Simunye...oooh we are one

2 more months and the year is goneski! Sitting here in the Eastern Cape just about to head to Coffee Bay tomorrow to meet some of my old classmates for our 20-year matric reunion! 20years already! Where has the time gone?

Speaking about time…about a month ago, I was fortunate to attend this festival in the middle of the Nevada dessert called Burning Man. I didn’t really know too much about it bar that it was in the middle of the dessert and it was going to be hot, my 2 most favourite environments…NOT! But I was reminded of a dear friend who passed almost 2 years ago and we always used to go on about “One Life” so I said what the hell, booked on a Friday, left on the Saturday. Darn good decision it was. It’s an environment where people are just human. Everyone greets everyone, people engage in deep meaningful, sometimes not so meaningful when the person you are talking to is as high as a kite, but it was such a pleasure. People accepting each other for who they are, as they are irrespective of any and everything, for that week we were all Simunye….oh we are one, we were all Burners. To me that was the essence of the human spirit, I mean for example we had a camp across the way from us where the guys would wake up every morning and make oatmeal for whoever came with a bowl, in the afternoon they would offer hot dogs, others would give booze, bandannas, lights etc. It was beautiful.

During my time there, there was peace, time to stop and think and reflect. One thing that I really reflected on was how so angry the world I find myself in has become and is actually getting worse. How we as humans in my little world are too quick to judge others based on their difference rather than to embrace it. For example just the other day, I was having a conversation with a really good friend of mine and she quipped “Yaw I would so marry you if you weren’t black”. Not that I wanted to marry her but in my head I thought SHAME, how sorry I feel for you in your limited world!

A week ago, I was having a random yarn with one of my oldest friends. A few years ago, he saw the light and became born again, some of us haven’t reached that same level of Christianity, note I say Christianity and not spirituality, because I do believe in my God, but in the same way I have the utmost respect for all other religions. I even spent some time investigating Islam once upon a time, yes there was a woman involved, but that is beside the point ;). I spent a lot of time with Muslims and they were really good people to each other and to those around. They weren’t about judging others but more about this is who we are and what we do fullstop. That’s one thing that I struggle with regarding a lot of Christians.

Anyway back to my story about my mate, just out of the blue he labels me a heathen, a forkin HEATHEN. I was stunned and I thought to myself the God I follow, who in my mind is the same Christian God he follows, isn’t one to look down on others, but in my unenlightened mind is one who would want me to help others reach a level of enlightenment through observing how I conduct myself with respect to others and myself. Not through shunning others who are not like me.

It brings me to the point of those heinous murders in Kenya and Nigeria all in the name of Religion. B##ch please!! God never asked you to kill those people, your demented mind chose to do that. Christians are the same if not worse. Crusades, Hitler, apartheid all have religion as the centerpiece.

Why must we use our differences to define us? Why can we not use our differences to build us? There is more than enough space in this world for all of us to live a rich and fulfilled life1 What is wrong with my neighbor being a white, gay, Muslim, how does that make my life any worse off? Will it change how I wake up, do my daily thing and go back to sleep? Like we even know who our neighbours are nowadays, but God forbid we find out they are not ‘like’ us!!

Here’s one, let get over ourselves shall we, run our own race, how the next person chooses to live their life should be of little our concern, in the end only the God we serve can and should judge us!

Be well dear friends!

Much respect

Yaw

Cry my beloved country

With the Zimbabwean elections taking place on the 31^st July and South Africa’s taking place in April next year, my mind is constantly cast back to I had with a lady I share an office with at times. She asked me if I would vote for the ANC in the next elections and then went on about how the schools are poor and the ANC is this that and the next.

