Learning to read and write has been a struggle for me. This is particularly the case because I did not grow up in a community or family where there was a lot of reading and literacy engagement. I must hasten to say that this does not mean that we did not have our own literacy practices. We did. However, ours was different from those literacy practices that are common to most Western countries. Our grandparents, parents, and other elder members of the community narrated stories to us. It was from those stories that we learned story grammar, that is, how a story could be organized. In my own family, I remember my father telling us stories. My father was a great story teller. Sometimes when he wanted to talk to us, he would tell a story. There is this one that stood out to me; it still does even today. The story was about two boys who were siblings. They used to herd cattle together. One day one of them was bitten by a snake while looking after the cattle. Because of this incident, the family gave the boy special treatment; he stopped going to the fields and was fed with amasi, that is, sour milk that is served with hard porridge. Hmm yum yum! To this day most children like amasi. In traditional Zulu culture milk was stored in a calabash in order to turn it into sour milk, amasi. Because this food is delicious we have a saying that goes “Angeke usinike esingaboni” ( Lit. You will hide the food from an old blind woman). It is no surprise that the other sibling felt jealous. He wanted to be fed with amasi.
He thought very hard about what he could do in order to get the same attention that his brother was getting. It eventually dawned to him that he needed to go to the same place where his brother was bitten by a snake. He needed to find the snake. Once he finalized the idea, he woke up the following morning and set for the place where his brother was bitten by the snake. On the first day, he did not find the snake. The following day he tried again. Still, no luck. There next day, there was still nothing. When he was about to give up, what? He couldn’t believe it! He was beyond himself with joy. A big snake was under one of the big rocks. He approached the snake and teased it. Nothing happened; the snake just looked at him. He tried to infuriate the snake by pushing it with a stick, there was still no response. He threw stones at the snake, still nothing happened. Oh, what about this “Silwanyana silwanyana simehlwana ndolwane awungilume nami ngongiwe ngamasi (Lit. An animal with sharp fiercesome eyes bite me so that I can also be fed with amasi, the sour milk.” The animal did not move. It stared at him. He sang the song again and again and again. When he was about to give up, “Ngofo!”, That was the adder biting the boy. What! He could not believe it! At long last, his dream has come true. Excitedly, he started to walk back home.
“Oh, my God! What is this.? The pain? This cannot be happening?” he thought aloud. “I need to get home. I need my mother to stop caring for my brother. Now, this is my turn now. The boy started having problem with breathing. The pain was becoming more and more unbearable. When he was at the gate, he fell down. His mother came running to him as she called out the boy’s name. “Mandla, Mandla . . . ” Everyone came out running. There was the boy! The foam was everywhere in his mouth. “I have been bitten by a snake. Please help me!” He said with a faint voice. Was he dying? The family called for a traditional doctor to come and help with traditional medicine. By the time the doctor got there, it was too late. The boy had died.
“Now, you see my children,” my father would say. “Do not be jealous when I do good things for others. You will all get a chance to receive attention.”
Up to this day, I have never forgotten this story. It was meaning-making. This was literacy but a different kind of literacy.
Dumi,
I keep thinking about your story. I enjoy reading it, but I relished it when you read it to me during our writing group. It is a story I will share with my daughter. I think that you will really like Janice Harington (I think that is her last name) when she comes to visit. She is a professional story teller who does a superb job with her craft. She used to work at the Urbana Free Library, but I am not sure if she is still there or maybe at the Champaign library or maybe elsewhere. At any rate, she has such an expressive way of telling stories with her voice and her body language. She gets right up close to her students and brings them into the story. You have to experience it to understand. Over the years, I have also enjoyed a storyteller named Mike Anderson. My family just happened upon him in a lodge in northern Minnesota when my daughter was too young for wilderness camping yet. He is/was a third grade teacher in Springfield, Illinois. He also makes and plays an instrument called the dulcimer. His stories are very engaging for children and as an adult I enjoy them, too. He tells stories about growing up in the Peoria area. Many of his stories involve his best friend, Denny. He often takes liberty with reality, but all in good fun. I introduced him to my nieces in California (gave them his web site and sent them audiotapes/discs of his stories) and one of them developed an online friendship/mentoring relationship with him as he encouraged her writing. Another storyteller whom I have enjoyed for most of my life is Bill Cosby. When I was in 3rd grade, I remember saving money so I could bicycle to our Osco’s store and buy his albums. If you are not familiar with him, he tells stories about his experiences growing up and he has continued to chronicle his life experiences through stories of his youth, college days, marriage, babies, middle age and old age. The stories are ones that many of us can relate to and he has such a talented way of making common everyday things we do such a stitch. When my parents were in a nursing home, we spent hours listening to the audiotapes I have and I also found a couple of videos. When they were on, we were guaranteed to have company stop by. I was so glad that I could find things that just made them laugh. And, later, we could quote him, or laugh at similar experiences. I do the same with my daughter. We also like listening to books on tape/disc in the car and then talking about them later. I recently commented on Morgan’s blog about time being precious. Listening to Books on disc is one way we share a fun experience together while in the car. That’s the only place we listen to them usually – although sometimes I will take one out with me while I am gardening. I have a saying I thought was unique, but I read it later so I guess I can’t claim credit for it: “There is no time like the present and there is no present like time.”
By: maryhand on June 24, 2009
at 2:46 pm
Thank you very much for the feedback. I like the idea of taking up the story. I have gotten a similar feedback from Libbie. Once we are done with the project, I think I will seriously consider doing something about the story. Since I have your email address, I will keep you posted about later developments.
By: samukem9 on June 26, 2009
at 2:07 pm
Dumi–
I liked this story as an example of the transmission of literacy and values too. If I were going to film this, I might just film the story itself (with drawings or animation) as an *example* of a teaching-story and frame it like you did here with your father or maybe with an example of a real child complaining about lack of attention.
I’m not sure that makes sense! We can talk about it!!
By: libbiemorley on June 25, 2009
at 5:01 pm
Libbie,
Thank you very much for the feedback. I like the idea of taking up the story. We’ll talk about it later. I think when I come back from home.
About the scenery on the video clip, that is Cape Town. Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in South Africa. in fact, it is a tourist destination to most people who visit the country.
By: samukem9 on June 26, 2009
at 2:03 pm