Africa my Beginning
They came from the west
Sailing to the east
With hatred and disease flowing
From their flesh
And a burden to harden our lives
They claimed to be friends
When they found us friendly
And when foreigner met foreigner
They fought for the reign
Exploiters of Africa http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/goodlife/2011/07/08/africa-my-beginning-africa-my-ending
I came from the East headed towards the west
suffered from a disadvantage stereotype or belief although I believe I had no disease
I suffered from uncertainty and abundant hope. Why was this? For the first time
I was going to reside in an enormous city which was once hailed as Africa's
capital city. I have had good things about it in fact all I ever heard was all
good, 'I would be great there' I thought 'I would finally make it as a footballer'.
I needed to settle, part of that meant I needed to find a school, not just a
school, but a prestigious one. This involved putting on my Barnetts 'all
weather' stuck in an office with my sister, father and a doubtful Principal.
This was my first 'one on one' although it lacked any ‘da
uomo a uomo’, my sister started it went well I suppose, but seemingly her definite
success relied on me. My results were awful, I knew that I wanted to study
there that's all ke qa, to the Principal seemingly my results weren't the
problem, but where I came from. I came from the Eastern Cape where nothing good
seemed to have descended behinds 'over glorified' liberators it's education,
health and everything was flawed and beyond repairs. Taking me would be taking
a product of that system, he chose to ignore that my educational foundation did
not commence in that province (Eastern Cape). His misinformed notion of
thinking all schools were defective took over him; I mean Holy Cross High
School is one of the schools that hold educational achievement cradles for this
beautiful but haunted province. Whatever I said meant nothing, to torture the deluded
belief he actually thought I wouldn't survive diversity as if I have never had
contact with Indian/Muslim/Coloured People, I went to school with these people
we interacted with no regard of our identity.
'I have arrived', I thought
And 'fuck it' I told myself,
After he said 'I want you to tell me what you
think I don't want to hear'
My response was silence,
With my dad interjecting 'kwedini thetha'
I was so disgusted by the thought of being
undermined that I unashamedly responded by saying 'andifuni'.
When we left that office with a desk and a
chair in the bag I made a vow of achieving as highly as I can in his name, not
to spite him but to show that the east is not all rotten. My dad's comment of
me taking a break on football scared me forever I hated football receded from
it for it only brought me pain and its educational competition had its odds in
its favour.
My philosophy was do everything you are asked,
they know better ask no questions, study every day, express your heritage every
time, sit in front, act confuse no one would expect anything from you and when
you conquer 'they won't see you coming' (devil’s advocate), be in the shadows,
don't be afraid of being forlorn... I knew as much as there were benefits for
being different it came at a price of which I was willing to bear. Firstly, I had competition driven by the same
odd notion of lack of educational background I possessed due to my previous
provincial situation. I made no affiliation to this challenge and when I
conquered people continued to be surprised till I matriculated. I must
say the environmental change was rife with the subject that I cruised in; in
June I changed to the Standard Grade class where our fall was so important then
their own rise. The work ethic of the previous class made me ndiceleze (venture
with ease), not all was bad after all.
My solitude led to self-discovery and a lot of
curiosity led to the love of words in books not just any books, but African
literature. Thanks to the rebel Irish blood this was possible, my first thick
book Indaba My Children was recommended by Ms Forgarty God rest his soul, in me
she saw a philosopher don't know how since I dear to utter a single syllable.
For the first time English was not a curse, but could be used to connect my
heritage dots of expression, later strengthened by the inclusion of Chinua
Achebe's Things Fall Apart in our curriculum; this concealed my anger of the
racial characterization of Othello by William Shakespeare. My long trips were
not in vain Mrs Du Ploy dug my automobile enabled vision I saw on the road; the
rivers, landscape and diverse climate I witnessed and experienced was
advantageous what we learnt in Geography I saw and knew. The close relation I
had with nature and drawing meant Physical Science would be possible to
conquer, thanks to Mrs Kay she realised my potential and the first time in a
while I was marked, the answers I
produced at UCT scientific invitation confirmed her inkling.
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| The Table Mountain |
A place of beauty and rekindling of hope is
where I resided, but my township trips painted a bleak picture not all were
beautiful in the mother city. What contributed towards the
segregation and naiveté was the mountain that captured the prisoners who were
on route to the East for spices. They came for the Mountain and the Mountain is
what they got. The closer you are to this overrated natural structure the
better you are. I could see it from my bedroom window, it was in the periphery
but I could see it. The scene of seeing uTamkhulu Two dying with no honour for
a farm that he so much identified with in a room so cold, sunless and small
that could have contributed to his death made me become conscious of the
economic gap that I and my family embodied. They came from the east, they served
the mountain like everyone not on it, but they were further away so their service
was vainly rewarded. I saw two worlds in my time there, a fight for crumbs
between Coloured and Black instilled by Whites, I saw a picture visible to the
whole South Africa a picture of perfection, Cape Town extends further than the natural
structure, I saw a place where being foreign or white meant being treasured
with no contestation, I saw gang ridden Cape Flats with no prospects of growth
in the ground where sand blinded the masses for tomorrow would arrive with a
forced smile, but most importantly I saw a country on its own. If you still dwell
in one of the British Colonies come back to South Africa...