Now, mine is a complicated existence in this my beloved adopted country. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I owe a lot to the apartheid government, because without them there would have been no homelands, without the homelands there would not have been the need to ‘import’ doctors and teachers from other countries, without that need, I doubt my family would have ended up in SA for the past 29 years. I also doubt there would have been ‘Institutions of excellence’ such as Umtata High School which afforded me not only a quality education, but the invaluable opportunity to be a child, in South Africa, during the bad times and grow up believing that the only way any one was better than you was if they were in fact better than me. i.e. you came 3^rd in class I came 5^th, you were smarter than I, we ran the 100m you came first I came 3^rd, you were faster than I was, we did javelin/shot put and you threw further than I did…wait that’s a lie no one threw further than me…Transkei Champ u/17 you better recognize!! J But what I am getting at is you were better, because you were factually better, and not because of any your excess melanin! I owed a lot to them, but had an election been held knowing what I know about them, I would never ever ever have voted for them!!

So back to our conversation, so my friend Mariaan started off by stating that what is currently going on is reverse apartheid! Now as far as I know, apartheid is a system of segregation by race, there is no reverse nothing, its just like when people tell me about reverse racism, racism is racism, there is no where that it stipulates that when white people perpetrate racism, it’s the mark/base and if other races do the same its reverse. It’s just a pet peeve I needed to get out of the system.

We then sauntered onto the topic of schools being over populated and kids being taught by poorly qualified teachers. I am no ANC apologizer by any stretch of the imagination, but I doubt many of us who read, listen and observe the goings-on of the last 4.5 years are! But what I do have to re-iterate is that the government of the past, over a period of 43yrs of apartheid, only made sure it built infrastructure to cater for 2-3mil people, now this government has to look after 50.6mil in a period of 19 yrs? Logically, you tell me how that’s supposed to happen, particularly if the system of apartheid was so well executed that a lot of  its non-white products were brought up with shackled minds! Then we ask why?

We then went on to the fact that white people can’t get jobs. I smiled. I have friends coming back from the UK, because it’s kaaak over there! And they come here and within weeks they have a nice cushy job, yes fair enough they are part of the skilled workforce, but you say white people don’t have jobs, drive up Katherine street in the morning and see how many young/middle aged black men are loitering, our helpers that work in our houses, wake up at the crack of dawn, catch however many taxis to get to our houses and weave a magic wand for a mere R120-R200/day and we think we have done them a favour?!

The ANC together with other think tanks brought in employment equity, affirmative action, BEE. They are all very necessary evils that favour the previously/currently disenfranchised. What was the alternative? Leave things as they were and widen the disparity even more? I had a PriceWaterhouseCoopers Alumni event yesterday and I looked around. Out of say 200-300 delegates roughly 20-30 were of colour, now that’s madness, but that shows the current demographic in our boardrooms and people say in 19 years, it’s enough now things must change.

What needs to change in my mind, is the mindset of many of us. Myself and my peers included. The middle class black person, not to mention the middle class naturalized black person, has as much to lose as any white person in this country. What we must realize is that many of this country’s inhabitants don’t have much to their name, neither material possession nor hope, so they have absolutely nothing to lose! Part of the BEE scorecard is a great section called CSI spend, therein lies an opportunity to make a real difference, but many treat it as a box ticking exercise, then we wonder why the workers are unhappy?! We build sports fields for hundreds of thousands an pat ourselves on the back. Where is the money to maintain it? What about coaches to train the kids? What about a program that links usage of the fields to education? We complain about the poor education system in this country etc. yet instead many of our companies can afford to build schools and train or import teachers to teach kids instead of shipping its profits offshore.

People sit on the sidelines scream about how poked Zimbabwe is. But in my mind its something that had to happen. In a few years Zimbabwe will be in a better position than this country is. The country’s mineral wealth has remained as it was 20 or so years ago. The world still needs Zim’s resources, only difference now is the rules have been set by Zimbabweans, so if you wish to play in their patch the rules have been laid out and you know how to conduct yourself, everyone wins. Perhaps there was a lot of pain over the last 20years or so, but what was the alternative?

