Whittlesea – A farm, a town, and yet my home.

History

Located in the old Ciskie in the Eastern cape lies a one street town that I grew up in. This town  had been seen by most of its residents as a redundant town that will yield no good to its people, and yet there are people that still live there, including my family.

The town was founded in 1849 as a defense post for the British during the frontier wars in the 1800s. It was named after a Town in England called Whittlesey, the birth place of the then Governor of the Cape Province (1847), Sir Harry Smith.

“In 1828, Harry Smith and his wife came to South Africa where he eventually served as governor of Queen Adelaide province in the Eastern Cape, becoming popular with both Xhosa and Boer in the area. He was moved to India and fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845-46. After victory over the Sikhs at the town of Aliwal, Smith was knighted and became Sir Harry Smith, and he was appointed governor of the Cape in 1847.

The town of Whittlesea was mis-named after Sir Harry Smith's birthplace of Whittlesey in England.” (Directory, 2010)

We arrived

We arrived in Whittlesea in the late 80s during a time of the struggle. As a young boy I remember seeing streets filled with young people hanging around street corners. The streets were filled with the afternoon smoke from the Welcome dovers of the day. Songs, whistles, chants and fights or rather hostility was the order of the day.

I remember my dad used to come back from work, in his SADF uniform, and take off his boots and immediately clean them. Although my memory of that time is not so vivid, I do remember the toy toys vividly, as if they still flash in front of my face. Their chants  “hay’, hay’ hay’” in a rhythm was as thunderous and distructive as the impact as they had on their targets, the impimpis. It was astonishing as well as exciting to see and very much scary and traumatising. 

Back then, toy toys were popular, the APLA and the MK were what our big brothers were talking about. They were talking about the Charles Sebes and the Mnyombolos that were hell bent on bringing disruption to the people of Sada and the greater Ciskie. That time as I remember it, was a scary time as a young boy. They were talking of iimpimpi and punishments that they had to carry out to the iimpimpi to show that they were serious about the struggle.

But that was in 1988, what do I know about 1988, I was born only 4 years earlier. What I do remember remains in me and sometimes unverified because the memory is not so vivid anymore.

What I do know is that we moved from KuNdlambe to eDongwe in 1988, my father a soldier of the SADF and my mother a dark room operator at the Hewu Hospital. She had been working there since 1985, and she works there till this day.

This is not about me and my family history but about the town itself.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Whittlesea (formerly known as Bulhoek) is a settlement situated 37km south of Queenstown, Eastern Cape Province. Whittlesea now lays claim to the first registered wine estate in the Eastern Cape.

The infrastructure include a post office, police station, education college, magistrate's court, two filling stations and numerous retail outlets, not the least the Spar and other supermarkets, also hosting the major bank ATM's.

Hewu Hospital (formerly operated by Lifecare, but provincialized since 2010) is to be found only 4 km on the road to Ekupumeleni Township.

It was founded in 1849 and became a defence outpost in the Frontier War of 1850-1853. Named after Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire, birthplace of Sir Harry Smith (1787-1860), Governor of the Cape Colony from 1847 to 1852.[2] (Whittlesea)

Today the town is proud to say that it’s got its own wine farm, the first wine estate in the eastern cape.

The Harrison Hope Wine Estate

The Eastern Cape's First Wine Estate!" (SAWIS)  Making history and making wine?  Filling barrels and filling hearts?  Stirring musts and stirring minds? Chasing fermentations and chasing dreams?  Toasting barrels and toasting high and holy hopes?  Harrison Hope Wine Estate is the visible and invisible fruit of the pioneering spirits and passionate pursuits of Ronnie and Janet Vehorn. 

After 350 years of wine-making history in South Africa the Vehorns pressed their first Eastern Cape estate wines in February 2009.  From humble plantings in 2006 without development capital or a local history to support their risks, Ronnie and Janet managed to produce their first chardonnay, pinotage, and merlot wines.  The 2009 Estate Merlot established another historical milestone by becoming the first ever estate wine in the Eastern Cape. (Vehorn., 2010)

Whittlesea is not redundant anymore, the town blossoms with development. This is what I have always said, in order for the town to be in prosperity its people need to stand up for it. They need to work the ground and make something of it. For some reason the only time that the town was self sufficent and sustainable was when people were oppressed, now that they are free everything is standing still. We have an iirigation scheme that used to supply the entire district of Hewu and now we depend on other regions and thus things are more expensive.

