Rolihlahla Mandela - LONG WALK to FREEDOM

On 5th December 2013, Rolihlahla Mandela walked into the sunset to rest with his forefathers who had gone on before him.  The whole world practically descended on Johannesburg & later Qunu to pay tribute to an enigma. As for me, I spent time on the internet beaming all stations & reading anything to provide me a glimpse as to the reason for the fascination with this one soul.  So, it made sense that I should buy Mandela's autobiography as part of my Christmas reading.  I needed to hear from the horse's mouth. For some strange reason I had never felt that need to do so until Mandela's passing.

I cannot do justice to this autobiography though I must say at the outset that it is an excellent autobiography to read. 751 pages is long and the reader needs patience & stamina to go through the narrative without tiring.

I must digress by recalling my second visit to South Africa in 1999. I made friends with a white student in my class of German & Boer descent.  As we chatted about the New South Africa, some of his first remarks to me were about just how little he knew about the plight of black people during his youth.  What he had read of Mandela & the struggle in the white press at the time was not so objective.  He mentioned that the only black person he was acquainted with was the lady who cleaned  his parent's home.  TS took me to various suburbs in the Cape including to a church in the black suburb of Kayelitsha.  I had an inkling that he was somewhat atoning for the sins of his people because he bent over backward to ensure that I had a wonderful time.  A coloured classmate  later explained to me the policy on different suburbs for different races and how his own family were relocated.  As for me, I had - in my school days -  listened to freedom songs, watched the play 'Sizwe Bansi Is Dead", read 'Mine Boy', 'The Power of One' & other books, Watched the movies 'Cry Freedom' & 'Sarafina' but never quite comprehended the extent of the South African struggle.  How can one understand it unless they really live it?

What can I say really?  Let me start at the beginning.  My best chapter remains "A Country Childhood".   I am not a country bum but reading this chapter reminded me of my parents' native villages. A number of the Xhosa customs were so similar to those of my people & so it was with nostalgic fever that I went through Mandela's description of life in the Eastern Cape. To add icing to the cake, I was reading this book from the serenity of my parents country home ( after a 10 year hiatus) listening to the mowing of cows waiting to be milked , sound of crickets, crowing cocks, clucking hens...I felt nostalgic for the beauty of a virgin life unaffected by the hustle & bustle of  modernisation.

I cannot imagine being incarcerated for 27 years in the prime of my life.  It is a very high price to pay...even for freedom.  As I write this, I know that there are many other unsung heroes paid the ultimate price with their lives.  

 

How God must weep that the Dutch Reformed Church propagated the policy of "Apartheid" - Apartness in his name.   I wonder what verses were used to sanitise a system so brutal and so contrary to the Bible's fundamental teaching.  I wonder whether there will be mercy or  pardon for those who committed atrocities in the name of God.  

 

The movie "Sarafina" appealed to my emotions. I have watched it many times and I still shed tears each time.  It is not possible to watch the snitch Kitaa and not weep for him.  It is not possible not to watch "The funeral song", "Siwelele mama", "Safa Saphel Isizwe" and not be moved even though not comprehending the lyrics.  It is impossible not to understand the plight of Crocodile, Sarafina & their fellow students who had grown tired of the hopelessness of an education system that was taking them nowhere.  But Politics is complex.  It is amazing that many countries turned a blind eye to the suffering of the black Nation.  There are those nations who put their interests ahead of those of the suffering populace for after all South Africa was a rich country. There are others who were more afraid of the communist threat than they were passionate about the plight of a people so down trodden.

 

'Long  Walk to Freedom' appealed to my intellect and helped me understand the 'why'.  I felt - probably due to space constraints - that there were too many gaps...too many unexplained things.  I would need to read many other autobiographies to understand the whole story.

This is a book that every leader must read & grasp.  The understanding that 'a nation's grievances cannot be suppressed, that people will find a way to give voice to those grievances' is one that many leaders ignore in their pursuit for power.

I have learnt a lot of lessons for myself.   I did not get all the answers to the questions in my mind. But, one key lesson for me was the finale. " I can rest only for a moment. ...I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended".