Anyway, just as I owe a lot to the apartheid regime of the past, I owe even more of my current life to the ANC and other silent struggle heroes like Robert Sibukwe, of which little is known by many, Former Chief Justice Pius Langa, who recently passed away, his influence in our current constitution and life of service was unbeknown to me. Without these people who were willing to lay down their lives for what they deemed right. I wouldn’t have gotten the financial assistance for my last 2 years at UCT, got PwC and Standard Bank to look at me thanks to affirmative action/EE or whatever. They soon realized I was more than competent at what was required of me, but without the legislation to offer me the opportunity, I doubt I would have even got an interview, but I may well be wrong. Because of the selfless struggle of the ANC leaders of old, I can now have a bank account, own a house in the burbs, go where I want, date who I want, live where I can and read about their misgivings! Because of them we are ‘free’. So I owe the green, black and yellow much!

All this being said, should elections be held tomorrow, would my X go to the ANC? I am not in the party or its structures, so if they are building roads in the forgotten lands of deep Idutywa, providing sewerage systems to untouched parts of Kwanobuhle, I don’t know. But in my humble opinion if this were the case, they basically control the state broadcaster, we’d know about it. What I do know now is according to an article I read the other day, only 3.3m of SA’s population of 50.6mil, pay 99% of South Africa’s Income tax. That’s a staggering statistic! It’s not sustainable! These 3.3mil fund a significant portion of the country’s expenditure, a substantial amount of which can be deemed as wasteful expenditure. What is even more alarming is the fact that we are increasingly becoming a welfare state, and for a developing nation like ours we cannot afford to have people rest on their laurels waiting for a handout. We cannot afford to have roads built where the toll collection system costs more than the amount spent on the roads. We can’t have a situation where something is budgeted to cost x and in the end it costs 4x and its still INCOMPLETE. And when such perceived incompetencies are brought to light, bills such as the Secrecy Bills are pushed through parliament because there is a two-thirds majority and because we can! We spend billions on arms yet we get massacred in the CAR, we don’t have money to train our helicopter pilots to perform search and rescue operations, but we can ferry No1 and other VIP’s around. Currently and this is my humble opinion ofcourse, there is an air of arrogance around the ruling party that if not corrected or taken cognisance of, could lead to its implosion. There is a sense of ‘yes we did it so what?’ This sense of ‘obligation’ or ‘debt’ that many of us have will soon dissipate, but I guess by then the current crop would have done what they needed to do/achieve.

In my mind, we are quick to pass through bills such as this secrecy and E-toll bill, that wont really drive our economy forward, yet we won’t decide on issues such as the mining/mineral rights issue and other economic reforms that will assist in attracting foreign investment which will increase the net tax pool, employment opportunities etc. We have imperfect, yet beautiful concepts such as the National Development plan, which needs a champion or needs to be touted as something each and every person should take ownership of an be proud of, but instead Vavi having extra marital affairs or a luxury goods store being opened in Hyde Park is what captures hour thoughts and conversations!? Our population has increased many fold, good public schools are in demand in all areas, yet not much seems to be done about this. The standard of our teachers is poor, therefore training the teachers is a real and attainable goal even better still, bring in teachers from elsewhere whilst we train our local teachers to reach the acceptable levels (yes you might perpetuate the unemployment issue) but at least the resulting students would be suitably educated so they in turn can break the cycle and fend for themselves on an equal footing with anyone in the world.

Healthcare, we all know there is a huge problem. Doctors need to be looked after, healthcare facilities need to be built…these can be done! What? There is no money? But we build a house for 1 man, in excess of R200m…ONE MAN, we budget R50bn for a power plant (which I believe could have been built for way cheaper using Eastern technologies) and it ends up costing R160bn or so more and is still incomplete man I can cite so many more examples. (By the way as far as I am aware, there is no exemption from tax laws for the president of South Africa, so if the state paid for the home, No 1 is liable for fringe benefit tax of 40% of the cost to the employer right Mr. Gordham? Or is there an exemption clause somewhere). The money is there, just not being efficiently channeled. All this in my mind stems from a lack of strong leadership. Right now as a South African, I have no idea where this ship is going! A country such as ours should in no way ever be growing at a rate of 0.9% in a whole quarter!

