Nonqaba said ...

Canada. South Africa is in Africa obviously, and the next thing that comes to mind is the sun, not snow.  That’s why people who live there jump for joy when it snows. African languages have the word snow. For example, it is called iqhwa in Zulu, so it means climate change as such, is not responsible for it. African languages had to create words for things that came with the invasion by European countries. Tea = itiye Coffee = ikhofi Sugar = ushukela Bus = ibhasi Key = ukhiye But snow is ingrained in the language. That’s why it has a name iqhwa . The beauty of the language is how it expresses the act, of snowing. Liya-khithika . = It’s snowing. Li-khithikile e-Kapa . = It snowed in Cape Town. Snow comes from above. It is gentle, caressing and some of it doesn’t reach the ground. It disappears mid-air. Zulu language captures that essence ‘ khithika . ’ This word does not include snowstorms, which are frustrated and vindictive. It is only for the actual process, falling snow. This is an

Winnipeg Manitoba, 2022. Truckers protesting vaccine mandates. Protests in London, Winnipeg, Montreal, Berlin, Johannesburg and Lagos have two protesters: genuine and accidental. Both are important because they can influence policy. However, they failed to keep Britain in the European Union (EU). In 2016, a referendum was called to see if Britain wanted to remain in the EU or exit. 52% voted for BREXIT. In 2019, protesters took to the streets to demand staying in the EU after all. That didn’t work because as it stands, Britain left the E.U. so, massive protests against BREXIT did not change yes we must, referendum results. Who were genuine protesters, who were accidental? It’s hard to tell.  Genuine protesters usually have megaphones and conduct chants. I was going to say they also have placards but changed my mind. Sometimes organizers place placards strategically where anyone can pick them up. I’ll take another risk and say genuine protesters are in T-shirts with messages in large le

Afghanistan had a girls’ institution, the School of Leadership.  After the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, students and staff flew to Rwanda, Africa where they will stay temporarily, according to Shabana Basij-Rashik, one of the school’s co-founders. Removing a whole school from one country to another demonstrates two things. l  President Biden and Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda have some secret partnership, which made Kagame agree to the school’s relocation. Rwanda depends on the U.S. one way or the another, which cannot be shared with citizens. l  President Biden engineered the move as early as January 20, 2021, the day of his inauguration. Why? Because moving a whole school across territorial borders, involves certain logistics. Land. America’s interest in Africa is land and its underground resources. Every financial agreement has a collateral. So whatever loan America, China or Europe give Africa, land is the collateral. There’s no free lunch in America so Biden called in some

Online pic: Meng Wanzhou wears an electronic chain so that she doesn't 'run away.' Background Meng Wanzhou, Chief Financial Officer of Huawei, the electronics well from China, has been under house arrest in Canada since 2018. Why? The United States wants Canada to hand her over so that America can try her in court for breaking U.S. sanctions against Iran. Does it have proof? They maintain it is in a Power Point presentation Wanzhou made to a Hong Kong bank in 2013. Can Canada hand her over? Yes. The two countries have an Extradition Treaty which allows them to hand over people who committed crimes in their countries, ‘provided these offenses are punishable by the laws of both Contracting Parties by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year.’ Meng Wanzhou’s attorneys have always maintained, what U.S. claimed is the basis for the extradition, is not a crime in Canada. Trump Politics What U.S. claimed was a crime was in fact, an illegal act by the U.S. under international law,

A tipi. It will be very difficult to explain the internet to aliens because the platform doesn’t have a residential address. It doesn’t have flags either, something Europe introduced to continents they stole, which they now call poor. Aliens love street numbers and zip codes so that they can drop by and play with the kids and, never grew up kids. Aliens don’t exist anymore because Hollywood got tired of the script or, did we get tired? That’s another story. The internet is mainly a den of thieves, chameleons and a market place. We can also put down the cellphone for a minute and look up and compare it with sky tenants. The Sun : The sun gives life, so do many useful things we get online: information about schools opening and closing, planes taking off on time or delayed, Covid-19 vaccination sites, hospitals in your area, shops, kindergarten, the weather, traffic lights not working, GPS, places to avoid because of floods or fire etc. The Moon : The internet hosts things done in the dar

There are many reasons for homelessness. Family is one of them. Some people end up on the street, sleeping under bridges or bus shelters because of emotional and physical fire at home. Some girls decide to be sex workers because of sexual abuse by stepfathers or relatives and mothers not believing them. All families have untold painful stories, that make drivers relish evening bumper to bumper traffic. Just sitting in the car, delaying the inevitable, facing the music at home. Some people take out the dog to avoid confrontation. Others dread being told about the evil of how Canadian women dress, something they knew before choosing to emigrate. Working out at the gym is an escape hatch for many people. What leads to leaving home is personal and a culmination of many things, but it is the last option. Some people didn’t have a choice. They were nudged out or kicked out. There are always two sides of the story. Homelessness is the end product of failure to bring them together in some  com

