African culture uncensored

The Igbo of Nigeria have a proverb popularised by writer Chinua Achebe that goes: "Unless it dies young, the penis shall surely eat bearded meat." This was a way, I guess, to say that things happen in due course and there is no point in rushing to indulge in sexual activities. The testicles, penis and their exploits are a point of reference.

In Zambia the Bemba coined a saying, "ubuchende bwamwaume tabonaula nganda", which translates to "a man's whoring does not break up a family". These chauvinistic words, the roots of which must lie in polygamy, seem to suggest that it is alright for men to sleep around. Or, alternatively, that the family can survive the vagaries of patriarchy. It is perhaps what a Guinean proverb refers to that says: "A child can play with its mother's breasts, but not its father's testicles."

The word "chende", the root for the word for testicles in some languages, is quite popular in African proverbs. In Ghana there is a proverb, "It requires a lot of carefulness to kill the fly that perches on the scrotum", which does not really require explanation.

From [African culture uncensored - News - Mail & Guardian Online]

Poetry’s in motion in Gauteng

The annual Urban Voices International Festival did not have a poetry programme this year and we did not have the annual Speak The Mind Poetry sessions either. However, poetry and spoken word maintained a strong presence in the Gauteng arts scene.

The launch of the Melville Poetry Festival was an exciting addition and the three-day event showed off a variety of voices and presentations showcasing poetry for the page and for the stage.

The Word N Sound Poetry brand, which recently celebrated its first anniversary with a live music and poetry festival, has had an impact with how it’s nurturing young and up-and-coming voices, while inviting veterans to share and inspire.

From: [Poetry’s in motion in Gauteng]

Happy birthday, Donald Woods!

Donald James Woods, CBE (December 15, 1933 – August 19, 2001) was a South African journalist and anti-apartheid activist.

As editor of the Daily Dispatch from 1965 to 1977, he befriended Steve Biko, leader of the anti-apartheid Black Consciousness Movement, and was banned by the government soon after Biko's death, which had been caused by serious head injuries, sustained while in police custody. The govenment [sic] still denies giving Biko these injuries, even though the officers have admited to beating Biko to the point of neve [sic] and brain damage. Woods fled to London, where he continued to foster opposition to apartheid. In 1978, he became the first private citizen to address the U.N. Security Council.
[source...]

Donald was Biko's friend and an activist against Apartheid. After the June '76 Soweto Riots, the government turned its guns on people like him. He disguised himself and crossed the Tele bridge into Lesotho using a fake passport. His family joined him in Lesotho, and with the help of the British High Commission there, they were flown to London, and to safety.

Donald was born on 15 December 1933. Happy birthday to him.

Mountain at Night

for Lineo, 'Masekoja and 'Makananelo

After swallowing me my mother emptied
me, along tracks of ancestral feet she had me.
Thaba-Bosiu, the mountain at night. We needed
your plateau at the top to help us crush skulls
into chalk with stone and brick, for the king
had made his village there, and growing at night
made passes steep to keep foes out.
When my cradle rocked the clay floor
of my mother's hut, nobody was allowed near
if I wasn't asleep. I think my parents
held their breath when approaching me,
ears against my lilac mouth
to hear my lungs, till I heaved and let go,
and shivered down as they traipsed into their room
to get on with what adults do on a winter’s night—
they needed to feel each other down like teens
in the dark. I remember, or think I do,
my parents heaving in that room,
getting each other off. When I was older I met a girl
who, like my mother, couldn't stomach lumps;
we'd lie there Kegeling, clinging like spoons,
three if you counted the child whose life
at the turn of the millennium when gods gave gifts,
was about to enter a world my wife and I
had spread in the season for the sun to dry.

Wordle 4 December 2011

Benjamin Masilonyane Masilo (14 Oct 1931 - 1 Dec 2011)

"He was the most beautiful person I had ever known. He had known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and he found his way out of the depths.

He had an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that filled him with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.

There is so much I did not understand about him, but I surely know that beautiful people do not just happen. My father did not just happen. His being was decreed.

Re roballe Mokhatla. Ke u rata kamehla."

Kananelo Rearabiloe Masilo.