Once again I repeat, I am not in the party structures, so what I say is purely out of perception and observation. I am deeply concerned by the perceived arrogance of the party, it might be necessary in some instances because everyone seems to know best, but I think its something that needs to be taken to heart, otherwise the party that served so many so well could end up as just another African party that lost its way.

Would I vote for the ANC if an election was held tomorrow?

You see I have proper issues plaguing my mind, then people want to throw things like Kanye and Kim have a baby called North West, or William and Kate’s baby isn’t coming, its coming not coming, its coming not…wait its here, we will call it Simba! Mcimn, clear off!! How is 2 people at child bearing age having a baby news worthy…for a week?!!

Anyway Cry my beloved country!!

Be well and lets try and do our bit to make our world a better place, because in the end it really is up to us all

Maximum respect

Y

Oh my dear Africa

Middle of April already, seriously?! I say it all the time but damn, where is time in such a rush? Been a while, I hope the universe is smiling on you all.  Its funny how when you are in fixed employment, its so easy to find time to write blogs etc. nowadays, all my free time is spent thinking about what next or what ifs J, you would think that I would have a whole lot more free time doing my own thing, but nah man!

So anyway at the beginning of the year, I read a book called “The book of negroes” an absolutely engrossing read about a young lass and her ordeal through slavery, this was followed by viewing the movies “Django Unchained” and “Lincoln”, then there is the constant daily reminder of the effects of apartheid on our beautifully divided land.

Now whilst reading the book and watching the movies, I found myself thinking what on earth gives one man the right to come to another man’s land and shackle him and sell him off or do with him as he pleases? What gives him the right?! What gives people the right to invade another’s land and colonise them? But I guess power and preying on the minds of the weak. The part of it that angers me is that a nation of many let the few run amok and do as they wish. And now we sit here and say poor Africa and Africans, but that’s because we still let this continue. Now there are no guns that rule over us, nah man, but we are just as weak, we allow leaders with no inkling of what it takes to drive an economy or a people nor any true desire to do lead, lead us. We have failed our beautiful land and ourselves and will continue to do so.

I tend to have this conversation quite a few times with my pops and some mates. But I get bored and tired of hearing about “its because of colonialism or its because of apartheid” I am in no way trivialisng the crippling effects those 2 events had on the continent and its people, more so apartheid, because it made a lot of people ‘stupid’, starved them of decent education, which unfortunately will leave a legacy in our land for years to come. But as I said I am tired of hearing about its because of that, because it happened. Now we have our land back. Many might argue that but now we do not have the capital. True, but we have the land which gives us some power with regards to making the rules, right? We as a continent need to stop relying on the west to save us, let’s save ourselves. Let’s build ourselves up, even if slowly to become a continent of equals because truth be told they laugh at us, hell we laugh at us.

I hear things like Swiss Chocolate where in Switzerland do they grow cocoa? English Tea, can England grow tea? Italian Coffee, in which Italian region are beans grown might I ask? Nigerians buying petrol at astronomical prices when they are amongst the worlds top oil producers. We have the resources, it’s not like those that need the raw materials will be doing us a favour by getting it from us. So perhaps we stand tall and say guys lets be reasonable we cant have this poverty and ‘un-industrialisation’ (clearly a made up word, but you get my drift) any more in these here parts.

I was in Singapore last week so thought i’d hop on over to Malaysia just out of interest. Malaysia got its independence on in August 1957, it has a population of 29.6mil, size of 330sqm for a constant period of 50 years, it achieved a GDP growth of 6.5% and its GDP (PPP) is $492bn, unemployment rate is 3.2%, poor households 3.8%. Ghana has a population of 25.2mil, size of 239sqm, independence March 1957 GDP83.18bn, unemployment of 11%, poor households 10%

Both countries were colonized, climates are exactly the same, in terms of natural resources I think Ghana might have more resources than Malaysia. It’s a phenomenal city Kuala Lumpur, there are definitely elements of poverty, but from what I saw, this was so overshadowed by the order of things and the very evident industrialization. I was amazed. So what happened? Well in 1991 the former prime minister outlined a vision 2020 wherein, he detailed the plan to make Malaysia a self-sufficient industrialised nation, and then went about IMPLEMENTING these plans. Another thing about the country is its largest trading partners are its Asian neighbours. That right there should be the blue print for the African Renaissance right?