Kids at play. Cell Boy, who lives with his parents in some gated property in the city is visiting Grandma Sykes in a rural area. He meets his cousin Nature Boy for the first time. Both are 10. They’ve been together for two days but no brotherly love is flowing. Nature Boy : Let’s go home. The rain is coming. Cell Boy : How do you know? You don’t have a phone. Nature Boy : I have eyes. Can’t you see? Ants and rabbits are hurrying home. Cell Boy : You can be so creepy.  You know what? I’ll Google the rain. Nature Bo y: See ya’. Cell Boy : You can’t leave me here. I don’t know the way home. Nature Boy : Google it. Cell Boy : Come, let’s take a selfie before we go. Nature Boy : Here in the forest? Cell Boy : Yea. It will look great in my YouTube channel. Nature Boy : Look, there’s a tiger on that branch. Cell Boy drops the phone and runs for his life. Nature Boy picks it up and walks leisurely out of the forest. This is another ‘written podcast’ by Nonqaba waka Msimang.      

Whoopi Goldberg had the lead role in Sarafina,  the film based on a South African play by Mbongeni Ngema. African Americans and Africans born and raised in the Motherland share many family moments. They also share the pain, such as slavery in the U.S. and slavery called apartheid, in South Africa. Time passed and they became part of the workforce through their education and laws that prohibit racism in the workplace. Employers in the two countries found a loop hole: hiring ‘foreign’ blacks. I’m hesitant about that label because Africa is the source, for both stolen sons and daughters and those who remained at home. After the 1994 national election in South Africa, where blacks voted for the first time, managerial jobs were advertised so that both black and white could apply. However, corporate South Africa could not stand ‘our blacks’ so they actively hired ‘foreign’ blacks from mainly Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. They believed that Africans from neighbouring countries were not mil

Pic: Nonqaba waka Msimang. We like borders, stop signs and picket fences. They are restrictive. We don’t like the sky. It’s wide. It’s too much work and we don’t have the mental capacity to think about it. Rewind. We once had the mental capacity, but we grew up. We lost it, at five years old. Because we like borders, we restrict the meaning of words, put them in freezer bags and label them. That’s why we don’t see the relationship between things, natural phenomena. The sun and moon get on very well because they know their relationship. Take the word birth for example. She has given birth. West Africans have a wonderful way of putting it. ‘She has put to bed. ’ Makes sense doesn’t it? The baby was in the stomach, now it’s on the bed. Birth means something new, unique but, it should not be restricted to totally new. It must include recycling and its relationship to the environment. Take compost, for example. The Zulu language whose umbilical cord is buried in the province called KwaZulu-

Canada. Calling a federal election is a wrong move because it is the wrong time. Life is not right because of the health emergency the world is facing. The dance changes, when the music changes, to quote and African proverb. There is no rationale for the election. The Liberal Party wants a majority at all costs. Justin Trudeau has abandoned us. He’s no longer the government, but a self-serving individual, delusional enough to think that Canadians are going to gift him that majority. How do we have an election when we’re still pandemic hostages? Restrictions are still in place. Life is not normal and we don’t know when it will be. Opposition parties can be the bad guys, but they worked with Trudeau during lockdown to ensure that we, insignificant voters have basic needs. Why fix it, if it’s not broken? A minority government is not the end of Canada as a political entity, check the archives. Trudeau has forced an unnecessary election on the people. Canadians expect the government to be c

Online pic. Covid-19 might be the main reason why U.S. Germany and U.K. are pulling out of Afghanistan. In true military tradition of hiding things from citizens, America and war friends won’t admit it. There won’t be a single line about the pandemic in media statements explaining withdrawal from Kabul. How does the army handle Covid-19, besides vaccination? Pandemic logistics demand social distancing, donning masks, sanitizing grocery carts and washing hands. What did the army do in Afghanistan, sanitize guns? Containing the virus is almost impossible in a war situation where soldiers are in close contact. There might be areas where specialists work in isolation, like electronic surveillance and propaganda, but by and large, soldiers are packed in jeeps and aircraft to be dropped off somewhere. Ground operations involve soldiers moving in groups to designated targets. Sign language has long been the staple of crouching soldiers, but conversation in mess halls or trenches is necessary

