tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-452820967648595202011-07-30T15:45:08.030-07:00Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-29730324450384648322010-05-06T23:55:00.000-07:002010-05-26T13:56:18.792-07:00

Fire the Heart Bushmen Living Belinda, Oeli and B the dogDevastation in Welkom after the Powerful ritual, trees uprootedGenerations of the Kalahari River bed Children and First Peoples Children of the Kalahari and the First PeoplesOu

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-1578429338390687582010-03-03T01:54:00.000-08:002010-03-07T02:54:08.603-08:00

On Sunday Morning the next day, my publicist arrived to pick me up to begin the book tour. The book 29 Gifts. ( How a month of giving can change your life) by Cami Walker I entered into the world of media. One of the travelers stayed with me for the tour whilst the other booked a different range hotel and met us later in Cape Town. First stop after checking in was the Rosebank Mall in

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-37184754316220607932010-02-24T02:33:00.000-08:002010-03-07T02:49:37.110-08:00

We celebrated our reunion in Johannesburg in Melville a very small vibrant community with buzzing restaurants and bars, our third traveler relating her stories of swimming in the Zambezi River, standing on slippery rocks under the Victoria falls, and feeding 30 people with one chicken. She was tucking into the Asian food and vanilla ice cream with great relish. The next day I organized through

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-81848635891043335612010-02-21T01:58:00.000-08:002010-03-07T02:43:21.639-08:00

Plans changed and I dropped my fellow traveler in St Lucia (more later) about a 2 hour drive from Eshowe. I headed back close to Mtunzini to find my very own Zulu grandmother Zethu (the Jewel of Africa) I say find because it takes me back to 3 years ago when I first returned this precious jewel home after over a decade living in London and the USA. She had become very ill, unable to look after

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-71633837095025164262010-01-26T00:03:00.000-08:002010-03-03T02:36:51.244-08:00

Zululand s a place of unspoilt beauty, a pristine coastline, abundant forest brown muddy African Rivers and streams. Alongside a modern infrastructure off the highway nestled in the green hills can be found, rondavaals with thatched roofs set in the remnants of tradition- a ragged circle which symbolized the Zulu Tradition. Zulu people still alive and well living in these traditional huts. I have

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-14596471314432455972010-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:002010-02-28T05:10:31.545-08:00

Greetings from South Africa, where I have traversed many terrains in just over a week. After a long flight and a small plane that broncoed its way across the sky through thunder storms we landed in Kimberley after some 32 hours of traveling.Kimberley is capital of the Northern Cape, it has historical significance due to its diamond mining past and seige during the second Boer war. At Kimberley

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-76269660062165257482009-10-24T18:29:00.000-07:002009-10-31T09:12:52.862-07:00

There is a saying in South Africa when you hit a woman you strike a rock. Credo Mutwa, High Sanusi said it to me this way, when you strike a woman you strike your mother. "When the men entered the mines they were forever changed, it was like raping their own mother." It went against their traditional beliefs and culture. Himself a miner in days gone by, Credo was speaking with much pain about

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-29925837755566776242009-07-12T19:10:00.000-07:002009-07-23T10:19:30.459-07:00

I am choosing to write about this today because yesterday I received my Identity Document book for South Africa. The history and metamorphosis of this book is long and carries with it a stigma of the past oppression during the struggle of apartheid. Receiving this felt like a huge milestone for me after 55 years. I am now a citizen of South Africa, something I know my parents would be rejoicing

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-43529224102326966842009-06-21T21:15:00.000-07:002009-06-26T08:16:15.980-07:00

When ever I return home from South Africa or London, I hear more stories and see more photos of my father, as I did  not know much about his history.   A plethora of mixed emotions that makes me sad (because there was much I did not know and joyful because I discover more about him each time ) He died in Spain, when I was 24 years old on the way back to England and on the way to my wedding. He

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-34357592816850693132008-11-27T06:58:00.000-08:002008-11-28T07:11:30.487-08:00

I awoke this Thanksgiving morning with the song of Wimoweh in my head. And I wanted to say thank you (Ngiyabonga)  to one of my heroines.  As a child I will always remember hearing Miriam Makeba songs in our household. It was our family's connection to South Africa, when we moved to London in 1954. Just five years later in 1959, at the age of 27, Makeba's passport was revoked for criticizing

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-12914982478109090172008-06-01T03:34:00.000-07:002008-06-02T18:34:45.061-07:00

"Breaking the Silence" Madelaine GeorgetteI need to know what and how to do what they are doingI need to know how to forgiveeven when the cruel ones won't admitthey have been cruelI need to join in this experiment of living compassionso that my heart can open its wingsand at last be freeEveryone needs to understand the secret of this deep and honest wayIt is the great mystery of compassion that

