NIZI LIBELE UKBA NIZALA NGOBANI.

NIZILIBELE UK'PA NIZALWA NGOBANI



Living in a 3rd world country means that there is an inclination to aspire to EVERYTHING projected by the 1st world. We blindly gulp whatever they throw our way. So our personalities though gifted think popularity is some sort of currency. Chasing and emulating the Diddy lifestyle with not even a fraction of his pocket, oblivious to the fact that the African context is far different. So hungry are we for a piece of the American pie they allow Nike to give them free clothes without the endorsement deal, because even Nike knows that in your chase of the American Dream you have forgotten your worth, inevitably they keep riding us from behind. Like someone said 'some of you guys love JayZ so much that if he had to be in a prison cell with you and he raped you, you wouldn't report it'.

The apartheid regime believed so much in what they were about that even in the midst of international isolation. They stood their ground and started their own Sanlams and Sasols yet with all the freedom we have we are forever willing to sell our birth right to the Barclays of this world.

One of my absolute prides as a young woman of African descent is the loins from which I come. The resilient strength, selflessness of bo Gog' Lilian Ngoyi who was the prominent leader of the militant women's campaigns, both in the urban areas and in the rural backyards of our country. Bo Mam' Thandi Modise, tortured while heavily pregnant that her water broke yet she stood and pursued a freedom she hoped for. Bo Helen Joseph who was a Brit married to a South African yet inherited the hope to freedom as if she was a daughter of the soil, Dorothy Nyembe, Sophie du Bruyn, and Rahima Moosa who is one of the women who spear headed the 1956 historic march in which more than 20.000 women of all races participated on the 9th of August, to protest against the pass laws for women .

These were our grandmothers, who gave birth to even stronger daughters with bold courage bo Mam' Gloria Serobe a founding member and CEO of Wiphold, Mam' Daphne Nkosi CEO of Kgalagadi one of the biggest Manganese mining companies in the country. Bo Bridgette Radebe founder of Mmakau Mining. Mam Zanele Mbeki founding member of Women's Business Development.

In the days of our youth there is always wool over our eyes in how we define success for our parents it was shoes from Spitz and for this generation its German wheels.
But the student always supersedes the master and if this lineage of phenomenal women is anything to go by then you and I have our work cut up for us.

So may we give room for our 8year old to learn the Freedom Charter before gyrate to Rihannas Rude Boy. So the next time they sit through MTV reality TV marathon they may know that you are of a different fabric, that though our stories are similar, ours is in no way identical to the african american story.
Or in the midst of your Louis Viutton Bad, Jimmy Choos, somewhere in between the champagne popping and cigar smoking may we make a mental note that one day our generation is going to rule our population. As great at these women are they can in noway gives us our dreams nor can they fulfil them for us. Their stories can only help us courage in reaching for our dreams.

To all my peers who have been blessed with the gift of motherhood.

Happy Belated Mothers :-)