Inspirational Prose

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A Tribute to African Rocks

As you may know, today is women’s day. It is a day we remember and celebrate the courage and the role played by women in building the new South Africa. Specifically, it is a day we remember the birth of an inspiring song for all women: “wathint’ abafazi, wathint’imbokodo”! Translated in context: “you strike a woman, you strike a rock”!

This song is an apt reminder that women, like rocks, are impenetrable and cannot be moved easily once geared for action. Their intimate knowledge of oppression, pain and joy fuels their inner strength, creating a bond which enables them to be rooted in their action.

With the above said, allow me to specifically pay homage to the ordinary women of Africa. I believe they are absolutely amazing beings 😉

I salute you, ordinary women of Africa! You are the rocks, the heart and soul of our continent. When hope ceases to exist, you become the embodiment of hope. You dig deep within you to find the strength to overcome the challenges and struggles of life. Through your actions, I know that the extraordinary comes from the ordinary. And through you, I know the African dream is realisable. African women, you rock!

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Anguish of June 16 1976

When I look at some of the images of the Soweto uprising, I see anguish. Yet in that anguish I see bravery and much more.

I see souls that were able to see beyond themselves in order to make things a little better in society. I see consciousness that extends beyond the boundaries of myopic thinking, where the ‘self’ is sacrificed for the general good of society. I see passion, the anguish it brings, but still, I understand: June the 16th had to be!

I hope then that this historic day will inspire the youth like it is intended to. To all the youth of this continent, be inspired!

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Africa, my Africa!

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops” — Henry Adams

Today, I am taken back in time, to ntate Oliphant’s class, when I was half my age. He is reciting the poem, Africa by David Diop. As he recites this poem, his voice is heavy, reverent and amazingly captivating; its almost like it is the first time I have ever had him speak but it isn’t! It is merely the first time that I am awakened and connected to my identity. I am awaken to what it means to be an African and challenges that lie ahead in order for Africans to stand tall and not with their backs bent!

Ntate Oliphant, thank you for reciting this poem as you did:

Africa, my Africa
Africa of proud warriors in ancestral Savannahs …
I have never known you
But your blood flows in my veins …
Africa, tell me Africa
Is this you, this back that is bent
This back that breaks
Under the weight of humiliation
This back trembling with red scars
And saying yes to the whip under the midday sun? (ll. 1-2, 5-6, 11-16)

Happy Africa day to all! May we all continue in small ways to work towards an Africa that is peaceful, prosperous and democratic. Mayibuye iAfrica!

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Came for a Reason

Africa without any boundaries is my home. However, once in a little while I meet someone who makes me question whether South Africa is my home.

South Africa is my temporary domicile (until my studies are complete). As a proud Lesotho citizen, I have all the intentions to go back home and when that time comes, no one will have the benefit of saying to me: “khomo, boela hae u holile”. This literally translates to: “cow, go home you have grown”.

In the meantime, to anyone who is intent on making me feel like this is not my home, I came here for a reason. My reason is not to play a game like morabaraba (a strategy driven board game); my reason is to get a dose of knowledge. So please listen to my plea (captured poetically below) and let me be!

Moleko, tloha ho ‘na!
Ha ke ea tla morabarabeng.
Ke tlile ngakeng:
Ke tlisitse sebono eteng.
Ha ke ne ke tlile morabarabeng,
Ke ne ke tlare:itekanye mesikaro!
Ke namane e ts’ehla;
Motho a ka thiba ka ‘m’ae,
Kapa a thiba ka monoana!

Moleko, haeba o na le litsebe, libule,
Haeba o na le mahlo, le oona a bule,
Le kelello haeba e teng, e sebelise!
Hoba ke namane e ts’ehla;
Ha ke rore feela, ke ea loana!

Translation of the above, without getting into the depth of the language is as follows:

Evil one, get away from me!
I didn’t come here for morabaraba.
I came for the doctor:
For my arse to be injected.
If I had come for morabaraba,
I would say to you: weigh your “capabilities”!
I am a yellow calf; 1
A person could defend with their mother, 2
or defend with their finger!

Evil one, if you have ears, open them;
If you have eyes, have them open as well;
And if you have a brain, use it!
For I am a yellow calf;
I don’t just roar, I can fight!

The bold part of the translation is arguably inaccurate. Doctor is ngaka in Sesotho. Ngakeng refers to any place that a doctor practices his/her craft e.g. hospital or sangoma’s chambers. People go to these places to see doctors; hence, my translation. Actually, to be exact, they go there for cure. Just to be indulgent, in the above context, the disease that needs cure can be regarded as either poverty or ignorance. Its all a matter of interpretation!

  1. Yellow calf is a term of endearment for a lion/lioness. ↩
  2. The potency of this statement is lost in translation. ↩
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Journey, Lessons and Reflection

Last night, like I have done many times before, I sat in solitude to reflect and take stock of my life and my journey thus far. I cried, laughed and sighed in absolute despair as I attempted to answer the question: Am I any closer to becoming the Mathe I truly want to be?

I acknowledged with gratitude how far I have come to where I am today. Then, I went on to ask myself the question: how does one truly measure the proverbial journey of a “thousand miles”? Is it by the distance travelled or the distance to be travelled?

I am not sure if there are simple answers but at the same time I wanted to know what emotion was legitimate for me to feel. Sadly, I am not very close to where I want to be.

I want to be at a place of contentment filled with inner and outer peace even when the hand dealt to me is less than ideal. A place where material possessions, money, fear etc play minimal or no role at all in making decisions! A place which in few words affords me the “arrogance of choice” i.e. choice that is driven by my priorities and truth about this journey called life.

Any lessons learnt from the journey travelled thus far?

