Serepudi-A Queer Photography and Experimental Art Exhibition

On 11 June 2019, Botswana announced that they will decriminalize the same-sex act, through a unanimous ruling by the High Court of Botswana.
During the month of February, the first queer exhibition will be held in Gaborone.
The exhibition titled, Serepudi is a new pre-Valentine’s Day queer photography exhibition and be hosted by Queer Pride BW on February 13, 2020. The exhibition will showcase Queer Photography by experimental artist Sade Shoalane and photographer Raymond Geofrey. It will also debut the trailer of actor Donald Molosi’s new critically-acclaimed British queer film called 2064.

The Serepudi exhibition will run from February 13 to February 15, 2020. It will be held at the Culture Art Café in Molapo Crossing, Gaborone. The exhibition co-organizer Letlhogonolo Moremi says of Serepudi, “As Queer Pride BW we wanted to have an exhibition that includes photography, 3D items, and a film trailer, an exhibition is across media. That is to capture the breadth of possibilities in telling stories about ourselves as Queer bodies.”
One of the special features at the February 13 opening will be the artist-talks with both Shoalane and Geofrey about their work. The artist talks will be moderated by PR and Branding Strategist and LGBTQ Activist EminentGrey. Poet Phodiso Modirwa will also recite her spell-binding poetry.

Speaking about the new exhibition, Co-Founder of Queer Pride BW, actor, and writer Donald Molosi says, “Serepudi is Setswana for a stoop that one stands on in front of the house. It is a platform, and this exhibition wants to be that platform for inclusivity in Botswana arts. We are the generation that wants everyone to be represented in daily life and that is why we are standing on the serepudi of our shared dignity as human beings and queering Valentine’s Day this year through this exhibition. Serepudi is necessary decolonization of our ideas about sexuality. You don’t have to be queer to believe inequality. You just have to have an understanding.”

According to co-organizer Letlhogonolo Moremi, “a harrowing onslaught of homophobia has been meted to the Botswana Queer community in response to the June 11, 2019 decriminalization of same-sex relationships by the Botswana High Court. With this fresh wave of continued relegation of queer humanity to political talking points and spectacularization dressed as “social discourse,” it is obvious that the non-queer community does not intend on seeing queer people as fully human beings who are not defined by made-up “deviation.” Our collective house, as Batswana, is on fire! Who shall stand at the serepudi and announce that this is our home, too? What images shall stand on the serepudi and remind us of the full humanity of Queer People?”

Queer Pride BW believes that the most transformative way to stand on the proverbial serepudi and counter-violence is to highlight our shared humanity and to make a bold statement by queer bodies directly confronting queerphobia and its guardians. Therefore, in Serepudi, both Raymond Geofrey and Sade Shoalane explore queerness in ways that are not policed and not apologetic social convention. It is upon these images that Queer Pride BW seeks to stand and speak to a house on fire, confronting prejudice with boldness to embarrass patriarchy and hatred.

Sade Shoalane is an experimental artist who will be exhibiting her art at Serepudi. She says, “My work in Serepudi is very specific to the queer Afrikan narrative. I will even say the narrative of the black, queer womxn –much dismissed narrative even in supposed ‘safe queer black spaces’… it is this dismissal that I seek to turn on its head so that I may return the favor of poking, prodding, and questioning. I will mostly use the medium of fabric to conduct this interrogation.” She, laments the lack of art exhibitions in Gaborone. In her words, “there are very few regular and substantial art exhibitions in Gaborone. I think it is due to the usual culprits – the gatekeepers. Often the people who have been entrusted to run these art and culture institutions are quite clueless about the sector they represent. They tend to suppress art that redefines the culture of the country. I am deeply grateful for private institutions like Culture Art café that continue to support more radical art and artists alike.”
Serepudi comes the day before Valentine’s Day and co-organizer actor Donald Molosi says that this is deliberate. “Valentine’s Day is usually yet another celebration of heteronormativity, of being heterosexual. What about the queer people? Can they also participate visibly in these festivities of love? Serepudi is here to say that, yes they can and yes, they shall. We humanists are tired of such calendar days being triggers for the queer community because it reminds them that they are excluded. With Serepudi, a new generation of Batswana is unapologetically and fearlessly putting queerness at the center of Valentine’s Day 2020. We want to embarrass patriarchy.” Molosi asserts.