Lota Chukwu and Frederick Leonard in Tailor My Heart. MOVIE : Tailor My Heart DIRECTOR : Charles Uwagbai CAST : Frederick Leonard, Lota Chukwu GENRE : Romance (Nigeria TV) This movie is constantly in my consciousness because the camera tells the story. What do you mean? Of course movies are not slides. They are moving pictures captured by the camera. I concur, but Tailor   My Heart  is a camera friendly movie because there’s no single line with the traditional ‘I love you.’ The camera tells me what time it is emotionally, between boy and girl. Film students in colleges and universities learn about silent movies. There’s no dialogue. Unfortunately, they are dismissed as brash comedy and nothing else. But they are very important in cine history because they told a story without actors saying anything and viewers got the message. Then they introduced dialogue: ‘talkies.’ In Africa, what killed movies was the boom microphone. Directors forgot that it can be detached from the pole

Peeling corn to check for worms. Worm is impethu  in Zulu. Guess what? You pronounce it as impetus, without the ‘s’ of course. Great news for the Zulu language class. Corn, which is called mielies in Africa, is in season. You see shoppers at farmers’ markets peeling off leaves to check for worms. Certain stores no longer allow it. Buy corn, check for worms at home. Kids love climbing peach trees. They take a bite at a ripe peach. Surprise! It is full of worms. Some workers like to ‘worm’ themselves into managers’ grace, something that has ruined a lot of employees, but is not discussed. English has another proverb: a can of worms. Former U.S. President Donald Trump planted a worm that the election was stolen. It has multiplied and states governed by the Republican Party continue to pass laws that make it harder to vote. ZULU ENGLISH Ibolile. Ine-zimpethu. It’s rotten. It has worms. Impethu i-bulale umbila. Worms killed the crop. Angimthandi. Uyimpethu. I don’t like him/her. She/He is a

Abacha, Nigerian food made from cassava. Online pic. Food trends are amusing and are usually propagated by the moneyed class because it  dabbles in all kinds of ‘diets.’ Kale was on sale last week at a local grocery store. It was a trend for some years and was expensive. Eating healthy is good for us just like mama said: ‘eat your greens.’ I didn’t like going to grandma’s place out of town because she had a supermarket: her fields. We thought she was poor because she didn’t give us bacon, sausages, bologna and potato chips. She only cooked a yard chicken when one of us were off to college. The majority of people in this world don’t eat trends. They eat what is in the backyard, if they are lucky enough to have some land. In cities, food is what the pocket can afford, such as baked beans and food from a box like mac n cheese and indomie noodles. Indomie noodles, like most things that come from China are cheap and one, two, three you have a meal. They have a lot of salt but few people in

Nigeria, girls kidnapped for mass rape in the name of religion. Religion is the ‘opium of the people.’ This is attributed to Karl Marx, the German philosopher who died in exile in England. I’m using it reluctantly because I’ve never read any of his books. I’m aware of the quote because it has been rehashed a million times. What i know about religion leads me to one conclusion. Religion and language are siblings, children of the same parents. Indeed, religion is the mother and father. In ancient times, in what is now known as Canada, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, people and the gods understood each other. They spoke the same language. That was fundamental because religion is basically praying to dead people, for example Islam, Judaism, Christianity or Buddhism. Religion travels, carried by men with guns, looking for slaves and gold. Once it lands, religion becomes the emperor, the conqueror or Her Royal Majesty. Language is inextricably linked to religion, like teeth and the tongue. The

B.C. First Nations and Environmentalists want logging to stop. Wild fires are having a good time because there’s nothing to stop them. No trees means no buffer to the sun and wind. You see, we became developed, cut them down so that we can build baseball and basketball stadiums, highways, housing estates, nuclear plants, office buildings and factories. We gave  agriculture a new name: exports. Everything in the soil is produced in bulk so that it can be sold all over the world. Trees are in the way so we ‘clear the land’ for fruit farming, sugar estates, tobacco and other agricultural exports. Trees are the main target when ‘clearing the land.’ There are old and baby trees. We lease big logging machines to not only cut them down, but excavate 100 years- old roots as well. Trees are gone, but nature continues with its program, sun and wind.  Trees absorb angry sun rays until the sun gives up and it rains. They also absorb the rain, making all kinds of soothing sounds we don’t hear becau

  One of U.S. military bases in Japan. What right does America have, to have military bases in other countries and to support insurrection?  The question is seldom asked within its borders, but you hear it quite often if you live in other parts of the world. The answer is World War 2. There were two enemies: Germany and its friends, Japan and Italy, fighting the British Empire and its friends, China, France and Russia. America was not in the war, when it started. Britain and its friends were getting a beating from Germany and friends like Japan. During those days, he who controlled the high seas and the air controlled the world. Britannia ruled the waves and skies therefore, it got a shock when on 8 December, 1941 Japan, so far away from Hawaii, bombed American ships and planes stationed in Pearl Harbor. Because of the time difference, it was still 7 December in Hawaii and Washington. To say America was incensed at being caught napping while it was buying Christmas gifts for the tree ,