Joan Borysenko, “We cannot wish old feelings away nor do spiritual exercises for overcoming
them until we have woven a healing story that transforms our previous life's experience and
gives meaning to whatever pain we have endured.”
Telling our stories also serves a bridge that connects the past and present to the future. We
honor our ancestors through telling our stories, and we afford the future generation an
opportunity to learn about their history and values. Telling our stories is also an act of
confirming who and what we are, as well as where we come from. It is confirmation of our
identity, and also helps us claim our voice as a people. Telling our stories would mean making
a choice to be courageous enough to narrate our pain and victories it from our own
perspective, embracing our history and not being ashamed of it, and having the will to paint
ourselves with a paint and brush that best describes us. In telling our stories, we become our
own heroes.
After all, to quote Letlapa Mphahlele, “we owe it to our ancestors, who wrote the first letter and
built the first classroom”, and to add to that, who narrated the first story to pass down
knowledge and moral lessons. George Orwell best describes how I feel about the absence of
concrete history of the Balobedu people when he says, “the most effective way to destroy
people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” And as such, my
quest now is to document as much as I can about my people, and help document it for future
generations.
Blogger: allowmetosharethiswithyou.blogspot.com
Facebook: Tshegofatso Rasekgotoma
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Librarian and Studying Masters in Information studies
www.megaartists.co.za
Aug- Sep 2016
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