Friday, May 30, 2014

THOUGHTS CAME RUSHING IN

Today I met a lovely lady at the super market Astaphans here in DA. She is a Dominican but lives somewhere else we engaged very intently on the education system in DA,South Africa and America and other social issues hat have black communities ticking, seeing we have been both exposed to all 3 places.

I had read a book on Regina Charlse the Iron Lady the first woman Prime Minister in Dominica and some how speaking to this woman felt like I was speaking to Lady Charles she awakened my imagination of how it would be to talk to Lady Charlse if she was still around.Voronica (the lady) is probably in her late 40 early 50's, truth is you can never tell cos I think the saying black dont crack came from the Caribbean there is a forever young fountain of water that women drink from because they look so young and beautiful and healthy. ANY WAY!!!....
This woman has passion for education, the kinda education that uplifts youth and people who under go this education process,looking at  how do we practicalise what we been learning in these institutions to apply it in our everyday life and this comes from the angle of the the amount of School drop outs.For there are many reasons why people may not be formaly educated BUT how do we empower ourselves outside the education system,can you make something of the nothing or little you have?kinda conversation.
She said that "there comes a point where this passion goes beyond yourself and it becomes about others and your well being,the magic of that comes from knowing yourself" and she  told me stories about when she was discriminated against because she was black and she is a woman but says the power and the peace comes from knowing who she is because identity plays a huge role in this cruel world.

She went on saying the "system will use those that don't know who they are,the power of knowing self is that it protects you from other peoples bullshit relating to insecurity and wanting to make you feel inferior.
So what if I am black so what if I am a woman it is my birth right tell me something I don't know.,I don't kiss ass I want my merit not credit" at this point I was besides myself with admiration.

For at that point I could relate with her,the passion for the youth and children,the remembrance of the communal feeling we grew up with.Sometimes I feel we where the last generation before parents gave up on children and schools went worse.Our conversation led us to conclude that no matter where you are the black situation is the same in terms of illiteracy,poverty,lack of employment and spiritually sick social structure and that the key lies with in education(balance of formal and informal) within its formal structure and traditional teaching from home active parents in the raising of their children side by side with the institutions.

We looked at identity,culture and language and their complexity in explanation,but who are we when we do not know where we from and where are we going as individuals as race and as human kind.The role of language in shaping our communities and society. For language especially English it is a father tongue it represents imperialist,colonialist,patriarchal dominant presence,it is a language that has to be disrupted so as to be able to articulate ourselves outside this control as a people communities,societies and individuals.

Maya Angelou's passing, like anything that has to do with the matters of the heart,had me thinking deeply added by the conversation with Veronica had me thinking greatly about purpose,intention and direction of my life and the well being of human kind.
It is almost 2 years since I left my homeland for the first time,and I am continuously learning and growing and like the women before me I confirm with no doubt or regret that life is for the living and knowing yourself and loving self will lead you to loving humankind and being an active part to the educating and edutainment people to take the path of seeking self and knowing your God for these days we living in times where others may feel embarrassed to  profess they know God/Jah/Ancestors because they think they are being judged or its not cool because our ideas of God has been distorted so we need to renew and find self to align self with intention,purpose and direction.

My experiances in the past year and months has left me feeling that we not ready for God here is a poem I wrote:


WE not ready
Save our souls
Sindisa uphefumulo wami
These are prayers whispered in darkness
Salvation
Look deep within only to find the only sin commited
Is forgetting self
The failure to see God when you look in the mirror
Who am i
Seeking redemption while singing songs of struggle
Redemption from choices made]fears accepted
Failing to accept our role in the script of living and loving
What is my purpose
Salvation has me thinking we not ready for God
Too many are dieng premature death aborted before labour
We are slaves to mans ego seeking salvation outside ourselves
We are not ready for God
Media normalises murder,promotes fear,breeds suspicious minds
And potraying love as a fairy tale
Where am I going
Have we lost  our calling
Have we forgotten we don’t walk alone
Ye cos we too busy seeking salvation
We are not ready for God
When there are minds wounded suffering from amnesia
Spirits confused  and morals devalued
Spiritual teachers are selling salvation
We are not ready for God
For we have forgotten what it means to
Give
We have forgotten what it means to
Care
We have forgotten what it means to love
We have forgotten our state of Godliness
Salvation
Our ancestors where forced to close their eyes
Bow their heads in prayer
(all the while they thinking what a strange God)
They taught our ancestors to say amen
Cos God just took their land and put yokes around their children
Yet we continue to seek salvation from the slave masters manual
Praying with our eyes closed and hands clasped together
We never saw the blessings come nor received the touch
With eyes closed blinded spirits cant see light
So absent mindedly we wait for a Christ
To set us free and while we wait 
we deny travellers amongst us water and bread
We gossip about strangers we do not know
and spread slander on a neighbour we know all our lives
We deny broken hearts a shoulder to cry
We deny tired souls rest
All the while we wait for Christ
We are not ready for God
For it seems we have forgotten how to love
How To accept being loved
Save our souls
Sindisa uphefumulo wami

These are prayers whispered in darkness


I am learning continuously from the children I work with and from the strangers that I meet that have become family and it feels they have always been family, that
life is  long and the one constant thing is love,self love will lead you to the right people and in my travels I have come to accept the feeling that comes with people who make you feel like they have been waiting for you all their lives.

Lately it seems in our majority  we living like we dont have a purpose nor plan and the people of old are remembering the goodness that came with the package of living life with a purpose,where are we going?what are we doing/what are we working towards? as a people and these are questions are for ourselves and our communities and the society we create collectively.a life of purpose

live the life you love and love the life you live...I am my sisters keeper I am my brothers keeper.

love and light













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