The exhibition will run from February 13 to February 15, 2020. It will be held at the Culture Art Café in Molapo Crossing, Gaborone. The opening reception will be on February 13 only and tickets can be pre-booked by calling +267 73410039.

END

The Dear Upright African Movement.

One of my passions in life are arts and how we can promote our beautiful continent. I started my Pan African agency, http://www.wakaagency.biz so to bridge the gap between like-minded artisans, activist, and creators. Along my journey, I have worked and still work with phenomenal individuals​s, who live their lives in changing our narrative with regard to how we see ourselves​ as Africans​, how we promote ourselves and what history needs to to be corrected.
Donald Molosi is one game changer. He is a classically-trained actor and award-winning playwright. He holds an MA in Performance Studies from UCSB, a Graduate Diploma in Classical Acting from LAMDA, and a BA in Political Science and Theatre from Williams College. Molosi is featured in A United Kingdom, opposite Golden Globe and Emmy award nominee David Oyelowo and Oscar nominee Rosamund Pike. The film depicts the marriage of Prince Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams in the 1940s and the uniting of the people of Botswana. Molosi divides his time between Botswana and the rest of Africa. His second book, We Are All Blue has been named one of 2016’s most prominent African Books by several literary journals including Writivism.
In 2017, he wrote a thought-provoking​ essay, which received​ great reviews globally. It also received​ some criticism​​m from people who refuse to acknowledge the negative effects​ that colonialism had on our cuture, tradition, identity, ​and ultimately how we see ourselves.

The essay:

Dear Upright African,

I am reminded of six years ago. I had just flown into Johannesburg from Kampala. I was in Johannesburg to do a screen test for a TV series about Botswana. Before the screen test was over I had already landed one of the lead roles. Of course, I was elated, mostly because even though I was enjoying an award-winning acting career on-Broadway and off-Broadway in New York City, I still had the firm desire to do something at home. A week later I was in Gaborone, script in hand, and ready to film. Then an email from the series producers popped up on my phone saying that after “much careful thought and consideration” I had been dropped from the production for “not looking African enough.” The news was more infuriating than disappointing. I found myself wishing they had told me that I had been dropped because I had not been a good enough actor during the screen tests, or that I was asking for too much money. But to say that I did not fulfill​l some British self-styled Africanist director’s zoological notion of what an African looks like was to abuse even my ancestors. I tell you, Upright African, you and I must write and perform many-many stories about the Africa we know where my perfect teeth are not remarkable.

Internalized Oppression seeped into our young minds every time our teachers congratulated us for speaking well, “like a proper Brit” and in the same breath ridiculed us for having Afro-textured hair. British merchant John Locke, in 1561 wrote that Africans were “people without heads.” Trust me, Upright African, to pretend that I don’t have a head (even mind) would have been a ​difficult thing for me to do in high school, or in that audition room in Johannesburg. Locke also describes Africans as people with “their mouths and eyes in their breasts.” Now that would be pure comedy if that sort of language and imagery had not animalized and thingified the African so profoundly in the West’s imaginary that it is partly how Europe justified (to herself and the rest of us) her brutal colonisation of a third of the world. Perhaps Locke would be hilarious if, ​in 1829, European taxidermists had not exhumed the body of a Tswana King to exhibit it in the same way as a trophy animal in Spain for the ​amusement of Europeans who had not seen a Black man before. Perhaps asking me to perform a zoological Africanness would not be insolent if Saartjie Baartman had not been trafficked from the Cape into to being a dancing sex-slave for Parisians at Palais Royal and Londoners at Piccadilly Circus simply because of so-called steatopygia, the “condition” of having a big butt, which apparently rendered her more like an animal and therefore inferior to the European.

When I predictably lived in Paris years after high school I almost-instinctively knew how to catch the metro from Villejuif to Centre Pompidou to Porte de Montreuil. I therefore found myself questioning my education almost obsessive-compulsively​: what study of French history and culture (in a Botswana school) had this been that it almost-by-definition had to displace people who look like me and you out of story whilst the bloody Eiffel tower itself was built by enslaved Africans who died in the process and whose bones remain under the magnificent monument? What if in that high school class you and I had learnt not just about the great French singers Patricia Kaas and Edith Piaf but also about their equally great contemporary Josephine Baker and how she wrote a competing narrative with her body, claiming the agency of the black female body on stage, in Paris no less? How different might our consciousness have been at that age as products of “international” schools? Would we have spent so many disorienting years after high school apologizing for (not) being African? What if we had simply learnt about African empires instead of French history? You see, we also belong in history as protagonists and not just as supporting characters. Upright African, we must also make dolls that look like little African girls. Perhaps I digress but you get me.

