!Uriǁ'aeǀona

Vi blir aldrig för gamla för att göra nya lärdomar. Det är väl oerhört roligt. På bokmässan träffade jag Sylvia Vollenhoven. Det har jag skrivit om tidigare. Vid ett av seminarierna berättade hon om den första personen bland södra Afrikas urbefolkning som finns omnämnd i arkiven. Hon kallas oftast för Krotoa. Men när Sylvia uttalade hennes namn förstod jag att hon egentligen hette något annat.

Krotoa tillhörde södra Afrikas urbefolkning. Jag har lärt mig att antingen säga Khoi eller San. Ibland Khoi-San. Ibland Khoi-khoi. Men Sylvia använde ett annat ord:

!Uriǁ'aeǀona

Det är alltså ett ord på ett urfolks språk, som har en egen ortografi (egna stavningsregler) eftersom det innehåller oerhört många klickljud, som inte motsvaras av någon bokstav i det latinska alfabetet. Det finns fortfarande människor idag som talar dessa språk. Men de är i ordets bokstavliga mening utrotningshotade. Tragiskt!

Den kvinna Sylvia berättade om och vars namn jag inte kan uttala hette med andra ord inte Krotoa utan !Oroǀõas. (När vi ändå är inne på namn fick hon vid sitt dop ytterligare ett namn, nämligen Eva.) !Oroǀõas föddes runt 1643 och dog 29 juli 1674.  Hennes farbror var tolk och hans namn var Autshumao. Krotoa lärde sig holländksa och portugisiska när hon arbetade med sin farbror. Hon togs sedan som slav – får vi förmoda – av nederländaren Jan van Riebeeck, som på det Holländska Ostindiska Kompaniets vägnar koloniserade Kaphalvön från 1652. Krotoas namn förekommer i kompaniets arkivmaterial redan från år 1952.

Hennes namn betyder att hon stod under någons förmyndarskap. Först hennes farbror och sedan Jan van Riebecks hustru Maria de la Quellerie. Vad Krotoa/!Oroǀõas fick för namn när hon föddes är okänt.

Hon var bara 11 år när hon fick börja arbeta hos Maria de la Quellerie men kom senare i sitt liv att fungera som förhandlare. Hon var viktig när det första kriget mellan holländarna och Khoi-Khoi skulle avslutas.

Hennes farbror, Autshumao, fänglsades så småningom på Robben Island. När jag var där minns jag att färjan vi åkte på hette just Autshumao. Vad jag förstår hamnade även Krotoa på Robben Island men inte som fånge utan för att hon gifte sig med den som var befälhavare för fängelses. Och han kom från Danmark. Eller kanske Sverige.

Jag uppfattar att hennes liv blev oerhört problematiskt, eftersom hon slets mellan två världar och möttes av misstro från båda.

Sylvia Vollenhoven har skrivit ett drama om denna märkliga kvinna:

Krotoa, Eva van de Kaap

Den föreställningen skulle jag gärna se.

 

Mycket av det jag skriver har jag hämtat från antingen Wikipedia eller South African history online.

ANC - watch out!

Regarding the elections in 2014, my belief is that the ANC is in for a hard time. Mandela is no present and the field is now wide open for people to vote according to their own conscious. This I have written before and already I see a number of signs that this is happening.

Ahmed Kathrada, one of Mandela’s fellow prisoners at Robben Island, spoke at Mandela’s funeral. I have not heard much of his speech. SABC and SAFM, the major TV and Radio broadcasters, are very loyal to the Government. But Kathrada did have some very serious things to say about the state of affairs, although he did it in a diplomatic manner. Times Live reports:

But perhaps the most powerful moment of all came when Kathrada, his voice quavering with grief, spoke of the gratitude South Africa should have for its "chapter nine" institutions, which safeguard democracy. Among these institutions is the office of the public protector, headed by Thuli Madonsela, which has been investigating the irregular expenditure of more than R200-million on Zuma's Nkandla estate. This line was not in his original speech.

It would have been interesting to have seen the face of Zuma when Kathrada said that.

So, I was quite surprised when I watched SABC 3 news tonight and they covered the NUMSA congress and the speech that suspended Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi held. He was received as a hero according to City Press. Cosatu says that he is not even allowed addressing any member union of the Cosatu. The interesting thing was how long part of the speech that SABC covered. He got almost a minute. That is quite a lot on TV. Just to recap: NUMSA is the largest trade union in Cosatu. Cosatu forms a tripartite alliance together with the ANC and the SACP (South African Communist Party). Vavi is not one of Zumas supporters. Cosatu has suspended him since he had an extra marital affair with an employee. Some analysts believe this was a political suspension. There is a rift in Cosatu and the group that is loyal to Zuma saw a chance to get rid of Vavi.

