Sdudla Chronicles

Sdudla Chronicles Models

Read all about them and their experiences and why they are beautiful confident women they are...

Our imperfect imperfections are a part of every single one of us, and they help tell our story.

And these are our stories...

Mabontle Portia Mphosi

Plus size activist, Founder of Sdudla Chronicles

Women need to understand that their bodies are MAGIC.I am simply here to shape a world were a woman doesn’t need to defend her right to be comfortable in her own skin.

Sally Mashilwane

one year ago I was a self-loathing sizeist. Why wouldn’t I be, when we live in a society where fat shaming is a perfectly normal thing? Women are constantly bombarded with the message – from the media, celebrity culture, the fashion industry, and advertising – that if we don’t conform to society’s image of what the “right body” is, that we are inferior; that we won’t achieve anything in our lives or find anybody to love us. I know all too well how it feels to look in the mirror and feel suffocated at the thought that my body is wrong, ugly and unhealthy. I was a serial dieter. You name the diet and I’ve done it. The potato diet was as unpleasant as it sounds.

Then one day something changed.

Knowing that I had to buy swimwear for my up-coming holiday I searched in the term “plus size swimwear” and a Facebook page came up in the search. It was from SDUDLA CHRONICLES, and it described the life and style of a beautiful girl She was a 16/18 – my size. It was hours before I finished reading, and when I closed the page, my anxiety felt a little less. MABONTLE Sdudla Chronicles founder had a profound impression on me; from there, I also stumbled upon many other body-positive pages I was so surprised, there were people out there that lived wonderful lives, that went swimming and to the beach and wore fashionable clothes. They weren’t thin but they were happy, and for me that was life-changing. It was then that I decided the diets had to go. If I was going to lose weight it couldn’t be from such a negative place.

Later, I went on to post my campaign picture from Sdudla Chronicles that I was so worried about. I was astonished by the responses from women saying they felt inspired that they too could feel comfortable in swimwear/bodysuit being plus-size.

Lerato Ruele

My name is Lerato, popularly known as Miss Black (consider myself a black diamond).

I’ve personally never struggled with hate issues, I mean the hate was there, people hated me for not having issues with my weight but it never affected me. Since birth i was never tiny, so it didn't make sense for me to NEED to be tiny. People would offer me diet recipes as if i asked. People confuse skinny with healthy, and that stigma I’m very active, but also big. I accepted a long time that I’d never be as skinny as "prescribed" and wouldn’t allow that kind of negativity to overcome me. Self-love is important, my wish is that people grow up giving themselves the same love they give to their significant others. We can’t allow our happiness to exist from the approval of others.

Dineo Malema

Growing up as a plus size girl during my childhood has never given me any
joy in life. I remember when I was in primary school I was always
discriminated of how I look, how fat I was and other kids calling me
with different names, and from there I knew that I was different from
other kids.

A day that I will never forget was when I was in grade 7, when we were
going to a ball dancing for a farewell party as everyone was going to
different schools... I was wearing my blue beautiful dress and all the
girls where queued on one side and the guys on the other side, so the
boys had to choose their date for the dance and unfortunately I was
called the big girl and they were all laughing at me and I was so sad
and I cried, and I was the last one be picked.

Even though I had a great personality it never mattered all that
mattered was that I was “fat”. As I grew up it got better with time,
each time I got the threat and being told of my weight I learned to
accept the way I am. all the negativity I got from people inspired me
to be a better person and be myself. I have a perfect body that people
are judging me for and they don’t have this body because it suits me
only.

Every day when I walk out of my house I’m proud of myself. The level
of my confidence is on steroids. Like I love my body, to all the
ladies out there self-acceptance is the key to loving your body.
Follow Sdudla Chronicles on social media and trust me your confidence
will be built right away.

Mpheletso Moopeloa

This is a story of a woman that has discovered her true self and capabilities both socially and in her career only through confidence and self love...and the world responded with a smile.

I used to be so self-critical of how I look and questioned if I belonged at certain places, and the most famous statement that still breaks our masses is "what will people say".

I'm not saying it was easy but I broke the shell and I found myself...I accepted, loved and embraced

The thick woman that I am and only then I realized that society never criticized me I did, I was trying to be like the next person when I was meant to be like me.

Today I spend no time trying to fix what is not broken but living my life the best way I possibly can.

With this campaign I wish for women in any form or size to love the creatures they were created to be and watch the world smile back.

Khothatso Mafatle

I’ll have to be honest, I haven’t always been “okay” with my body. For years, being plus size has been a shameful and embarrassing thing for me. We are taught over and over again to hate our bodies and try by all means to lose weight just so society can accept us. I struggled to embrace my stretch marks, my cellulite, my wobbly arms and my thighs (and my VBO lol!), but instead hid them for years.

My journey to finally being confident in my skin and loving and accepting my body was not an overnight thing. It took a lot of body-image chats with other plus size women, following thousands of plus size blogs (and lots of shopping of course lol) to get to where I am. One of the hardest things to do in a society that continually dictates what the perfect body shape and weight is, is to love yourself just the way you are.

I realised that there are a lot of other plus size women who feel just the same as I do, who struggle to find their place in society, who find it easier to be invisible than voice out their opinions about body-shaming. Sharing my body-image frustrations with other plus size women definitely helped! No matter where we come from and what we do, we all have “big gurl” issues and who better to understand that than another big gurl!

It’s been a long journey of continuously loving myself, speaking out against body-shaming in my day-to-day life and pushing the boundaries set by society on what plus size women can wear/not wear. I am proud to be part of the #ThickThighsMatter campaign and hope that this will touch may plus size girls and women and help them to break out of their shells and start loving their beautiful bodies, unapologetically!

