two weeks in the hospital and rehab. We were still working on several sections of the book. I had questions and Shafik needed to fill in gaps, add details and verify facts. The book wasn’t quite press-ready and our deadline was fast approaching. We briefly considered postponing the launch to a year later, to coincide with the 75th anniversary of his arrival, but I felt the urgency to proceed given Shafik’s fragile health! Just in case… This meant we had to keep pushing forward, even while he was in the hospital. He dictated the final bits of this book from his hospital bed, his secretaries transcribed it and Gabby helped with proofreading.
As editor and publisher, I also had to be a critic of the content and there were some short, sharp responses at times but our shared goal was always to get this book finished and we did… against the odds. After more than 10 years in the pipeline, Parcel Baby was launched on time at a celebratory event attended by 200 family, friends and colleagues; and 200 copies from our first print run sold out instantly!
Dr Ronica Ramsout (PhD Chemistry, University of Cape Town, 2012) embarked on a career in the South African higher education sector where her dedication to streamlining systems and processes quickly became apparent. This focus led her to collaborate extensively with IT departments, becoming increasingly involved in technology-driven solutions. After six years of bridging the gap between academia and IT capabilities, Ronica transitioned to a dedicated IT role. To solidify this shift in career and deepen her expertise, she completed a BCom Honours degree in Information Systems in 2022, also from the University of Cape Town.
Ronica embraces the ever-evolving nature of technology. Committed to a sense of responsibility, she works on projects that contribute to environmental sustainability. Outside of her professional life, Ronica enjoys the quiet focus of editing manuscripts.
Parcel Baby 