I, personally am grateful to Ronnie Verhon, of Harrison Hope because he and his family have managed to bring hope for me for this town.

Places you can visit when you go to Whittlesea:

1.    The Waterdown Dam

2.    Bonkolo Dam (Queenstown)

3.    The Masonic Hotel

4.    Simunye Tshisa Nyama

5.    Man’s Place (Queenstown)

6.    Harrison Hope Wine Estate

7.    Or you can just go and explore and meet people of Dongwe, Sada and Tambo Village, they’re not going to give you an experience out of this world, but they will treat you like a human being.

Here’s to Whittlesea, my farm, my town, my home.

Evolve yourself within yourself

Let the spirit in your veins flow to the mercy of soul

Letting your worth show and never disown

The value that your being possesses and holds.

Let the unknown truth show from your seed

Let it grow and be nurtured by your soul’s gifts

Be the soul that drives the benign ways of evolution

The ways of your fathers before you were

The gifts of growing within you

Your unkind journey will surely prevail

And will evolve to be prosperity

The joy of success and happiness

Yes storms and thunders do come

Yes you will walk through the wetlands

And surely you will meet untamed beasts

But dawn will crack and you will find your light

You will engage and break barriers across the waters

You will come back and feed your children

And you will tell your children this….

Allow yourself to evolve within yourself

Be.

© 2011 Copyright Vuyolwethu Dondashe

To me and the rest of the world

As I write this piece my heart throbs with bleeding pain
My sadness is overwhelming and has my heart reeling with pain
My so called soft personality is gone and it has passed away, yes it's dead.
As I conspire against my own hapiness and misery alike, my brain,
My thinking matter is blocked from the light that I seek.
What I seek is simple and yet very difficult to give, I want my life to be normal!

Normality nowadays can become a norm of sadness, pain and sorrow
If you are hearing me and have the contrary to the latter may I please borrow
As the world turns and the mysteries of the unkind that reign in my world prosper on my account,
Please do not be astonished when you hear of my demise
Yes mother earth you shall open your ribs and my body would rest
Yet the plight of those that are like me, soft and yet dangerous, won't come as a suprise
Their demise will be just like mine, a very lonely death, with their eyes hollow.

I write this piece today with my heart bleeding
and with my mind set on a woman with her her child whom she is feeding
My soul becomes complete when my eyes set on hers
unfortunately my dangerous  side took this away from her
Her unmasked anger is shown by every bit of wink she takes as she looks on
Her face so sad I can feel it from where I sit
Her plight no longer my fight for survival rather a survival from me.

How did this happen when my eyes were wide open I ask?

As I write this piece my soul is dampened with fear of the unknown
and I feel that the unknown is already known
as the wind blows on my face my spirit leaves with it
To where the destination is, that is a mystery and a half
"Know this Devil as you laugh,
I am God's son.
You can have my body but you can never have my soul"

As my soul travels the ends of the earth without joy
know this that I am with you all the time my love
Whenever you seek love, just reach for me - I'm above -

I have passed and I am with you as the world turns.

So I ask

I think it's time I remind myself of my own theory, for the past few weeks I kind of "forgot" to employ this magnificent theory and it has shown it's importance in my own life. Remember the “what you have theory”?

Let us not focus on what we don't have, rather let's shift it to what we have...

My wife and I have always used this strategy to the best of our ability until something happened that could change the way that we may know the world today. And that was losing the tight grip we have on certainty - Yesterday we discovered that work life might not be so easy after all, we are now faced with making a decision that will change circumstances for our family and yes this decision has to be taken soon, unless she receives that very much anticipated call. I pray that happens before Sunday (09 Oct ’11).

But what we have is this, we have a great family, we have jobs to take care of us and most of all we have the security that we all need. What we don't have now is the certainty of the longevity of that security. But now how does one apply this theory if Maslow's hierarchy of Needs is threatened at such a delicate stage? We do have the Physiological Needs taken care of; Safety on the other hand is threatened in the form of Uncertainty of Employment. This is the most basic level of the hierarchy and without this one is impeded on their journey to Self Actualization  

For those of you that do not know what Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is look at the figure below and see how relevant it can be

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg

So I ask again, How does this Theory of mine work if there is a proven set of stages of Needs analysis such as the one above:

My answer is this, It is not Self actualization that we’re looking for in this particular event, it is perception of happiness and the ways of achieving this happiness. Mine is clear and simple in my mind and that is to be happy one needs to accept what they have and what they do not have. One example would be if you are struggling to make ends meet with little of what you have and happy about your circle of friends and family and the way you live your life then the THEORY works. On the other hand a more successful neighbor who is loaded and drives 3 cars a week but lives alone then chances are that your neighbor is envious of your happy life.

