A Flower For Malika/Girl Child

A Flower for Malika

by

Judith Mason

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

Born in 1938 in Pretoria, Judith Mason is a BA degree graduate in Fine Arts of which she obtained at the University of Witwatersrand in 1960. She taught painting at the University of the Witwatersrand and occasionally at other institutions on a casual basis e.g. University of Pretoria, Michaelis School of Art. Judith exhibited frequently in South Africa between the time period of 1962 and 2002. She has works in all major South African art collections of private and public bodies in Europe and the USA and has represented South Africa at the Venice Biennale in 1966 taking part in various Valparaiso and Sao Paolo Biennales in the 70s.

Judith Mason's publications include a mixed media portfolio in collaboration with Ted Townsend, poet; A Dante Bestiary (ombondi editions, New York, 1990); lithographs for selected poems by Patrick Cullinan (The Artists' Press, 1993) and Talking Pictures (essays published in 1988 by the Broederstroom Press).

Poem:

Girl Child

Malika Ndlovu

Girl child

Wild virgin flower

Surviving even where the soil

Aches for rain

Will bear no grain or fruit

Where innocence and youth

Is harvested with brutality

Where she more than her brother

Suffers the scorching of a dominant Sun

Forcing her into the shadows

Where she can be forgotten

Neglected

Underestimated

In more ways than one

Buried

Girl child

Wild virgin flower

Misled and mis-educated

Not only

By the twisted tales of tradition she is fed

But by those who continue

To teach these poisoned lessons

By their actions

Mothers, fathers, older brothers and sisters

Who show her

She is less

Unwanted

Or born to be burdened

Exploited

Violated

Girl child

Wild virgin flower

How do you recognise your Self

In these mists of projected fear

How do you hear you own voice

Discern when and how

You can make your own choices

Girl child

Wild virgin flower

Open your petals with courage

Bear your dreams to the night sky

Under Moon’s glow

You will come to know

The truth of your origin

The immeasurable power

Of your authentic nature

Uncover the wealth and wisdom

Of your scorned and silenced

Female ancestry

Guidance for your growth

Girl child

Wild virgin flower

When ominous clouds loom

And you cannot protect yourself from the flood

Let these tides of pain

Feed your roots

Fire your determination

Trust that as you shed skin

Lose parts of yourself to threatening winds

These seasons of sorrow will change

You were destined to be here

In this moment

In this place

In this body

In this time

You are the fountain source

The life force

Of all that is woman

Shining in her fullness

With her innate resilience

Bearing miraculous fruit

Mntwana Wentombazane

IsiZulu translation coordinated by Dr Maria Letsie

Mntwana wentombazane,mbali yasehlane

Udukisiwe awufundiswanga kahle

Hhayi ngezinganekwane ezingeyizo oxoxelwe zona

Kodwa ngalabo abaqhubekayo

Befundisa lezizimfundiso ezingezizo ngezenzo zabo

Onina, oyise, abanewabo nodadewabo abameyayo

Ongafunwa noma ozelwe ukwethweswa umthwalo, exhashaziwe,ehlukunyeziwe

Mntwana wentombazane, mbali yasehlane

Qhakaza ngesibindi

Feza amaphupho akho esibhakabhakeni

Ngaphansi kokukhanya kwenyanga uyokwazi ukunotha nokuhlakanipha

Kwamathongo akho anga hlonishwanga nabulawa

Uyisusa somthombo, Amandla empilo abo bonke besifazane

Nokuqina kwakho kokuzalwa, uthela izithelo ezimangazayo

A Brief Biography of Malika Ndlovu

Malika Lueen Ndlovu is a Durban-born poet, playwright, performer, arts project manager and mother of three, with a wide range of experience in the arts and arts management arenas. She has two of her own poetry anthologies, Born in Africa But and Womb to World: A Labour of Love, and her work also features in several local and international publications. She is dedicated to creating indigenous multi-media works in line with her personal motto "healing through creativity".

Malika is a founder-member of Cape Town-based women writers' collective WEAVE, co-editor of their multi-genre anthology WEAVE’s Ink @ Boiling Point: A selection of 21st Century Black Women’s writing from the Southern Tip of Africa. Malika has recently joined The Mothertongue Project, a women performing artists, writers and visual artists collective, scripting for their highly successful Grahamstown Festival 2004 production Uhambo! : Pieces of a Dream. She has also initiated the And The Word Was Woman Ensemble of 14 local performance poets, bringing together established Cape Town writers and fresh writing talents.