“The land I had imagined”
In the stormy weather of the Eastern Cape, trees swinging side by side, the strong wind blow all that is not strong enough and all that is not rooted to the ground. Dogs, pigs, cows, goats, sheep’s crying as if it’s the end of the world. The rain so strong, that it fills the famous river of the Umtata region in few seconds. The water make a loud noise and runs so fast that all gods’ creation living under water can’t resist being pushed to a desired direction by the beautiful, big and deep river Umtata Dam. The storm, the lighting has taken over the Umtata region. Huge trees that have stood for years have now been extracted from the rooted place by the angry weather of the eastern Azania. Boys who were heading the cattle in fields running like cheetahs and springboks, laughing and screaming like Hyenas.

One, two, three, four, five hours I’m sitting at home surrounded by relatives, siblings, mother and Makhulu (Grandma) is taking us back to the 1940’s during her early childhood days. Telling us how good were her sisters and brothers who have now joined the world of the ancestors. As I’m sitting listening to the story teller my mind starts to imagine a world I have never seen before, I travel back in time from the 90’s to the 80’s, from the 80’s to the 70’s, from the 70’s to the 60’s, from the 60’s to the 50’s, from the 50’s to the 40’s. As she tells the story, I can see the village; I can see the trees, the kraal, the river form a distance, the hurt which has managed to live for more than 40 years, the traditional pots next to a fire place and our neighbors the village of Amampondo on top of the Nonkobe Mountains.

As my mind is exploring the early years of Umtata I get disturbed by a voice calling me, repeatedly so humble and caring and suddenly I feel a hand touching my shoulder and immediately I realize that I was day dreaming. Maybe it is true when Albert Einstein says “logic will take us from A to B but imagination will take us everywhere”. Everyone in the small warm hurt is laughing except for me. This was in the early years of our democracy. I had just imagined the past but I believed that maybe it is possible to imagine the future. I stood up walked slowly towards the door, open it a little bit and looked outside. The rain has stopped, the wind is quiet, and the rainbow is on top of the Nonkobe Mountains. I took a step, walked slowly outside, walked towards a big stone next to the kraal, I sat looked at the rainbow, saw how beautiful it was and I thought to myself maybe this is the south Africa we should be living in. united and together like the colors of the rainbow.

As I’m sitting, I thought about the life experience of grandma, but I decide to imagine a world I have never set my foot on. But before I do, I think of my mother’s words, “education will take you everywhere” she used to say this and make a reference to the newly elected deputy president Thabo Mbeki, and she would say “look at him, his educated, he studied abroad” and you can be like that too. And today I think of Prof. Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe when he says “education is the most powerful weapon…liberate Azania liberate the nation, liberate Azania serve the people”. As I was sitting on the stone, I start to realize that there’s more than just this small village, I realized that there are lands outside the Umtata region. These were lands I wanted to set my foot on before I grow weary like Makhulu.
Time progressed, years went by, I grew older and older, day by day, night by night and I found myself at the University of the Western Cape doing my Law degree. First year elapsed and at second year, in its early phases, it was in the evening of 11March 2009, I’m coming from my lecture classes, exhausted and my brain barely functioning. Walking from classes to residence, walking down the university campus, I walk passed a big blue poster with 3 familiar faces. It grabbed my attention even though I was tired. I took a step closer to the big blue poster, I saw people I knew, the president of the United States of America (Barrack Obama) and the female presidential candidate (Hillary Clinton), the former president of South Africa (Nelson Mandela). I got curious, my eyes started scanning the entire poster, I came across a big white bold word, ‘South Africa-Washington Internship Program’ I said that out loud. I thought to myself maybe Obama wants to give our students some internship at the white house maybe, that would be cool but oh I’m a second year, this must be for Postgraduate students. But before I walked away from the poster something said look at the poster again and so I did, my eyes went up and down, side to side reading each and every word.

My eyes were on every corner of the poster and I came across some photos and I thought these guys were here and they enjoyed themselves look at their smiles. The poster had 2 photos, of these young people wearing casual, semi formal and formal. On the other are 4 youngsters, 3 guys and one girl If I remember and on the other were 8 youngsters, they are standing and hugging each other, at their back is a big white house. I continue to read I came across bold white words ‘community service’, ‘2nd year up wards’, ‘closing date12 of April 2009’, ‘apply now’. In just a blink of an eye I found myself sitting at the computer lab reading about the program, feeling refreshed. My fingers moving like eyelids on the computer keyboard filling application form.

