Nonqaba said ...

Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang. I need my glasses for reading. I need to read because I write. I use a computer so I need to see images on the screen. Quite frankly, I cannot imagine life without my glasses. I don’t think about it most of the time because they are there, on the desk, table or my face. I only think how lucky I am when people in a public place ask me to read something for them. I used to oblige them but wonder why they don’t wear glasses if their vision is weak. We are at home with this COVID-19 problem, so we do things we don’t like doing, like going through paperwork which goes as far back as 2017. Bills from my eye doctor were a rude reminder why people who need glasses don’t wear them. They don’t come cheap. If you wear glasses, you know there are prior things that must be done before you get your glasses. What is wrong with your eyes? Tests must be done and that costs money. I found a bill for $150 for eye testing among old papers in the desk drawers. The eye d

Advise is luleka i n Zulu. Advise comes from sharing knowledge I suppose, usually with the younger generation, or younger staff members who have just joined the organization. It was something else for women in ancient Africa. Mothers advised their daughters very early in life. The most important advice came just before they got married and it was pretty standard: respect your husband, respect your in-laws, respect your husband’s other wives and have patience. When they didn’t listen to their husbands, their in-laws blamed their mothers for not advising them properly. In some instances, they were sent back home to be re-advised. In modern times, governments and CEO’s have advisers. Twitter makes advisers redundant because presidents speak off the cuff, spewing sentiments that are detrimental to the future prospects of a political party. We are in a COVID-19 situation, so the World Health Organization (WHO) advises us how we go about preventing more infection. Lu-le-ka (to a

Toronto Blue Jays Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Photo credit: online pic Sporting News. COVID-19 is anti-human because it goes against nature, which is keeping human beings close, very close to each other. Babies are close to their mothers in the womb, close when they feed from the breast and close when mothers carry them on their backs. They grow up and play sports and most of them are contact sports. They play soccer and basketball, which demand that they stay close to the guy with the ball. Enter COVID-19. Keep six feet apart otherwise you might catch the virus. There are very few sports that will survive social distancing. Hockey for one. Although it is a contact sport, they already were masks, so the National Hockey League (NHL) will tweak them a bit to accommodate COVID-19. Cricket and baseball have long distances between players so, there is a future for them, post COVID-19. Let’s take a clinical view at baseball. It is social distancing personified. Bases on a basebal

COVID-19 has grounded flights and laid off staff. Airports are big classrooms, but no big deal to kids that fly all the time to  Spelling Bee competitions arranged by public schools, visit relatives in Atlanta, go on vacation to Port Louis, Mauritius or regularly pick up mom from the airport after her business trip to Milan. Most schools have field trips, a great learning tool, especially for kids whose parents don’t have cars. Even if they do, we cannot assume that they’ve been to airports. Canada and the U.S. have affordable vehicles they use to go to work, take kids to schools or just take drives on the excellent roads, but not all parents have taken kids to the airport for lunch or to watch planes take off. You don’t need a car to go to the airport in most countries in Europe. For example, if you live in London, the underground will take you to Heathrow Airport. Still, not all kids are exposed to airports because most of them are situated out of town. Airports occupy a

We erect statues outside town halls for men who killed other men women and children in other countries for our country. prime ministers and presidents have elaborate ceremonies to unveil them time moves along in a 24/7 fashion and we forget them despite passing these statues everyday Don’t erect any statue for Maya Angelou. ©  Nonqaba waka Msimang, 26 May 2020. She was no statue. She was a river, a rippling mass of poetic messages that glided over rocks and algae on the way to my mind. Maya is alive every time I notice something new in my body. I smile and say ‘Maya!’ Her poems validate me. All the time, because Maya loved Maya. I love myself, every nook and cranny, whatever season, whatever year. Maya loved herself in a delicious and mischievous way. Phenomenal Woman  is widely quoted, but it is not the only poem about loving you for you. There was a poem where she said she walked like she has diamonds between her thighs. Is that right? I’m not sure. What happ

“What are you doing this summer?” “Honestly, we don’t know.” The 2020 summer will be frustrating for people who take annual holidays because they will look at their cellphone calendars and groan: “We would be in the Maldives by now.” Photo: Nonqaba waka Msimang. COVID-19 forced them to cancel everything. They had booked flights, hotels, chalets, camping sites and even got medical shots for the countries they intended to visit. Folks who have second homes are not worried because they will drive to the cottage as they do every summer. They don’t have to worry about being in the thick of things like airports, nightclubs and beaches, where social distancing is impossible. Try swimming with a mask. Summer vacation and owning a second property is for people who can raise credit for these things or have some petty cash like Oprah or Michael Bloomberg. We call them rich. However, there are millions that cannot relate to COVID-19 upsetting summer plans because they don’t go on v

Photo credit: online pic. Milking is  se-nga  in Zulu. Looking after cattle was part of a boy’s growing up in ancient KwaZulu. Boys knew when to take cattle grazing and when to bring them back home for milking, which is called u-ku-senga . A lot has changed because families don’t own as many animals as they used to. Urban kids don’t know how to milk cows, boys in rural areas do. They know how to se-nga , (milk a cow). In ancient KwaZulu, boys knew which cows were not  to be milked because they were heavy, and just about to give birth. That is why there is a proverb about telling lies: u-se-nga e-zi-mi-thiyo , meaning she is saying the impossible: milking pregnant cows. She is lying. In modern times corrupt politicians, soldiers, or ministers of religion milk the public purse. They steal. Loving too much can also be a problem because it makes you blind. ‘ He is milking her business and she doesn’t know,’  say her workers. Se-nga . You say the first part like sell, the sec

Photo Credit: online pic. Political ambition. What do you want to be when you grow up? Prime Minister. German Chancellor. U.S. President. Senator. Member of Parliament. Governor. Kids’ answers are not carved in stone because they fluctuate. They depend on many factors such as age, current interest, what is in vogue socially or parental influence. If kids demonstrate consistency in political ambition from let’s say ten to  teenage years, parents can help support them in various ways. It’s easier if parents are congressmen, congresswomen, premiers or mayors. Kids get involved in distributing posters, smiling and shaking hands, public speaking and dealing with the media at an early age.   How can parents support kids who are convinced that they want to be politicians? It’s obvious. They start with the basics: respect your parents, women, people who don’t look like you, poor people and rich people, understand various religions and be careful what you say to your friends in private.

A human being is u-muntu  in Zulu. Many human beings  a-bantu . U-mu-ntu . You say the first part like ooze the second like moot and the last like lint, but with a u  at the end. A-ba-ntu . You say the first part like Anna, the second like Babatunde, a Nigerian man’s name and the last like mint, but with a u  at the end. A Grade 3 teacher asked her kids to make sentences using bean. One little scholar said, “We are all human beans. ” There you go, out of the mouth of babes. All human beings are created equal because they are born and die the same way, but there was, and still is slavery, based on religion, race or gender. Slavery is stripping away the human-ness of a group of human beings, so that you can murder, rape, steal their land or use them as free labour. ZULU ENGLISH Abantu bakwa-Zulu. Zulu people. Abantu base-Portugal. People from Portugal. Ubaba u-nabantu. Father has many people (he’s popular). U-mama uno-buntu. Mother is very kind, has humanity. U-Mandla u