iXhora yidolopu hayi mani!!!!!!!!!!

KuCwebhe

‘It is s ironic how exotic people describe a place we just see as home; some yearn for the lavish lands with grandeur buildings the likes of America. We live here or they live I only come during vacation here; frustration, hunger, lack of activity suppresses the awareness of beauty all due to the race created by technology. Making us linger for a sudden life exchange...glad you found the pure untainted nature ravishing your imagination...stories shared by people from afield of how great Xhora is brushes off the shame of proudly saying I am from Xhora!’ (This was my two cents comment I wrote on Tones of Home: The Village of Hobeni Cwebe (Cwebhe)) a blog of Mario Machado it transcended the thought of telling the world; it's the world wide web after all, of us amaBomvana while creating pride and tarnishing the shame that has become of my people. I want us to realise that what we are is also valuable and purely humanistic as displayed by the picturesque nature we sometimes shamefully call home.

kukude ekhaya ngenyawo Sophephe mani!!!!!!!!!

I cannot stress how fortunate I am, to be part of the lineage of the great Bomvana people of the great Mbashe and the Wild Coast. The stories shared by the elders I had the pleasure to let my ear linger for the brain arousing sensation of thought provoking pleasures of imagination. The stories were of current activities and of the sad past left behind because of westernisation, in this instant all I can do is imagine and create my own picture guided by these old folks' tales. They speak of umtshotsho, intonjane, umtshato, umgidi, umendiso, ukuqatywa kwabantwana, ukukhutshwa efukwini, ulwaluko, iindidi ngendidi zembola, isiphorha, ubufazi, ubudoda, amankazana, abafazi, umtshakazi, ikrwala, umfana, amakhwenkwe, amatyagi, ukuhlonipha, umtshilo, intlombe, umngqungqo ndibala ntoni na. Their events or depictions of these events are so recent that I thank God (uQamata) that I witnessed some and their memory still speak of what they lived and acted rather than books miswritten due to influence by lost or westernised cultural thoughts; thank God ubuqobhoka busandul'fika eXhora bendiyakwazi ntoni?

Donald Zweliyanyikima Woods

"Donald James Woods was born in Mbashe, Eastern Cape. His parents, Edna and Jack were of Irish and English descent respectively. In the early 1900s Jack walked 300 kilometres to set up a trading station at Hobeni on the banks of the Mbashe River. At his birth on 15th December 1933, there was a complication which the local white doctor was unable to fix. Riding 40 kilometres cross-country on an impulse from Idutywa, Tiyo Soga’s grandson, Dr Lex Soga, arrived at Hobeni and immediately remedied the problem. Born among the amaBomvana at Hobeni, he was given the Xhosa name Zweliyanyikima - "the world shakes", by the Bomvana people. He spoke Xhosa for three years before he spoke English. This helped him later on in life when arranging meetings with Robert Sobukwe and Steve Biko who were both banned at the time." (http://www.donaldwoodsfoundation.org/donald-woods-profile-details.cfm). 

Sinebango ngwelilizwe iyangqina imbali, the fact that Donald Woods was born amongst my people and shared ideas with the greatest revolutionaries of our liberation cannot be ignored, Xhora unebango kwelilizwe, when the Pan Africanist Congress PAC was banned the POQO movement made sure this congress does not disappear with time it all happened along the banks of the great Mbashe river. The journey of Dick King from Durban to Grahamstown left footprints of the horse as it trotted hard and tirelessly on the rich black soil. The grave of King Sarhili lies kwaGcaleka ngaseTsholorha, apho amakhwenkwe akwaGcaleka ayelala khona kwimfazwe zabo namakhwenkwe waseMngazane this is known as the war of the axe kodwa it came due to petty disputes, apho kukho impunzi engazingelwayo ilifu lisoloku lilele. KwelikaS'gcawu kulapha ngapha kwendlela kwasekhaya eMngazana apho kwakukho ithonto lika Sigcawu, if you deny the richness of such history you deny your own heritage. The discovery of the original Xhosa word for a female Springbok; Imbakazi rather than the misnomer of Imbabalakazi, the Fort Hare professor had to go eXhora to hear this; uyeva? Unedlebe nje unetyala!

abakhwetha bazekutshila

I thank my father for being always keen on sharing these stories some of which he has seen, but many have vague memories and few he have heard of. I know my interest gave him so much joy his face glimmered whenever I so much inquired. When he first told me about umtshilo I wouldn't picture it I tried to let my mind set itself afar back in time, it came back with no image. He told me that abakhwe that came from afar ukuzotshila kwaban’, if you were good you were destined to be known emazweni (the world didn't extend much beyond the fringes) owaye waziwa ngokutshila amaziyo ngumzala wakhe the late Zweliyatshukuma. The tall people were better equipped for this display and Zweliyatshukuma was tall as his mother who was my grandfather's sister. Okay me and my dad are short took my grandmother's height. This was the initiates dance done kwasokhaya, it was such a big deal that people went as far as ukuthwala and doing all kinds of things just to see their favourite win over the crowd doing body manoeuvring moves. The preparations were quite thorough ranging from announcements, now announcements are mainly word of mouth up until today mainly done where many people are present mainly esicini. The display provided such great pleasure amongst the audience, the movements of bodies with animal prints covered at the waist with umhlanti. The winner was pronounced by the best movement of the waist and constant poking gestures or rhythmic extension of the hands while looking away from the women. The great tale that still lives on amongst many is that okaSo...(forgot the father's name) lost because wabekwelwa ameva ngenye indada kuba efuna angogqithi umkhwetha amthandayo. This might seem as petty stories with no explicit value, but trust me I have met people who hanker for such stories many nations were based on great legends of their people as they evolved with time. They don't shy away from their past, you are your past as there is no present without future, no past without the present and present situations which influence our choices are constructed by one's past.