It has taken me more than five hours close to ten hours to complete the form. on the second day which is the exactly the closing date I inspect the form and I’m about to click send, my mind starts imagining a land I have never set my foot on. I started walking down the streets of New York avenue when we were at a Sunday service, the corners of DC, I did what Americans do, I ate at Burger King, I had lunch at five guys, I had coffee at star bucks, I watched base ball, I went to American hoods to have my hair cut, the barber was in U street, I saw the White House, I walked passed capitol, I took a metro to work, I lived in Bethesda, I went to china town, , I saw George Washington university, I visited their law school, I saw the Washington monument, I visited the holocaust museum, we had a program at newseum, I went to Lincoln memorial, I saw his monument, I read his speech, I walked down Pennsylvania, I heard about M. Luther King, I read his speech, oh I have a dream, to see more of this place and learn more about its rich history and as I was sitting in my chair imagining, again, I was disturbed by a voice calling repeatedly, “students, students the lab is closed”.

Four days elapsed after I had clicked send and I’m informed that next week Friday 15th of April 2009 at 16:00 is my interview slot. I realized that if it wasn’t for education, I wouldn’t have entered the university doors. I realized that if it wasn’t for education, I wouldn’t have clicked send to that application form. I thought of my mothers words “education will take you everywhere”. On the same Friday I’m writing law of succession at 16:45, I study myself into a comma, I wanted to be prepared for both the interview and the test. Finally my time has come, I’m late for the interview, I was with my study group doing some previous question papers but finally I arrive at 16:10, I’m all sweaty, I had been running to the venue, my mind is telling me that its over, they have left, you had lost some points, forget it, you wasted your time but I told myself that god knows my dreams and I know that god will provide he never let me down and to my surprise I am informed by the university staff lady waiting at the corridors of the room, she asks first “are you Ayanda?” “Yes” I replied.
“You have been running”, I reply “yes”
“Take some few seconds to relax, go to the bathroom and drink some water, I’ll inform them, you have arrived”, she was smiling and immediately she turned to the interview room. I went to the bathroom, drank some water, took some tissue, wiped my face, looked in the mirror, fixed my tie, closed my eyes and asked god to be with me. I walked out and she was standing right next to the door of the interview room. In a beautiful smile she said “they are waiting for you inside, please go in sir”.

I walked slowly towards the door, my mind starts imagining, the inside environment of the room. As I’m walking towards the door of the room, I’m expecting to see some old man and women, wearing glasses and black suites, delegated by Obama, files packed on top of the table and a jug of water in the middle of the table. I’m nervous; I had never attended an interview before. Finally I opened the door instead of seeing what I had expected, the first person I see when I enter the room, is a young black man next to him is a young white lady and next to her is a young white man. I walked closer to them, I reached out my hand to the UWC staff lady who was with them, I introduce myself “hi I’m Ayanda”, I reached out my hand to the young white man, he reached out as well, and I said “hi” he interjected and said “Ayanda, nice to meet you, I’m Michael currin”. He was wearing a brown shirt and a tie, he had short dark brown hair and he was smiling. I went to the lady next to him and she quickly introduced her self. She had a sharp, soprano voice. She said “hi, I’m jean, nice to meet you Ayanda”.she pronounced my name as if she had known me for more than 5 years. She was wearing glasses, her attire was semi formal. Because of the laptop on top of the table, in front of her I could tell that she is the boss, and these 2 young men looked like her henchmen. And the last man to shake my hand was this young man, wearing a black business suite, a white shirt and a gold tie. He shaked my hand and said “hi, I’m thamsanqa ledwaba, but you can call me thami”.

We sat, I looked at their faces, Michael had been smiling since I walked inside this room, jean was ‘okay’, I couldn’t define her and thami was very formal. I looked at him; he was exactly what I had expected when I entered the room except for the age. His attire was intimidating, he looked like a CEO, a top American government official, a strong Obama representative. But his name is Thamsanqa, it sounds South African and xhosa to be specific. Maybe he grew up in America or maybe he found a very good job. I thought. I noticed a ring in his middle finger. He must be married, but he looks young. I looked at his hair, it was beautifully trimmed. He had curls, his hair looked American, maybe his father is America or maybe it’s his mother but his accent is South African. He looks serious and he must be very successful. These were the thoughts in my mind.
I looked again at these young people and I knew that I have seen them before. I recognized Mr. Smile, from some of the photos on the big blue poster. He was standing with 3 other young stars. I looked at miss glasses, I remembered her face, she and Mr. Suite were on the same photo with other 6 young stars. The battle began, they attacked me with questions, Mr. Smile was very nice, his questions were not as heavy as Mr. Suite’s question and Miss Glasses was lenient. She kept me going, they all did, but she was the most one who gave me hope. She kept on saying “good” when ever I had answered a question even though on some questions I felt that I did not give full and clear answers. But she gave me hope and strength to continue. Time went by and the interview was over and they were thanking me for my time. And it continued to go by, from seconds to minutes, from minutes to hours, from hours to days and on Monday the 18th of April 2009, I was informed that I must be at the selection camp, from there I went to the orientation camp. I couldn’t believe it, I was one of the South African students who will be heading to Washington in the United States of America. The date was the 13th of June 2009 at Cape Town airport, with our bags, kissing goodbyes to our families, I was watching the gang going up and down but at the same time my mind was far away. It was in “the land I had imagined”.

To be continued…