Archie's Nanny Gives Him a Ride
I understand Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix docu series has their son Archie Harrison and his nanny. I saw an online photo where she is carrying him on her back.
There’s a Zulu word for it -be-le-tha. It also means the actual child birth. Nigerians have a perfect phrase for it: ‘putting to bed.’ The mother has put the child on the bed.
Women in Africa, Asia and the Pacific have carried babies on the back since the beginning of time. -beletha is an inclusive word that goes beyond the baby’s arrival. It recognizes that the baby was safe and warm in the mother’s womb. It is now in a strange place and proximity to the mother’s body helps its adjustment.
The mother breastfeeds the baby. She sleeps with it and carries it on her back. Therefore, the warmth and security that was in the womb continues. -beletha, all women at home carry the baby, not just the mother. It grows up and sleeps with brothers and cousins, a process which teaches it to love and deal with other people, besides parents.
Traditional societies in Africa, Asia and the Pacific had certain customs about giving birth. Their sole purpose was to protect the mother and child because without children, there is no family, no race, no nation. There was no postpartum depression because nobody worried about the husband. He had more than one wife.
The dual meaning of be-le-tha should be seen in that context. The first part is in Belize, but a soft ‘b’. The second part is pronounced as it let. The last part as in tally.
ZULU | ENGLISH |
Sa-jabula. Ube-le-thile. | We are happy. She has given birth. |
U-be-lethi-le. Amawele. | She has given birth. It’s twins. |
U-fe ebeletha. | She died giving birth. |
Beletha ingane. | Put the child on your back. |
Mama, ngi-belethe. | Mother, please carry me on your back. |
U-mama u-be-le-the ingane yakhe. | The mother is carrying her child. |
By: Nonqaba waka Msimang
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