Solomon Northup - 12 Years A Slave

I compelled Olivia to purchase Solomon Northup's narrative penned in 1853 or thereabouts for my Christmas reading.  My fascination was triggered by the fact that a Kenyan lass - Lupita Nyong'o is acting a part in the motion picture based on the narrative.  Ted also took me a movie watching so that I might be found on the right side of literary history. (What patriotism!)  As I write, Lupita has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress Award at the upcoming Oscars and invariably many articles are being written about her.  Like Obama before her, she has put Kenya positively on the map. The Mexican birthers be damned.

My sister, Wendy, remarked that this was one movie she has watched in which there was no opportunity to smile or laugh.  So saddened was she by the treatment of slaves that when the movie ended two hours later she 'felt cheated'.  As we exited the theatre - and considered other offerings -  she wondered why Ted hadn't selected something more palatable or uplifting for a Friday night.  My uncle quipped that the treatment of slaves was so gruesome that he was unable to appreciate Lupita's performance.  So incensed was he, when he countenanced the stripes on the bodies of the slaves. This is not a book to read or movie to watch when in a state of despair as it would only sink one further into the slough of despondency. Neither is it for the fainthearted.  Besides, the diction, syntax and accent in the movie is very old school that it might impede  one's understanding of the plot.

I complemented my literary exercise by reading reviews in the Independent, Guardian, New York Times, BBC & Daily Nation on both the book & movie.  I researched not just Lupita but also Chiwetel Ejiofor who plays the part of Solomon Northup. The 'funniest' related to fuss over posters in Italy advertising the movie. Brad Pitt who plays the minor part of Bass appeared prominently on the cover instead  of Chiwetel who, as Solomon Northup, is the main protagonist.  I was not surprised as Italy is still fighting her demons having been on the news lately on the racist treatment of a Cabinet Secretary of Congolese descent & the footballer of Ghanaian descent.  Oh! and Kenyan cartoonists have - in commemorating 50 years of our independence - satirised the common man's predicament as one of "50 Years A Slave".  I presuppose shackled  under the bondage of corruption, impunity, poverty, crime and unlimited vices from which the ordinary mwananchi is unable to extricate themselves.

I have gotten ahead of myself though. In reading the book, I was excited by 'old English'.  I marvelled at how spoken language has evolved since 1853. Were I to converse in the old way, my audience would have trouble understanding what I intended to communicate.  So it took me longer than usual to get through the 136 pages making up Solomon's tale.  When all is said and done,  as far as most motion pictures go, the movie is a faithful rendering of the narrative.  The producers have taken certain liberties without fundamentally altering the story line.

Like Solomon Northup, I too cannot "comprehend the justice of that law, or that religion, which upholds or recognizes the principal of slavery".  Over the years, atrocities have been perpetuated in the name of God & men/women have used religion and the law to subjugate their fellow man for personal gain.  Solomon absolves the slaver by stating that "It is not the fault of the slaveholder that he is cruel, so much as it is the fault of the system under which he lives".  This is the same explanation people profer about my country Kenya.  Is it the fault of a policeman when he bows down to bribery?

This is a book worth reading and I am glad that I bit the bullet.  The subject of slavery is complex but this narrative is rendered eye opening having been allegedly recounted by a negro, born free but unfortunate to be kidnapped and sold into slavery. Indeed Solomon was oblivious to what it meant to be a slave prior to his capture.  My favourite passage is "Let not those who have never been placed in like circumstances, judge me harshly".

In the end, Good eventually triumphs over Evil & Hoping against hope gets a just recompense of reward.  There are many who hold that this is a narrative of hope and indeed it is. Solomon Northup never gave up hope that he might - just might - one day be rescued from the sisyphean situation in which he found himself.  (The book demonstrates that even in the worst of human character there stand 'good' people like Mr Ford, Mr Bass, Ms Mc Coy & others who are willing to go against the grain.) Indeed all is not lost and we need not despair of this existence called life.  As St Paul famously taught us "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen."