Africa is home to me

Photo by Leeroy Esbend

Our country is in a scary place politically, yet even after considering the worst of outcomes does, the prospect of moving to another country appeal. In a home, the bad and the good you bare together because you are family. So, here we have the unsettling, shaky times of uncertainty what should that mean for us; who do we become, or better yet what becomes of us? I do not think the circumstance defines us our actions is what defines us, as my Tsonga people would say “Mintiroho ya vulavula” -works speaks; what you do carries more clout than what you say; the English often say ‘actions speaks louder than words’.  

An African today does not carry the same social DNA as an African from yesterday:

I have dark skin, I can never be mistaken for being a yellow bone.

Culturally, I am Tsonga or some may prefer Shangaan.

I am not fluent in Tsonga, I never formally learnt the language.

I would take me maybe 5 times longer to read something written in Tsonga than that written in English.

I speak, read and obviously write English rather well.

Many of my friends are of a different race.

I am aware of the people who linger stares at us when we go out.

I tend to make controversial racial statements.

I have been to 4 other countries yet I always missed home.

I am often called a coconut, (white on the inside black on the out).

I do not find it offensive.

I have an afro (growing out my hair naturally) I’m not sure if I am trying to make a statement by it but, it definitely draws attention.

This is a little about me notice the amount of the letter I in the last paragraph there is a lot of it. It is because this is currently about me and that is okay. I am in a season in my life where I am slowly moving from dependence to independence. I am at the very beginning of that stage probably level 0.1. I dream of a day when I can write about us, we, our; that day is not today. Today I still search for me in the midst of the chaos we call life.

So I leave you with the conclusion of  a speech by Thabo Mbeki on behalf of the Africa National Congress in Cape Town  on 8 May 1996, on the occasion of the passing of the new Constitution of South Africa. Notice that it begins with ‘I’ and ends with ‘us’.

....

I am an African.

I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa.

The pain of the violent conflict that the peoples of Liberia, Somalia, the Sudan, Burundi and Algeria is a pain I also bear.

The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share.

The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair.

This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned.

This thing that we have done today, in this small corner of a great continent that has contributed so decisively to the evolution of humanity says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes.

Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now! Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace! However improbable it may sound to the sceptics, Africa will prosper!

Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say - nothing can stop us now!

Thank you.

-Thabo Mbeki