Arrived or not to where I want to be, it is certainly important to reflect on the lessons learnt. While it is fair to say, I have had many lessons from different varying sources, I have learnt two very valuable lessons from attending “mekete”- ceremonial festivities. I have learnt:

  1. It takes hard work and perseverance to get to the ‘feeding stage of the masses’. One my wake up early to see to it that the cooking fire is burning, but there are no guarantees that all will go well. One may be faced with the task to tell off those acting as obstacles to get out of the way or get in line. One may also have to take shit from others but instead of being humiliated by it choose to take it as a humbling act.
  2. How to recognise and appreciate what privilege means. It is privilege if one can have a single person come to offer assistance of any kind. It is also privilege if uninvited guests can come and simply join in with the festivities, be it there are about celebrating a life that has passed on or a union of a new life to be. In a nutshell, privilege is having at least one person walk with you for the entire or part of the journey.

With lessons learnt thus far, I hope as I forge forward to where I want to be, I have the strength and courage to hold on to my faith, trusting that He and only He who knows the desires of our hearts will help me to my destination. I hope also that I may continue to remember words of wisdom from those who privilege me by walking this beautiful journey with me. I am truly grateful for all the words of kindness, support and encouragement I have received. Words such as as this from Carla Tsampiras: “…  remember that shit and rubbish can also make good compost, especially if balanced with nurturing rain and the warm sunlight of those who do believe in you“!

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Happy Moshoeshoe’s Day!

Given that Moshoeshoe’s day commemorates death, it may sound a little strange when I say: happy Moshoeshoes’ day! The truth however is that for Moshoeshoe I, death was like a gift. As I have suggested before (in this post), Moshoeshoe I understood that it is in death that he will be able to finally meet and thank his Creator and his ancestors (Molimo le balimo ba hae, as Basotho would put it ;-)) for guiding him in his journey. A journey in which he became the great leader that he yearned to be as a young man! For this reason, death was truly a gift to him, for his dreams did come true and all he needed was to express his gratitude.

I suppose when one fails to view life as a gift, it may be a bit difficult to see why death itself is a gift. Today as we celebrate Moshoeshoe’s day, it is therefore my wish that all will be inspired to live a life in which in death one will find joy and celebrate the transition to the next life. So, happy Moshoeshoe’s day! And lets remember that one day we too shall die — memento mori, memento mori!

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Oozing gratitude from the shavathon event

The Hamilton building united together to raise funds for the Cancer Association of South Africa. A good day to remember that there are so many good causes out there for which we can all make a difference. And also a good day for one to remember to be grateful about ones health and all other blessings bestowed upon them.

Personally, I am thankful in that I am born without any disabilities from a family of ‘substantial’ intellect (in a sense that many in my family have a university degree and believe with great conviction that education is the key to opening many doors of opportunity). As a result, I am what one would call middle class and I am fortunate to not know how it feels to worry about the next meal. For this, I am grateful because we have many people dying of poverty and many of us in the middle class category often forget to acknowledge how blessed we are. Yes we might not have the wealth of the few in the rich category class but we in the middle class are in a good position to be generous! And this is what today was about in Hamilton, we remembered that we were blessed and can contribute something for a good cause. So we made donations and shaved our heads and/or sprayed our hair in fun colours.

I am too attached to my hair to shave it but I did participate in the fun! I went all white and I am loving it 😉 . I thought I would feel self-conscious and uncomfortable but as I walk the streets I feel totally inspired! In part because I know I am going to look HOT in grey one day!

Ok, I derailed a bit but to finish off this posting, I would like to quote Eric Hoffer who said:

The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.

I have started counting mine … hope you all start counting yours in order to gain perspective and be grateful about whatever blessings you may have .

Peace and love to all!

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I am a Pan Africanist

In my previous blog posting I unabashedly declared myself to be a black feminist. I thought it proper to finish off my declarations by stating that indeed I am a Pan Africanist! (In case my obsession with the great leaders of Africa like Moshoeshoe I hasn’t given me away.)

I make my declaration well aware of the fact that today the meaning of Pan Africanism has been oversimplified to levels where one can easily feel ashamed of being associated with this great ideal. To me, it is truly unfortunate that it seems we live in a society where it is easier to seek to oversimplify things. Hence, to some it is perfectly acceptable to view Pan Africanism as a movement for protecting black interests or expressing black anger! And yet Pan Africanism is about something bigger and greater!

Pan Africanism as an ideal is about us Africans uniting irrespective of our colour and gender to solve our own problems. Of course this is not an easy task given that we can’t exactly take out the uncomfortable issues in the equation such as corruption and colour of ones skins. But that said, I remain a believer! Yes I believe we Africans can beat poverty. I believe we have it in us to show one another compassion. Most importantly, I believe we have it in us to show the world that the whole collectivism ideal is not a myth but a reality that can be realised by remembering that true service is about serving others . Perhaps this makes me naive or even slightly myopic but I do believe in the true essence of Pan Africanism.

Yes sometimes I get frustrated but who ever said the journey to prosperity would be easy! “Ha esita Maisiraele leetong la ho ea Kanana a ile a rapela melimo ea bosaoana! ” (Translated this roughly states, even the God’s people, the Israelites, in their journey to the promised land failed to acknowledge their own God; they strayed and worshipped false gods! )

So, I am truly not expecting the journey to be easy nor am I expecting it to be short. My point is: I am a Pan Africanist and I certainly do believe in the African dream! I hope therefore that I will live long enough to see it come true. In the meantime, it is my prayer that we as individuals, brothers and sisters of this fine continent will do our bit to end corruption and promote prosperity and peace for all! As Basotho would say: Khotso! Pula! Nala! (Peace! Rain! Properity!)