Think about it and KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

Namhlanje ndingunyana wakho
kude kwacaca ukuba isambakranyane sesithonga esivakeleyo wena awusivanga
"Unyana wakho weyele, utshabile Madiba."

As the world tumbles upon my plight my majestic mind gives me more memories to indulge in -

Kunge nxa yakho Madib' omde kunje nje nje, Unyana wakho ude watshaba. Ube zama ukwazana nobomi kodwa kucace ukuba bude budala kunaye. Madib' iindonga zivaleke ewe ukwenzile oko. Unyana wakho oyintanda ude waba yintandane, wakulinda iminyaka nyaka ehleli ezisonga ngeenyembez' de bufik' ubuthongo. Kodwa nkqi ukufika kwakho ekulindile. Wabon' ukuba iindonga ngenene zivalekile.

When the fathers of this nation and this mindless world abundon their off springs( yes Off springs) What do they really want in life?

You know I become biased when it comes to me answering these type of questions because I myself am an off spring of another. When does it end?  when I myself am a father that was or is fatherless that knows no instinct of fatherly love, then HOW DO I DO THISwithout thinking of my own father and worse How do I avoid becoming him? There are some symptoms though

Who am I?

All my life I have watched the images of it all, over and and over and over again. I was really scared to even look him in the eye and ask him why? She just wept and wept all night and all the way in the taxi as if she was slowly reliving the moments of terror.
I thought to myself I would never do that to my own.... But I did....

And when ever he looked at her I could see the regret in hs eyes, he would silently seek to ask for forgiveness but would ask himeslef" would you forgive me if I was you?" He had a point and so he ragged on just pitying himself and living the regret in every little detail of his life. He imagined the hatred and the fear that she had for him and yet he loved her so much... wait did he?

I do...

And now I live with this fear of the unkown and the fear of realizing what already has happened (was it really me in there?) Why? Who am I?


By Vuyolwethu Dondashe

Dear mother

My courage became untested when I died

Hidden in your soul unloving as it was

But I still looked up to you, yes – even if I died

You just looked at me when I bled

Instead of healing me you never cared

You just looked at me and walked on

But through this my soul still lives on

And yet I still look to you

Though I am living and still walk

Your uncaring nature makes me feel numb

It makes my journey on this earth even harder

Yes mother of the soul your child died

She carried a plight on her shoulders

Hoping that you’d see she just kept walking

Instead of mending the fence you broke it down

Yes mother of soul, even though I died

My soul became unworthy to you when I walked

My useless beauty and my unworthy plight

Yes I carried it on my shoulders as I walked

Mother of the soul, I lived, even though I died.

From your prodigal daughter

 

Today I decided to look at myself entirely and maybe that would assist me in choosing the next step I may take in the near future.

I had thought of the people that I had the pleasure of sharing the room and the stage with. and those that I would have loved to share these wonderful talents that God has bestowed upon me. I thought of less known people Les Javan on the acquistic guitar, Sintu of the Cape Town Opera, Nigel Matanga of the then UWC jazz band. Nono Mdwara of UWC and all others that I do not remember

Then I thought of the more known names, Kyle Sheperd (Multi talented instrumentalist - Magnificent Jazz pianist and an all rounder in Music) Very humble chap and a very interesting personality he has, Julio Siguargue (Guitarist for the Freshly Ground), Fikile Mvinjelwa of the Cape Town Opera at the Joseph Stone as Mr Germond (Alfredo's father La Traviata), Monde Masimini, then Cape Town Opera, and in the Theatre scene a world renouned playwrite Tone Brulin (Flemish playwrite). And when I had to open a concert for the famous Bala Brothers (Oh what a performance i gave), Sliq Angel

Ahh, how can I not mention those that have paved the way for me to meet these people - UWC centre for the Performing arts. It's all because of them I could meet and mingle with the calibre of people I had met before I turned 24.

All these people, these incredible people have one common factor, they thrive in the performing arts. Just as I do, ther difference is that some are known and some aren't.
So as I ponder my future and decisions that I need to take, I sip the waters that quench my eternal thirst of being in need of the stage, and hopefully it would be the right decision.

Vuyolwethu Dondashe