Babalwa Mhlauli
Pondo
"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
"Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity`s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all."
Statement of Nelson Mandela at his Inauguration as President
10 May 1994, Pretoria
I came across your words Dalibhunga and they made perfect sense to me!
They were the perfect balm to soothe my brokeness
I can't describe the feeling of finally arriving home, that these wholesome words made me feel.
From the hat that was wrapped gently around head,
the Hat of my people known to me in spirit
AmaMpondo from the Mpondoland Kingdom,
the Zulus who speak Xhosa fluently,
thus mistaken as AmaXhosa,
to your smiling heart and sunny sunny smile.
The sun streamed through the window and my cheeks turned white as I experience this sacred moment in time.
Symbolic of the lotion used by traditional healers during traditional ceremonies. A healer usually applies a white moisturiser, with dots on her cheeks.
I knew then what I know now.
Truly, truly
"It is finished in beauty."
"Well, I must say firstly, Mandela was the son of Pondo princess. And then the mother of Mandela the princess ruled the southern part of Thembuland where the Matanzimas are now. We have women, we've had women, in Thembuland taking leading positions, ruling the country and the mother of Mandela was such a person. And there is an area where the Matanzimas are, when they see you they remember the stories about your grandfather Mandela."
One knows one's people without a shadow of doubt
No distance or circumstance can separate one from one's people
When I went to exhibit for school children in the villages I kept calling for my Mr Faku. Nobody knew who Mr Faku was
I didn't know who Mr Faku was,
only to realize it is my King, the most famous Mpondo King.
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