When the grand story of David Livingstone’s peripatetic exploits across Africa is told in Big-British-Books-On-African-History used in African schools, private or public, it introduces us to his African aides, Susi and Chuma. We are told that Susi and Chuma were loyal servants to David Livingstone. We are also told that Susi and Chuma were so loyal to David Livingstone that when he died at a location described as “the centre of Africa,” Susi and Chuma risked their own lives by carrying Livingstone’s embalmed body for months from modern day Zambia all the way to the coast of modern-day​ Tanzania so that the body could be shipped off to London for burial. Now, what if we dared to tell the stories of Susi and Chuma not just as servants but also as – to use that fancy term reserved for Europeans – ‘explorers?’ What if in our version of missionary history we also saw Africa through Susi and Chuma’s eyes? Would we not see that Ilala, the Zambian village where Livingstone died, is in fact not the center of Africa but simply a case in colonial cartography full of self-serving symbolism?

I wrote We Are All Blue because beneath the Grand Narratives of global history lie African stories waiting for you and me, Upright Africans in the world, to truthfully tell back into our Consciousness. With no apology. For our own humanity’s sake!

-Donald Molosi
​

Donald has recently published another book, Dear Upright African. His European book​ launch​ took place at the African Book Festival Berlin 2019. The African Book Festival aims to summon the finest in African and Afro-diasporic​ writing to Berlin. The event was curated by award-winning writer and filmmaker Tsitsi Dangarembga from Zimbabwe. With Ben Okri, the festival’s headliner is another literary giant from Nigeria.
This year the event focused thematically on transitions, change, upheaval and future visions – in a literal as well as figurative sense: How do African writers interpret the issue of crossing borders and trespassing, physically but also stylistically. How are personal experiences and changes in location reflected in poetry? Which political upheavals are picked up on in fiction and how are they interpreted? In which ways can and do African thinkers influence current situations.

To book him as a speaker, consultant, linguist or trainer​, please contact​ us
rosie@wakaagency.biz
http://www.wakaagency.biz

The war on women’s bodies.

The war on our bodies has been an ongoing struggle for decades, dating back to the 1970’s. People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) was formed in 1979 by a group of women volunteers in order to provide referral services and shelter to women experiencing domestic violence.
The word “jack-roll” or ‘jack rolling”, started during the 1980s by a gang called ‘the jackrollers’, it was the abduction of women in townships who would then subjected to lengthly periods of gang rape.

It was only after The Bill Of Rights was signed, did women receive formal recognition as equal citizens. For many years South African women were under the legal control of their fathers and husbands, this is still the same in many African countries.
The domestic violence act 116 of 1998 was signed: To provide for the issuing of protection orders with regard to domestic violence; and for matters connected therewith.

About ten years ago, somebody asked me when I will stop marching and pushing the anti-abuse campaign, my answer was when the abuse stops.

I have written many blogs on the state of affairs regarding rape and abuse in 2014 I wrote about a women who called out for help after she had been raped, she called on the police for assistance, her response came from the Hillbrow police station where six policemen( Men) were called to a rape case, they found the perpetrator and let him go. The survivor was present and requested medical attention, they denied that and told her to sleep it off as she had been drinking. I have highlighted on many cases where survivors have received ill treatment from police personnel when trying to report a case. Like many activists and organisations, this outcry and call has been the forefront of many campaigns, yet there has been very little change.
Over the past years we have seen the disrespect of women’s lives from the very publicised murder cases such as Oscar Pistorius, who killed his girlfriend Reeve Steenkamp and received a reduced jail sentence to Shrien Devani who was acquitted for murdering his wife Anna Dewani and Thato Kutumela who was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for the murder of his girlfriend, Zanele Khumalo. Former Soweto community radio presenter Donald “Donald Duck” Sebolai was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murdering his girlfriend, Rachel “Dolly” Tshabalala.
Unfortunately they have been hundreds if not thousands who have gone unnoticed.

