Friday 28 October 2011

What's in a name


When I moved to SA in 2008 I found accommodation in a 1 bedroom cottage at the back of a larger house in Kempton Park. Towards the end of 2008 tenants in the main house moved out and a white Afrikaner family moved into the main house. It was a couple in their early 30s with two kids, one 5 going on 6 and the other a two year old toddler.

The wife was, according to me, a nut-case and on several occasions I found the henpecked husband with his suitcases packed ready to move out. I often found myself playing the role of elder trying to calm tempers and patch up things. My personal opinion was that the husband would be better off without the nagging wife, but like the good African elder I always advised them to think of their children and stay together. This was even before the events I am about to recount below happened.

Then December came and my children came for the holidays. My daughter was almost 10 and my son who was 6 years old. The children were instant friends. Never mind that my son couldn't speak English yet, and the little white girl not a word of Shona, they just found ways to play together - barrelling around the yard at tireless speeds the entire day. Phew! You can never tell where children get this much energy! Nowadays I cannot even maintain a sedate jog for a minute.

My children of course were not allowed into the main house. So the little girl often came to play in the cottage with my son. On many occasions I would hear her bowling being thrashed by the mother. I didn't want to interfere too much and I didn't ask why though I often advised the mother not to beat a child so young. After a thrashing the little girl would spend maybe half a day without setting foot in my house but a few hours later she would be back.

Then one day she just piped up, "Jupiter, my mother beats saying I should not play with your children. She says black children will give me diseases."

I certainly didn't mind her playing with my children but at the same time I didn't want to use her plight to make a point and get her into more trouble with the mother. It was her who was getting a terrible beating and I didn't want her continue being beaten. At the same time I didn't mind her playing with my children. So there I was just looking at her at a total loss for words on how to express my thoughts.

"But I like Kumbi." My son is named Kumbirai. "Kumbi is very nice."

We looked at each other with my wife.

"You can play with Kumbi, but you should also listen to your mother." was all I could manage to say.

"But Kumbi is my friend. And Fungai is also nice."

"Kumbi will always be your friend, but your mother also likes you so you should listen to her."

"My mother says I should find white friends, but there are no nice ones."

The girl never stopped coming to my cottage and she got many more beatings for it and her plight was one of the reasons I decided to move away from the place. The adults of the white family never said anything bad to me. The husband was genuinely nice, I could tell. The wife was careful to wear the 'nice' mask in front of us. I don't think she ever realised what her daughter had told us. I decided that confronting the family would probably get the girl more beatings and possibly stigmatisation so to save her I had to move away with my children.

Then three months ago my sister had a baby daughter. We jokingly suggested that the now 9 year old Kumbirai find a name for the baby. He spend a day thinking hard then he came up with a name, Ameline. It didn't click in my mind immediately but Ameline was the name of the little white girl. When I eventually realised it and I mentioned it to my wife we all laughed. My mother and my sister were all delighted by the name and how it came to be. The name was immediately adopted so now I have niece called Ameline named after Kumbi's friend, a sweet white girl beaten by her mother for playing with Kumbirai.

Fungai, my daughter also came up with a name for the baby, Anotida. So my niece's names are Anotida Ameline. In Shona they literally mean 'Ameline likes us' or 'She likes us, Ameline'. At the time it didn't strike me but now the more I think about the more I wonder. Is this a coincidence or were my children trying to make a point? They certainly never said anything to suggest they wanted to make a point and Fungai explained that her name suggestion came from Mwari Anotida (God loves us).

The statement they ended up making about their friend who was beaten up by her mother for playing with them is quite powerful and inspiring.

I wonder whether Ameline would be allowed to name a new baby Kumbirai, after her friend a black boy, not just by her mother but by any member of her family. I can only wonder, for I will never know the answer.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Rowan Williams's Approach Was Wrong

The recent visit by head of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has done nothing to solve the split in the Anglican church and was in fact handled in a manner that is likely to make matters worse.

Dr Williams should have started with an honest appraisal of the history of the conflict. The Anglican church itself started the conflict, displaying bigotry and intolerance towards Kunonga over his political opinion. Kunonga refused to toe the church's chosen political line and criticize President Robert Mugabe in the same way Pius Ncube was doing.

Dr Williams should acknowledge this mistake and take steps to correct it as the foundation to solving the woes of the Anglican church in Zimbabwe. He should not seek to offload that burden onto Robert Mugabe's shoulders now that things have not gone the way he wanted.

I had hoped that Dr Williams would act to heal the rift in the church. However it is clear the he chose a tone that inflamed tensions and sought to shift the blame to politicians. It was preposterous and condescending for the bishop to not even bother to acknowledge rulings by Zimbabwe's courts.

His decision to seek to appeal to 'Mugabe's powers' is a very thinly veiled insult aimed at Zimbabwe's constitution. It is not Mugabe's job to overturn court rulings.

The bearded reverend needs to be reminded that it is his faction that went to court first. Now that the courts have ruled against them, they want to take the matter to politicians. What a joke. If they knew what judgement they wanted why didn't they simply tell the judges to pass it rather than make a ruling.

The comical irony of the matter is that they are seeking the intervention of the very same politician they were attacking when they vilified Kunonga.

Dr Williams should stop trying to turn the Anglican church into another political party in Zimbabwe. He should stop trying to dictate the political opinion his flock should hold. He should have let those who support Mugabe do so in peace and those against him also do so in peace. This attempt at politics has shattered the Anglican church into pieces which he is now trying to have Mugabe pick up for him.

My own personal opinion is that discussions should be held with Kunonga to let him back into the fold and allow him to honourably retire. However being familiar with the racist psyche of those like Dr Williams, he is likely to expend every fibre in his body trying humiliate Kunonga rather seek accommodation with someone he considers inferior.

As it is the reverend's trip was little more than a mission to demonize Zimbabwe and generate bad publicity for the country. He made it to look like the police are persecuting Anglicans when all they are doing is enforcing court judgements.

Is it the holy book that he claims to know well that talks about seeing the mote in another's eye while ignoring the log in one's own eye. Dr Williams should take out the logs that are blinding him to reality.

Anglicans

I do not know why the Anglicans finds Mugabe, a Catholic, relevant to ructions within their organisation caused, not by Mugabe, but by their own mishandling of disputes and disagreements within the Anglican church.

What exactly is Mugabe expected to do in this case? Overturn rulings of Zimbabwe courts which gave Kunonga control of Anglican Church properties?

It is the Anglican church which caused divisions in Zimbabwe by trying to expel Kunonga over his political opinion. It seems they are now trying to use Mugabe's power and influence to get their way over Kunonga.

To me that is still the wrong approach. They should be trying reconcile the church factions rather than than trying to use a politician who belongs to another church to suppress one of the factions.

Dr Rowan Williams should be coming to Zimbabwe to meet Bishop Kunonga not Mugabe. If his objective is to heal the rifts in the Anglican church then that is the only logical thing to do. Meeting Mugabe suggests that his objective is to further humiliate Kunonga, and widen the rifts, by getting Mugabe to 'switch sides'.

If that is the case then the preposterousness and condescending nature of Dr William towards Mugabe is astounding. How can he expect Mugabe to turn his back upon someone ostracised for supporting him in the first place.

I also feel greatly insulted by Dr Williams' insinuation that court rulings in Zimbabwe are irrelevant, all that's relevant are the politicians with power. What does he take our constitution and governance system for?

It is the courts which said Kunonga is in charge. If Dr Williams understands the whole concept of independence of the judiciary, I fail to see where he thinks Mugabe can come in. This is not a criminal case where Mugabe has the prerogative to pardon criminals after conviction. This is a civil case.