NUMSA, which is the union for metalworkers, has also opinions about the massacre at Marikana. They believe that it was planned and they blame, amongst others, Cyril Ramaphosa, vice president of the ANC and by many seen as the successor of Zuma. NUMSA also wants the National police commissioner, Riah Phiyega, to be suspended. According to BDLive NUMSA also wants Zuma himself to resign.

Another sign that ANC might get it tougher in the future is the new coalition: the Collective for Democracy. Although one of the five parties that were part of the coalition, IFP, now says, according to the Mail and Guardian, they are not; it is still a remarkable thing. The other four are the African Christian Democratic Party, Cope, the Freedom Front Plus, and the United Christian Democratic Party.

Remarkable is that Freedom Front Plus is one of them. It is a party to the right with many Afrikaner voters. As I understand it, those parties will still compete as separate parties. They just cooperate in the election.

On top of this we have DA, the biggest opposition party, Agang with Mamphela Ramphele and of course the populistic EFF, Julius Malema’s party. I am a bit worried though, that the opposition is too divided. I guess the ANC will use this as an argument. But the bottom line as I see it, is that people now are more open to criticise the ANC.

Faith Like Potatoes

Why “Faith Like Potatoes?” I need to start by explaining a little bit of the background. Most South Africans would know! But Swedes probably ask questions. Let me make it easy and quote Wikipedia:

Angus Buchan was originally a Zambian maize and cattle farmer of Scottish descent who started farming in Zambia but was forced to sell everything and move to Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 1978 due to political unrest in that country.

In 1980 he started the Shalom Ministries to preach in his local community. Over time he has become a full time evangelist while the farm is now being run mostly by both his sons.

In 1998 Angus wrote a book about his life, Faith Like Potatoes, the book was turned into a film of the same title in 2006. Angus Buchan's Ordinary People is a 2012 semi-biographical film that tells the story of the growth of Buchan's ministry from the 1970s to the present, and that of three fictional characters whose lives are changed after attending one of his conferences.

The conferences are called Mighty Men Conferences. In 2010 about 400 000 men of different age gathered.

We learned about his coming to Pietermaritzburg and my dear wife bought tickets. ZAR 15:-/person. Sunday at 2 pm we got two seats at the Harry Gwala Stadium, which is on walking distance from our home.  (Harry Gwala was a freedom fighter in the ANC who spent some years on Robben Island, together with Mandela. 1964-72. A different kind of mighty man).

On our way to the stadium I asked my wife:

What are your expectations?

She didn’t have any specific expectations, she answered. Myself I thought we were going to find ourselves in a charismatic revival happening. I also thought that it would be a very patriarchal context. Well, here comes my reflection:

It started with a few songs. Texts on two big screens. The band was good. The pastor from the church that organised the meeting welcomed all and after about 1 hour Angus Buchan entered the stage. What can I say? It’s a charming man. I can’t say that he is one of those aggressive preachers. Not at all! He really did his best to include people from different contexts. Starting in isiZulu, addressing youth, women, men, children etc. The atmosphere was inclusive. To a certain extent! And it was really multicultural, as far as I could see.

But there is a strong undercurrent. Of course I expected just that. His main target group is men, fathers. He wants men to stand up and be responsible. For instance he said like this, before inviting us to pray:

You who are fathers: I invite you to pray. Yours children will look at you, remember that. You must lead from the front.

When he spoke about mothers, which he also did, he naturally described them as housewives. He never mentioned anything about female leadership. I could go on with examples.

As a part of his sermon a 4 minutes video sequence was shown on the big screens. It was recorded when he preached in a conference in Ein Gedi, not far from the Dead Sea. See for yourself. He preaches about the first Pentecost, when the Spirit came as a wind. According to what he said, Ein Gedi is not a windy place and it never rains. That day a might wind, with scatters of rain, came down exactly when he read from Acts. What can I say? I was not there? See for yourself! The link comes here.

Revivals usually end with altar calls. Also this one. It was quite different, though. We were all invited to gather on the soccer field. I guess 98% did. A few songs, a few prayers. Everything was very structured. I was actually happy about the open invitation. I have been to similar meetings, were the preacher uses psychologically suspect methods, where people don’t come voluntarily.

The bottom line is this: It is much better that men are responsible and take care of their beloved ones than having a lot of confused men running around and behaving in an evil way. I do believe that Angus Buchan has meant a lot to many men and many families.

But this is not my piece of cake. I will never become the kind of father “which leads from the front”. Everyone who knows my wife will understand that she will never be the kind of person who can be described as

…. behind every successful man there is a woman …

She is not behind me. I am not behind her. We walk together. I read the quote in another form on a website from Ghana:

BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL MAN, THERE IS A WOMAN, BUT, BEHIND EVERY SUCCESSFUL WOMAN IS THERE A MAN?

Couldn’t we just hope that beside every person there is another person, for support? Isn’t that good enough?

Still, it was fruitful to be there and listen to him. It is not a context where I feel totally at ease.  But we belong to same Christian family. There is always something to learn.