Women in our present day still face many obstacles and challenges which can be related to poverty, violence and abuse in the home, unemployment, access to quality health care and legal representation.
Financial dependance of their male partners or husbands has increased vulnerability to domestic violence and rape.
The girl child has been greatly affected by the personal home front as well as discrimination at school, from the subject choices which have seen to be suitable fro male learners, girls have been sexually harassed, raped and abuse, some forced to drop out due to teenage pregnancy, possibly caused by rape. Many young girls miss school during their menstrual cycles as they cannot afford sanitary towels and tampons.

Over the past few weeks there has been in increase in reported crimes against women. These barbaric acts have been publicised and there has been a huge outcry from all sectors, that we need an intervention. This is true but we need to understand and own up to the fact that this has been on ongoing problem for years. The change that has occurred is that more incidents are being reported and now we hear a strong outcry from men.
The rate of crimes and murders that have escalated within the LGBT community. Due to the stigma attached many cases are not even heard and still remain unresolved.

Where to from now?
To start with, our men need to hold each other accountable. Many years ago I dated a man who’s business partner continuously made jokes about beating up women and this frustrated me, causing many arguments in our home. My then partners undermining attitude was that it was just a joke and I should get over it by response was and still is the same, if you joke about it, you condone the action. We need to create a shift in our conversations and attitudes towards women.

Gender equality starts in the home. There should not be gender specific roles for boys and girls, parents should be seen as equal. Children are taught and emulate what their parents do. Fighting in the home has proven to have lifelong effects on children. Many people decide to remain in abusive relationships as they feel that separation will affect the children, the violence and hatred is what affects the children.
If incidents happen at schools and remain unresolved, notify the department of eduction. No child should be scared to go to school or face any form df discrimination whilst trying to get an education.

The police need to be held accountable. Correct protocol measures need to be adhered with taking down reports, recording crimes and treatment of survivors.
We need harsher laws for rapists and abusers. Women need to stop being blamed for what happened to them. Victim blaming is still a major concern. I have made many reports and complaints to IPD with no response but if we get large number of valid complaints, then action will take place. Their contact details are:  
Address in Gauteng City Forum Building
 114 Madiba Street
 Pretoria
Telephone number: 012 399 0000

Email address

Complaints@ipid.gov.za

Our minister of police Mr Fikile Mbalula is very active on twitter: @mbalulafikile
 
Social media, should be used for good and not just scandal. If an incident occurs, recording it is necessary but so is justice. Record the dialogue and images but also record relevant information such as car number plates, what the perpetrator looks like, the exact location of where the crime takes place, such as a road sign, building structure etc
One should notify the police immediately and seek help for the survivor. We should make more citizen complaints, hold our police accountable. There are too many reported cased where investigating officers receive bribes and then in questioning the survivors, telling them that they should drop the case and convince them that they would not survive long trails. Granted trials are long and tedious and the incident will have to be repeated many a times but by keeping quiet will not help as the incident will still be repeated in your mind.

If you need assistance here are a few organisations that I have worked with and strongly endorse:

1. FEW: Forum For The Empowerment of Women
Call: +27 11 403 1906/7

Social media:
@forumfortheempowermentofwomen

Email
project1@few.org.za

Website:
http://www.few.org.za

FEW was established by black lesbian women activists living in Johannesburg in 2001.In a post 1994 South Africa and with the new constitution of 1996 recognising sexual orientation within the equality clause, it was clear that we had to organize ourselves to ensure that we were able to claim and live the rights entrenched in the constitution. Already, with increasing numbers of LGBTI people coming out and being visible both in everyday life as well as within human rights defending work, the age-old issues of discrimination, stigmatisation and marginalization were becoming more blatant. The group which initially began the conversation about organizing black lesbian women were concerned that within the broader LGBTI and women’s human rights issues, black lesbian women were more vulnerable because of intersecting identities, contexts and realities.
We also recognised the power within our community – both black lesbian women, women in general and the LGBTI community – to confront the abuses that were being perpetrated against us in a democratic South Africa. Initially, the focus was on social space and service provision, including counseling and information, education and communication on key issues, health and related realities of lesbian lives. A key focus was on the issue of hate crimes, particularly rape and sexual assault, which were being reported in growing numbers. The hate crimes were being perpetrated based on assumptions about sexual orientation and gender identity which were seen as deviant and so worthy of responses by communities. This homophobia was directed at all LGBTI people, but the targeting of black lesbian women for this “fixing” was obvious and linked to the patriarchal nature of our society which in turn fed heteronormativity. Projects included a small scholarship fund for survivors of hate crime related violence, drama and soccer as processes to engage with black lesbian women.