Gugulethu mhlongo

I have always been bigger than my peers grew up surrounded by thick strong proud black women I never learnt to hate myself or ever made to feel different. I know for a fact that support from family makes all the difference in the world, what you read, watch and listen too can make or break you. I’ve always had great relationships be it with my peers family or even food, was never bullied but always had a love hate relationship with clothes and that was it.

Finding clothes that fit well was and still is a struggle, I had to shop in the women's department when I wanted to be in the teenage department, had to wear skirts when in fact I wanted to fit in a pair of jeans or pants. I’m not going to lie and say I struggled in general because I was big, I grew up as big girl and that has never bothered me I've always been a chatter box and out there because family never made me different. ld like to encourage other women and say our storylines will and can never be the same you need to leave in this body.

If you not happy about it do something but just know beauty can never be defined by anyone but you. You see that body you live in it and have the rest of your life to do so, make the most of it enjoy it and forget about the demons that say otherwise. Plus size Bodies are bodies the is none different, do what you love, dance sing travel turn that light on and just do you Girl. #BigThighsMatter #BigThighsDontLie

Ntebaleng Irish Lebitsa

My journey to my body acceptance was a bit harsh but with family
around me I had it easy, it wasn't easy having people with
bad remarks like I asked to gain weight or planned it. I met
different people with different sizes that made it easy for me. But
I'd get remarks and mostly from old people and they made me feel so
uncomfortable around my friends.

I learned to love myself and I grew fond of fashion and I realised how you don't need to be slim to be
fashionable and stylish.I grew fond of my curves I learned to flaunt them. I love me I am fat and not swollen I'm healthy as ever and my weight doesn't restrict me in anything I do.

Being fat never stopped me from participating in sports activities or
other activities, I was flexible. lol yes and I'm still flexible. I'm content
with my flaws I wear whatever I want, I dress to feel comfortable not
to impress the next person. so yes call me Sdudla call me fatty I'm
cool with it that's me you don't have to brush it off by saying I'm
thick or plus size I'm all of those and all of the above I'm healthy
fat and magical.

When they tell you, you are not fat you are beautiful tell them
actually I am both...FAT AND BEAUTIFUL
Because girl you are amazing just the way you are.....

Make up: Blush Beauty Room

Photographer: Thabang

Isiqhlos: Tatu Fashion(Stall based in Midrand's Boulders Shopping center)

Bodysuits: Lee Bex

Accessories: Models own

Special thank you to all these beautiful ladies for making this campaign a success...

THICK THIGHS MATTER!!!

The media has always managed to play a huge role in how women perceive themselves. We have always been fed an image of how a perfect body should look like, Beauty has always been prescribed to us. The world has made it a point to make women who are less than a certain body weight or image feel less beautiful. But that’s ok because we should never ever seek validation from other people your value does not decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth always remember that. The world is never going to stop body shaming plus size people we just need to carry on loving ourselves regardless because the minute you find that love that you have been denying yourself for so many years trust me no amount of bullying or shaming will ever break of you.

This campaign is specifically set for every photo-shopped thigh gap dream sold to young girls by the media that hides how a real plus size body really looks like. Having a plus size body means you obviously have cellulite and stretch marks and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that our thighs are just as beautiful and majestic as the rest. Thigh gap for who?! Why should we feel pressured to maintain this thigh gap trend and summer body goals to please who really?! Thigh gaps are impossible to achieve if your body isn’t predisposition-ed for one.

where are plus size girls who don’t have a flat tummy, cellulite, stretch marks etc. Plus size suddenly became a standard again. When I started blogging and fully committing myself to being a plus size activist I realized the plus size world was being portrayed to put pressure on us all over again the plus size word is now portrayed as that if you have hips you better have a small waist and a flat tummy. If you have a small waist you better have a curvy bottom. Of course this all has to be balanced right? So you better have the thick thighs to go with it. Of course make sure there is no cellulite (how is that even possible haha) this is certainly the pressure plus size women feel. Reality is until we learn to love ourselves, the “only ifs” will continue forever. They are never ending. Goals are great, healthy ones of course, but loving who we are in the moment is so important. We are beautiful ladies; let’s live for our beautiful selves NOW!!

My goal is to break these unrealistic images that are portrayed of how a perfect body should look like. The message being sent to women is that they are not pretty or skinny enough. The media portray and compare happiness with being thin; therefore, some feel if they are not thin, then they are not happy. women hold unrealistic ideals of body shape and size, ideals that can be both physically and emotionally unhealthy. I want to help women find the kind of peace, freedom and power. That can only come from loving yourself as you are right now.

It’s time to not only look in the mirrors at ourselves and see our beauty, it’s time to start cheering other women on to see how absolutely amazing and beautiful they are. YOU, yes YOU, are beautiful just the way that you are. You are stronger than you realize, you are capable of more than you can imagine and you are worthy of the fullest life possible! The only catch is that you need to see this in yourself to start attaining all that is for you.

We are prefect just the way that we are! It’s just time for us to really realize it. Take it all in and start seeing ourselves in a different light.Yup we have our own lumps, bumps and rolls but hey they are ours and they don’t make us any less of a woman and they don’t change our worth or value and they certainly don’t mean that we can’t have a kick ass life, cause let’s be honest, our fat has not gotten in the way of all that we have been able to do.

Love yourself, Love your Body love everything that comes with your body! This is the only body you have, flaunt those curves, those big gorgeous boobs, That gorgeous big butt hahaha embrace that cellulite, those stretch marks. those gorgeous big boobs, those sexy Thighs of yours those are MAGIC! These are a part of every single one of us, and they help us tell our story. There is no reason to hide them or apologize for them.