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-62569474097615397942008-05-04T16:39:00.000-07:002008-10-13T22:48:20.053-07:00

 Mme Ma Africa (Sotho)DikhutsanaDifeng MarobaloDitlatsuha DitsamayaMother of the Nation/mother Africabe kind to the orphansgive them a place to sleep;they will be gone tomorrow " Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man -made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings.' Nelson Mandala, Former President South Africa I have recently completed my first

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-57128102055731662352008-04-11T23:12:00.001-07:002008-04-20T22:14:58.449-07:00

My mother is in the middle with her mother and two sistersApril 17, today is the annivesary of my mothers death , Doreen Marais, and I dedicate this blog to her and honor the mother line of my family and all mothers everywhere. What I know and love to remember about my mother was her strength and her peace making. A school teacher for some of her time on this earth, I know she loved to guide the

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-49009760112850678652008-04-10T10:26:00.000-07:002008-04-24T07:25:54.806-07:00

A Hero For All TimeOn Wednesday I had my singing debut at Oakland City Hall Rotunda with Vukani Mawethu. It was where the city of Oakland commemorated the 110th anniversary of the birth of Paul Robeson, world- renowned scholar, athlete, singer, actor and fighter for freedom, peace and social justice for all. There is an exhibition on until April 30,2008. http://www.bayarearobeson.org. Amongst

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-4451194400052674832008-04-07T10:43:00.000-07:002008-05-07T09:41:21.309-07:00

April 27, 1994 Voters for a free South AfricaThis morning I went to my favorite cafe Arizmendi to partake in my ritual of decafinated tea and the best oat scone in the East Bay. I ran into a brother, an elder who I had seen a couple of times before but we had never conversed. I joined him at his table. A beautiful gentle spirit with salt and pepper dreadlocks. Our conversation began with him

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-7497467905306274572008-03-10T21:13:00.000-07:002008-04-18T21:43:44.380-07:00

Baba Credo Mutwa with Mbali, South Africa May 2006, KurumanIn May of 2006 I got on a plane from Cape Town to Kimberly to meet a stranger who lived in Kuruman on the edge of the Kalahari desert. I did all the things I was told never to do-travel at night in a car with a strange man. I was met by a young man who gave me a warm blanket. I climbed into his van which had NO heating, he was to take me

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-35206809318361430372008-03-03T21:05:00.001-08:002008-04-21T12:59:17.728-07:00

Ingoma~ The SongUnzima Lomthwalo Unzima lomthwaloUfuna Madoda Unzima LomthwaloUfuna bafaziAzikatali noma siyaboshwaSizi misel inkululekoThina bantwana base AfrikaSizi misel inkululekoEnglish translation: "Oh we dont care if we go to jail, it is for freedom that we gladly go. A heavy load a heavy load, it will take some real strength. We are the children of Africa. It is for freedom that we are

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-51392053207666041252008-02-15T19:31:00.000-08:002008-04-18T21:51:03.701-07:00

On Tuesday and Wednesday night I saw a play at ACT in San Francisco called Blood Knot written by Athol Fugard, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright with music by Tracy Chapman. http://bloodknot-act.blogspot.com/. It is an important play that has resurfaced again. It was first written in 1961 by a white South African. In a clandestine engagement due to the apartheid ban, the play was first

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-64226840552283413782008-02-05T15:01:00.000-08:002008-04-18T21:54:23.382-07:00

Sanibona I ended the last blog with the price that people of colour and especially black people had to pay for their freedom in South Africa and I say black because, as I was reminded by a white woman from Africa "we" she exclaimed " are also Africans!" Of course that is a true fact. Although, were it to be so simple, we would not have had Aparthied. Were it to be so clear or true then we would

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-36802910569792583612008-02-01T02:57:00.000-08:002008-04-18T22:00:33.215-07:00

Sanibona! (Zulu greeting when addressing more than one person)Yesterday I wrote about Ubuntu and today it seems fitting to capture another South African word. Apartheid the opposite of Ubuntu. And curiuos that the two words lived side by side in a racially divided horror that was apartheid. It means apartness in Afrikaans. My purpose is not to drone on about the unfairness of apartheid because

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45282096764859520.post-43435916992735230402008-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:002008-04-18T22:02:31.321-07:00

Sawubona-a Zulu word that means -greetings, I see you. My name is Mbali, Zulu for the flower. I would like to begin by trying to explain the deep meaning of Ubuntu and what I hope this blog will offer. Ubuntu is a South African word that speaks to the very essence of being human. It is in its complexity quite simple and beautiful, here are some explanations from different sources I found

Mbalihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04978659551103170111noreply@blogger.com0