2. POWA: people Opposing Women Abuse:
Telephone: -11 642 4345/6
infor@powa.co.za
Twitter: @powa_za

POWA is a “feminist, women’s rights organisation that provides both services, and engages in advocacy in order to ensure the realisation of women’s rights and thereby improve women’s quality of life”.
POWA’s uniqueness as an organisation is in providing both services to survivors and engaging in advocacy using a feminist and intersectional analysis. Our work is rooted in the belief that change can only be said to be effective when women’s lives are directly improved through our interventions. We also believe that there is no single route to change, and thus constantly seek new and creative approaches in our programming to achieve the change we seek.

Frontline Services – Shelters, counseling, and legal advice
As one of our core frontline services, POWA provides shelter services for clients (and their children where relevant) who have been the victims of GBV. These services are located in the East and West Rand, and a “second stage” house is located in Berea. POWA also provides several forms of counselling to clients (including shelter clients), such as face-to-face counselling, support groups (facilitated by a social worker) and telephone counselling and referrals. The Legal and Advocacy Department at POWA also assist women (approximately 50 per month) with telephonic and face-to-face-legal advice to women, court preparation and support, and referral to other professionals and practitioners (pro bono).

Advocacy
The Legal and Advocacy Department at POWA works to “provide quality women-centred legal service and engage in national and regional advocacy for the protection and promotion of women’s rights.” POWA’s advocacy work includes advocating for legal reform, for example, parliamentary law reform submissions as well as strategic litigation. We actively participate in national advocacy. We are a member of the Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a network of 26 Civil Society Organisations and Development Partners. In South Africa, POWA is the lead organisation spearheading the eight-nation Raising Her Voice Campaign, working to empower women to hold governments accountable to commitments on GBV and HIV.

Aluta Continua.

To continue the dialogue contact me via Facebook or twitter:
@RosieMotene.

The truth in being an Upright African.

Over the past decade as I embarked on a journey of self discovery, there were many questions, fears and frustrations that crossed my thoughts and made me ponder on my upbringing. As I have said many times before in my writings and social media posts, when you set out to seek an answer and you honestly ask it, the universe conspires and places you in positions where you would find that closure. For me, I was trying to understand the true meaning and feeling of being an African women, understanding the notion of black pride and strength. You must understand this is something that I did not know, understand or believe in. My unconventional upbringing of growing up in a different culture, traditions and compromising era of history, led me to living a very confused life for over three decades. So when I began to question my guilt, confusion and privilege that I was placed in from birth, I realized that I had no reference point to start from, there were no books that could guide me. Fortunately living in the times of social media, I found myself being attracted and participating in very important and thought provoking conversations of Black history, white privileged and reclaiming our kingdom. These conversations were different from the important discussion of bringing an end to apartheid. These new conversation educated me on centuries of black history not only in South Africa but also in other counties and in some cases continents.

 

The old adage goes along the lines of: People come into your life, for a reason or a season. I soon began to understand the phenomenal individuals that I began to meet and indulge in deep conversation.

One of these people was Donald Molosi from Botswana. With my travels back and forth from Botswana for work and research into finding and nurturing African talent, there was always one name that came up when it came to theatre, acting and writing and it was he. I read up on his past and his work and soon discovered this young and phenomenal man had achieved so many important milestones in his short life. Graduating from one of the worlds most esteemed drama schools, such as Williams College, America’s leading Liberal Arts College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. There he completed two Bachelor’s Degrees, one in Theatre and the other in political science. In his four years at Williams, Molosi won several regional, national and international awards for his acting and writing abilities. He won the Best Actor at the Dialogue One Festival in Massachusetts for his portrayal of Sir Seretse Khama (2008); he won the Sanford Prize for Excellence in Theatre (2009); he was nominated for the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship as a US national nominee (2009); he won the Lehman Scholar Award from Williams College for outstanding work in Political Theater; he won the Florence Chandler Fellowship which enabled him to conduct theater research around the world for 12 months. After Williams College, Molosi got his Graduate Diploma in Classical Acting from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in England where he got to study under Academy-Award winner Janet Suzman. LAMDA’s alumni include David Oyelowo (The Butler), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave) both of whom Molosi met and watched on stage while a student there.