Someone please tell me what commodity we don’t have on this continent? Yes perhaps we don’t have the know-how, but we ‘import’ it on our terms. We build our neighbours instead of letting them know that we are better than them, because we are the only ones with a good road system and fancy, almost first world mining expertise. We build our people so they can be those engineers who build fancy structures. It’s not like we don’t have people with smarts? Many of our teachers, doctors, engineers, bankers, scientists, are seen to be amongst the best in their field but many prefer to ply our trade elsewhere, because our own continent doesn’t provide an environment for us to do the best we can. From where I sit, I believe the political will is lacking. It seems that most of our leadership structures serve themselves first and this perpetuates the cycle, we will continue to sell off our continent to the likes of China and India.

My pops keeps giving me the argument that the powers that be will seek to continue to sow divisions in our continent if we try to do something for ourselves which is contrary to what is to their benefit, he cited the examples of Zimbabwe, Libya, Mubarak, Nyerere, Lumumba, Sankara, Kenyata, etc. which is fair point, but a lot of these presidents were deposed/killed by their own people funded by?? But that’s besides the point, if you create an environment where the majority believe that you are working for their benefit and opportunities are ever present, whom of your people would want to harm you?

Perhaps it is I who lives in a fools paradise, but I long for this paradise to be this land from whence I hail!!

Oh Africa!!!

Happy birthday to you all…

Take care my good people

My Ashanti Funeral experience - RIP Nana Mary

I read a tweet the other day which was something along the lines of “Let the pooh (a more expressive term was used) from last year be the fertilizer for this years growth. I don’t think I can say any more than that, so here’s to your 2013, let it be all you let it be!

Between the middle of August till the early December, I was fortunate enough to travel through Europe back to South Africa and then to Ghana and also to the Republic of Cape Town. Whilst on these travels my mind started to wander, as it always does, I looked at the efficiency of Europe, the public transportation system, for example, that works like clockwork, you walk in the streets of SW London and you just smell capitalism at its best, its no wonder that that little mud island managed to conquer large parts of this world and have most of us speaking its language as our official languages. It got me thinking, thinking about the lovely continent from which I hail.  We are all too quick to say as Africans we just cant get things right. Perhaps, but that’s if you are comparing us to the western world which clearly isn’t a natural way of life for us right?! It’s a ‘norm’ that we are all being forced into in the name of progression and civilization. I am no historian, just merely passing an observation.

So why do I say this? If you look at the world most countries and continents were colonized by the Western world in their thirst to explore, amass wealth, build industry etc. If you look at Africans, we merely wandered our continent in search of food and land for our extended families and communities, because that’s our DNA. I think I may have mentioned it in an earlier email, but my old man left us in Ghana in early 1982 we couldn’t go with him because my ma was pregnant with the youngest, but in the year or so that he was gone, it may have been tough for ma, but I didn’t really see it, because their friends, neighbours, family members were more than willing to assist. I remember many an aunt coming over to help ma with us and bringing over food etc. It was incredible because that’s the natural way of Africans, well most. Growing up in Ghana and Umtata, I knew all my neighbours on the street, not just the ones with whom we shared a wall. Now its all me, me, me, more, more, more, but I will hopefully write more about this another time when I have done more research.

I want to elaborate on this beautiful African spirit in this blog. So the day I returned from my lovely European tour, I heard of my Gran’s passing. We attended the funeral a good few weeks later (this is normal in the Ashanti tradition). It was my very first proper Ashanti funeral in Ghana, and how apt for it to be the lady because of whom I breathe J. Even though it was a rather sad occasion, it was a fantastic experience because I learnt quite a bit about my people and extended family. And also reminded me that Africans just have too much time on our hands, which also speaks to my earlier observation.

