Thread by @lebomashile

Re ba Mashile a Segodi sa Malekane
Mokibane wa monesa morale
Ngwana wa lepulana pula ga a tshabe
Ke matshaba tladi serutha ka mosela
Ntheng ya thaba magale a serorobele
Re Matshilwane a shibe
A shila naka la moshidi
Kamoso a shila tlhogo tsa batho
Rena ba maswika maramaga

... Ekego mae a tshilwane

At the beginning of this year I did not know sithakazelo sa Mashile. Imagine a whole poet who doesn’t know their own sereto? The power of what it does to people when their ancestral lineage is being called out in this part of the world is undeniable.

Watching people light up & channel different languages, songs & dances while dithakazelo are being invoked is a magical experience. It’s a wonder to behold, & a longing that was buried deep in my heart. My family was fractured by apartheid, misogyny, exile & returning home to SA.

My mother is naturally intuitive & rooted. The spiritual/identity path my sisters & I walk is made up mostly of the map our mother holds. By default, she had to guide us by herself. I often wrestle with the fact that direto are passed down the male line. What about our mothers?

What about the families like mine that were broken up by various traumas? What about children who are raised by extended families? What about the glaring reality that many Dads, like mine, were not around long enough to teach their kids direto tsa bona? #GetItBack

I think heritage is about claiming both the good and the bad, the light and the dark. Something amazing happens when your stare your wounds in the face. You start to see what they have to teach you. #GetItBack is about reclaiming dithakazelo tsa rona in the digital age.

We are bleeding memory as a nation and as a people. We struggle with archiving. Much of our history has been erased. That which was kept alive through people became harder to record during colonialism, apartheid & migrant labour. We are still reeling from all of this. #GetItBack

Meanwhile the world continues to do what it has always done: mine our brilliance, borrow from our heritages, our colours, our cultures & soul - but fails to give us credit for what we have created. For what was passed down to us to use as the basis for our freestyle. #GetItBack

My Dad was a heavy drinker. Throughout my career, I have refused alcohol campaigns, even though I do enjoy a good drink, because of what alcohol abuse did to my family. When #GetItBack began, I had to ask myself some serious questions about what I truly believe & stand for.

Preservation of memory & language are at the centre of what I do. #GetItBack is encouraging people to upload their family praise poems to clanopedia.co.za, an online portal created for public use to record this most precious part of our identities.

Recording our sithakazelos is something I believe in. It is an empowering and healing tool. When it is a shared experience it tranforms an entire community. When we know who we are & can celebrate & share in who other people are, we are all better for it. #GetItBack

So I went to my rakgadi and asked her for sereto sa Mashile at the beginning of the year. She said that she has been waiting for this call, & it is her job as my aunt to be the custodian of this information. She gave it to me a few minutes later. A part of me healed. #GetItBack

Now I say my sereto on the daily😜😍🤣❤️🙌🏾🙏🏾. I love it so much!!! I say it when I pray, when I perform, & when I phahla for my ancestors. I say it along with the clan names of my mother’s ancestors & the names of loved ones, like my father, who have passed on. #GetItBack

It is a gift to know that my children will have this tool as a compass to renew their confidence in who they are. Dithakazelo are a logic in and of themselves. They are about shared DNA, shared knowledge & collective genius. The more I learn, the more I want to learn. #GetItBack