 

In 2015 the day finally arrived where our paths crossed. I was in Gaborone on an assignment for CNN with one of my previous clients and was introduced to Mr. Molosi. Our discussion and talks on life, theatre and the arts began. Within a few weeks, he was signed to my agency Waka Talent and our journey began. I knew that working for such an esteemed brand will be an experience of a lifetime and like in may relationships; we take away a lot from each other.

Fast forward to 2017, where he sent me a copy of one of his pieces, titled Dear Upright African, I have pasted it below. I must have read the essay, at least four or five times, resonating with the words, feelings and truth. I mostly cried as some of the answers that I had been seeking over the past few years had been put into context. Here a young man, at least ten years my junior from another country and who had also been awarded many privileges in life, was questioning the truth behind not only our blackness but also our Africaness. Of course there was no surprise when the essay went viral and was translated into many languages around the world. A few months later, the TedX conference contacted Donald to speak at TedX Gaborone, which took place in Gaborone in March 2017.

As he prepared for the important speaking event, he was met with a little objection from people saying that he should not write or speak on that topic. This we ignored as we focused on the positive and thought provoking discussions that had occurred across the world including radio interviews on Trans Africa radio and Kaya FM in South Africa.

 

The day arrived, he spoke with pride, he excelled and he received the rave reviews that were owed to him. He also received very worrying but truthful commentary, in the most unprofessional and defamatory manner.

On Facebook I was directed to the page of a Julia Saplontai, who started by insulting and threating Donald and his ability and psyche. I was rather surprised by her first post where she mentioned that he was trashing her school. This was the worrying factor; the truthful factor was that she personally aired white privilege beliefs.

 

I soon was told that she is a teacher at the school that Donald attended in Botswana. I was surprised at the assumptions as nowhere in his piece does he mention the name of the school, yet here she was bringing attention to it. I promptly took it upon myself to reply, not only in the capacity of his manger but as an African women who stood by and understood his writing. We never received a response, except from TedX stating that they had welcomed Donald speech as saw nothing wrong with him talking on those issues.

 

A few days later, she continued to attack him using the most unnecessary language. This raised a number of alarms for me. Firstly, she is a teacher and is responsible for shaping young minds and lives, yet she was using the most crude and damaging words. The second alarm was why did she think she had the right to undermine his thoughts, quest of knowledge and truth behind his upbringing?

This then woke me up to so many other sense of my upbringing of how as Black people were have been pre conditioned to believe that we cannot express ourselves within reason, how our pride, traditions and cultures have been undermined and our minds programmed into believing that we are inferior, more importantly how we are not supposed to talk and feel the pain of the past.

Julia Saplontai has subsequently removed herself from Facebook but not before posting an unapologetic statement on how she has been forced to. Her posts are pasted below.

 

This has caused a lot of outrage and many are saying that she should not be allowed to teach. To this date we have not receive an apology or statement from the school. As this is an important and heated debate, we welcome any further discussion from other schools, educators, learners or civil servants. The conversation needs to continue, we have the right to express our pain and frustration and hear each other out. We need to heal the wound of the past but before doing so, we need to face them and acknowledge them. We need to educate our nations both young and old of our kingdom and who we are. As colonialism as swept through Africa for centuries, we cannot unravel what we have learnt, but rather seek what we were no taught. We need more research into our African heroes and heroines. our traditions and cultures. We need to document them and they need to be added to our school curriculums.

We need to stand tall, after all we are Africans, we are kings and queens.

Dear Upright African,

Private school failed me. That type of European-School-In-Africa that insists on a chronically colonized curriculum. That brand of Eurocentric “international” school in Africa that equips the African child to be more functional in the West than in his or her own corner of Africa. That Botswana “English Medium” school where I was forced to memorize the metro map of Paris throughout high school and I was tested on it for a life-shaping grade, while never being taught anything about Botswana. Except to casually gloss over that super-genocide delicately named the Scramble for Africa, told as an organization of African land by the Almighty Europeans. Upright African, if history itself is a performance of memory I would like you and I to consider what exactly we gain or lose by dropping the African out of that performance.