So my moms, pops, sisters and I arrived in Ghana on Tuesday, went to greet some family members. On Wednesday the funeral activities began, we went to the family home where we greeted all the elders, always greet from right to left or anti-clockwise…and we just sat for a good few hours, I guess it’s a time for the old folk to engage, catch up shoot the breeze etc. Later that evening, my gran’s body was to be brought to the house, prepared for burial and laid in state.

Ashanti’s hold our ancestors and the dearly departed in high regard, so prior to burial a body is well ‘prepared’ for passage into the afterlife. My grandpops, whose duty it would have been to have purchased all the provisions necessary for this preparation passed away way before I was even a thought and at her death my gran was unmarried, so my dad’s family took the mantle and ran with it, once again part of the way Africans roll. These items are more symbolic than anything. So let me share with you what is buried with the departed and why, lets bear in mind this is seen as her last sleep before she is united with those that went before her and her maker and she must look her best.

First off there is some palm kernel which she is supposed to chew and the material that is produced is used to prepare her hands and feet, the old school manicure and pedicure. A blade provided which is used to clean and trim the nails. Some lime is provided which in the old days was cut in half and used under the arms to eliminate odours. There after she is supposed to take her bucket, sponge, soap, towel, chewing stick (old school tooth brush) and lotion and go have a good washing. She then gets dressed with some beads around her waist, something called Amoase, which is a cloth that used to be worn as panties prior to panties being discovered (panties were also provided) a very stylish cloth which she is supposed to wear before she lays to rest on her kete (mat) with a pillow and blanket.

The next day Thursday was supposed to be the burial day. We all wore dark and brown and black cloth. We were told to be at the family home at 6.30am, we got there, said our goodbyes to Nana Mary, thanks was given, tears were shed. Me being me, I expected something to happen, but nope, once again we just sat people played drums and sang (quite badly if I have to be honest) but it was an experience that makes me smile even as I type this. At 12 there was a church service where after we made our way to my Nana’s village where she was to be buried in the royal cemetery (yes that’s right, I have royalty in my blood J). Ashanti’s follow a maternal line. This makes sense because even if the father of a child is questionable, the mother who bears it can never be questioned. We once again sat around my cousin, the Chief’s house for a few hours because there is a certain time of day where members of the royal family are to be buried. People were fed and drinks provided during this time. In the early evening her body was laid to rest. Rest in perfect peace dear woman!

Friday was a day off and on Saturday was the funeral. Once again early morning, dressed in red attire, which was to symbolize the fact that we were serious, (her children’s had red face paint on their bodies and faces) off to a park across from the family home where a marquee was set up, we went. Ghanaians are such generous people, I am sure many people have similar traditions, but I now understand why insurance (life insurance in particular) isn’t such a big game in Ghana, because people self insure. My uncle and aunts spend so much time going to funerals, I now know why. During the funeral, people sang, told Nana Mary’s life story, and much money was donated by those that attended to help the family with the costs of the funeral. When a donation is made, the person who made it, his connection to the family and amount is announced Just thinking about it really makes my heart smile, is this not what it’s all really about? Looking after the elderly, the young and your fellow man? Anyway, we spent plenty time there, just sitting watching the chief, my mom (bad back and all), her siblings and the family elders performing this traditional dance called Adowa.

Sunday was church day, we all dressed in white because we were giving thanks for Nana Mary being allowed the opportunity to give us 94 years of her life.

All 3 days were well attended and the westerner in me kept on wondering “don’t these people work”, why so much time to waste…some might see us as simple beings, but so rich with meaning is our heritage, but so proud to be of my people, just because inspite of the trappings of the world around, their essence is still humane, yes, I am Ashanti…raised in Xhosaland! J

Birthdays

1^st Marc, Johnny

6^th Ingrid, Darren

8^th Sudika, TK

10^th Brendan

11^th Pops, PreshMak

Thanks for reading, and have a mighty fine week further

Best

Y