Know yourself African Child!

There are many changes in the world and so are there changes in society and our cultures. We as the children of umgquba (African soil), isizwe somzi ontsundu (black nation) have forgotten who and what we are.  We have moved forward with the world and left behind the legacy that our forefathers had left behind for us to pick up and move forward with. We have forgotten what isiXhosa and ubuXhosa is, what it is to be umXhosa.

Hello I am Aviwe Sinathi Nqanqali, a 1^st year journalism student at Walter Sisulu University in East London and to make my writing skills better I will be speaking my mind on isiXhosa my home language, the language with so many clicks even the name itself represents the clicks spoke in the language hence the “X”, clicks that are enough to confuse abantu bebala(English speakers) or foreigners except for the Khoi-Khois because that’s where they are borrowed from and ubuXhosa what makes me who I am today; my clan name which is vital in our culture because if you don’t know isiduko(clan name) sakho then you don’t know who you are because a clan name kwaXhosa is how you identify yourself and if you don’t know your identity you are known as “ubukranuka” meaning you lack identity, the traditions of my culture that I uphold, amasiko nesithethe zakowethu. Our traditions in our Xhosa culture are part of us because most of them transform you mentally and physically. Imbleko is done for a newborn who is being introduced to the ancestors; intonjane is done for a teenager who is going into adulthood or womanhood and ulwaluko which is done for a boy who is going into manhood. UbuXhosa is showing respect to your elders not speaking when an adult is speaking, and when being spoken to you must not maintain eye contact also knowing that umama is not only the woman who gave birth to you but also the mother from next door and also the mother you bump into on the streets, same as utata. From that, the saying is “it takes a village to raise a child” was born.

 Time have changed an so has society, children have rights but don’t know that they have responsibilities, umntana womXhosa (a Xhosa child) has forgotten who and what they, they don’t have anyone else to blame but their parents for not taking the time to teach their child about IsiXhosa and ubuXhosa 

It takes a village to raise a child!