I am reminded of six years ago. I had just flown into Johannesburg from Kampala. I was in Johannesburg to do a screen test for a TV series about Botswana. Before the screen test was over I had already landed one of the lead roles. Of course I was thrilled, mostly because even though I was enjoying an award-winning career on-Broadway and off-Broadway in New York City, I still had the firm desire to do something at home. A week later I was in Gaborone, script in hand, and ready to film. Then an email from the series producers popped up on my phone saying that after “much careful thought and consideration” I had been dropped from the production for “not looking African enough.” The news was more infuriating than disappointing. I found myself wishing they had told me that I had been dropped because I had not been a good enough actor during the screen tests, or that I was asking for too much money… just, anything else. But to say that I did not fulfill some British self-styled Africanist director’s zoological notion of what an African looks like was to abuse even my ancestors. I tell you, Upright African, you and I must write and perform many many stories about the Africa we know where my perfect teeth are not remarkable.

When I predictably lived in Paris years after high school I almost instinctively knew how to catch the metro from Villejuif to Centre Pompidou to Porte de Montreuil. I therefore found myself questioning my education almost obsessive-compulsively: what study of French history and culture (in a Botswana school) had  this been that it almost-by-definition had to displace people who look like me and you out of story whilst the bloody Eiffel tower itself was built by enslaved Africans who died in the process and whose bones remain under the magnificent monument? What if in that high school class you and I had learned not just about the great French singers Patricia Kaas and Edith Piaf but also about their equally great contemporary Josephine Baker and how she wrote a competing narrative with her body, claiming the agency of the black female body on stage, in Paris no less? How different might our consciousness have been at that age as products of “international” schools? Would we have spent so many disorienting years after high school apologizing for (not) being African? What if we had simply learnt about African empires instead of French history? You see, we also belong in history as protagonists and not just as supporting characters. Upright African, we must also make dolls that look like little African girls. Perhaps I digress but you get me.

When the grand story of David Livingstone’s peripatetic exploits across Africa is told in Big-British-Books-On-African-History, it introduces us to his African aides, Susi and Chuma. We are told that Susi and Chuma were loyal servants to David Livingstone. We are also told that Susi and Chuma were so loyal to David Livingstone that when he died at a location described as “the centre of Africa,” Susi and Chuma risked their own lives by carrying Livingstone’s embalmed body for months from modern day Zambia all the way to the coast of modern-day Tanzania so that the body could be shipped off to London for burial. Now, what if we dared to tell the stories of Susi and Chuma not just as servants but also as – to use that fancy term reserved for Europeans – ‘explorers?’ What if in our version of missionary history we also saw Africa through Susi and Chuma’s eyes? Would we not see that Ilala, the Zambian village where Livingstone died, is in fact not the center of Africa but simply a case in colonial cartography full of self-serving symbolism?

Beneath grand narratives of history lie African stories waiting for you, an Upright African in the world, to tell them truthfully. With no apology. For our own humanity’s sake!

Love,

DM

 

Comments from Julia Sapontai:

 

 

My response to her first post:

 

Comment from TedX

 

 

For further discussions or interviews please contact:

rosie@wakaagency.biz

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The Botswana incident is now behind me.

This morning as I woke up from a deep and beautiful sleep, I can only but feel the relief and enjoyment of being able to exhale. Last year I was injured during an unfortunate incident that occurred in Botswana where I was punched in the face, which lead to nasal surgery. The incident took place at The Lansmore, Masa square hotel where a fight broke out and I was punched in the face accidentally. The punch was not aimed at me but at David Baitse, who was standing next to me.The events that occurred after, took me through an emotional and psychological roller coaster and I’m happy to say, the matter has been resolved.

 After making an additional trip to Botswana and making copious amounts of phone calls to Botswana police, trying to find out the status of my case and not getting anywhere, Bissau finally called me.

It was last Monday afternoon and he called to apologise for what had occurred in December. To be honest I did not take him serious and he suggested that we meet, so he could make an appropriate apology and that he should take responsibility for his actions. A mediation meeting was set up for 30 April 2014, at my lawyer’s office in Gaborone, Botswana. He was accompanied by is lawyer.

Our meeting was an amicable one, where he acknowledged his wrongdoing and apologised for not acting in the appropriate manner. He also agreed to take care of my medical costs that I incurred from the surgery, hospital and post doctor visits.

The week after the incident happened, Tata Madiba had passed away. On the Sunday after his death was a day of reflection for the world, I lay in bed watching documentaries and tribute pouring in for this phenomenal man. Madiba left us with an amazing legacy and taught us all so many things and forgiveness being the most important and difficult. It was that day I decided I would need to find forgiveness in my heart for Bissau. I prayed and processed my pain, both physically and emotionally. My December holiday i did a lot of resting, crying, praying wondering why this had happened but more importantly focusing on finding that inner peace again.

South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting: Nelson Mandela.

 

So when the apology came through, the past five months of my challenges, struggling and dealing were finally coming to end. He made a comment, that the incident created a lot of attention on him where he should have supplied empathy and support to me. This is common in many assault and abuse cases. I thank him for acknowledging that.

 

From every negative situation, one can derive positivity and he suggested that this matter is no different. He has agreed that, in the future he will be working with various women’s organisations. NGO’s across the globe struggle with financial support and creating awareness, he has agreed that he will create synergies with NGOs to see where he could assist with their needs.

Since I had received a lot of support from Gender affairs and Emang Basadi in Botswana, perhaps he could lend assistance there as well as the Kagisano Society women’s shelter.

 

As I asked for assistance from my government via twitter, the incident went viral and I received messages, comments, and retweets etc form across the globe. My host Berry Heart received many calls from around the world, offering their assistance and support and checking if I was safe and alright, she received calls from women in the entertainment industry such as Connie Ferguson and Kuli Roberts and this sparked an idea. Women have had a history of not supporting each other but this was different, she saw how we collectively we can do so much more. We then had dialogue with other women in the arts and we have now formed a synergy titled: Women in arts. WIA is made up of women in the arts space, whether it is singing, poetry, acting, dancing etc. We aim to use our craft and skills to create awareness and create a better and harmonious environment and more importantly we intend to be the voice for so many voiceless women. We need to create dialogue in areas where women have never been allowed to express their feelings, we want to address issues that governments should take further and create change. We want to give inspiration to girls and women and prompt them to live their best lives possible.

 

The social network attention also created a lot of negative and skeptic comments. One message that came through that really hit home for me was from a woman who tweeted; ‘Women are beaten up everyday, why is it a big thing because it happened to Rosie Motene’. For many days I thought about this and realised that the statement was hurtful but very true. Women are being beaten ever day, in fact every second, why is there only selective noise? This made me realise that we still have a long way to go and that the problem of abuse worldwide needs greater attention.

 

As I move on and rise like a phoenix from the ashes, I’m grateful and give thanks to many people, including:

The team from Proudly SA

Mr. Clayson Monyela, South Africa’s head of Public Diplomacy.

Mr. Maurizio Mariano.

Ms. Corra Skenjana (Admin Attache) and Ms Mauku (Home Affairs) both of the SA High Commission in Gaborone who attended to the matter on the morning of the incident, they insisted that the police take my statement and transported me to the airport for my emergency flight home.

The department of women, children and people living with disabilities, with he National Council Against Gender-based Violence for connecting me to Interpol.

The SA high commission to Botswana.

Mrs. Wendy Griffiths who assisted with my emergency response.

The V-day team: Cecile Lipworth, Barbara Mhangami and Gina Shmukler.

Lebo and Simba who tried to get the police to attend to the matter and for taking care of collecting my belongings from my hotel and meeting me at the airport before my departure.

Nicole and Sheldon Artman for taking care of me the week of my surgery.

Mbali Kgosidintsi and her family, for offering their assistance on the ground.

Mme. Setswaelo

Emang Basadi

Gender affairs.

Hlomla Dandala for alerting Phat Joe and Pearl Thusi and METROFM for allowing them to broadcast my plea on air.

The RGB team.

The Barbuzano’s

The Ferguson’s

Akin Omotoso and Katarina Hedren.

To all my friends and family, thank you for your support, prayers and love.

My legal team at Radipati and co.

If I have left anyone out, please now that your love is appreciated.

 To my powerful, soul sister Berry Heart. Your strength and love is astounding. I know you endured a lot during that time and I thank you for standing your ground. I thank you for your honesty and bravery.

And finally I thank Bissau for standing up like a man and taking responsibility.

 

Aluta Continua.

 

For more information on Women In Arts: WIA, on what we plan to achieve and how you can assist, please contact

Rosie Motene; Rosie@rosiemotene.biz

Berry heart: Berryheart@googlemail.com

 

Women’s organisations in South Africa and Botswana.

POWA: www.powa.co.za

Department of women, children and people living with disabilities: www.dwcpd.gov.za

Emang Basadi: www.emagbasadi.org.bw

Gender affairs: www.gov.bw

 

Still I Rise

Maya Angelou, 1928

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.