Tonight Zimbabwea

Doris and I went out on the town for the first time last night. Patrick, the owner of the commune, invited us to a movie screening. "you must come" he said "It should be very interesting." I was eager to see some night life and was excited. The screening took place in what appeared to be a trendy lounge-y bar / coffee shop type place.

Part of the interior

NSaKo ('Nuff Said Kollective) was started by an American and a South African who (from what I understand) both studied at Columbia in New York. The lounge had couches and pillows all over the place, plastic flowers and ironic newspaper headlines pasted to the walls. To quote Doris: "It was like a scene. A scenester scene!" The crowd was an interesting mix of people some had shaggy hair cuts and wore mismatch clothes; others seemed more like the locals I had been seeing around town. The movie was called "Zimbabwe" and it was about a girl from Zimbabwe whose name was also Zimbabwe (the locals found this very funny). As I have mentioned in previous posts, xenophobic violence has been going on over the past few weeks and continues throughout the country. So this film was particularly topical, this is why Patrick was so insistent that we go. The movie told the plight of a young Zimbabwe girl. Her grandmother has died and she is left to care for her younger brother and sister. She ends up going to Johannesburg to find work so she can send her wages home. The girl is exploited at every turn. Her wages are stolen by the people who brought her into the country, she is raped by her employer. She has a string of traumatic experiences and eventually goes back home to find that her brother has just left to go looking for her and so the viscious cycle continues. I found the movie to be very solemn and serious I watched with concern and suddenly the local people around me would burst out laughing. It seemed to happen at random throughout the movie, I didn't have the point of reference to see the humor, however that was soon to change. I was about to get an education in African politics and social issues.

There was a panel discussion after the film and this is where things got interesting. Before yesterday evening I really had only an inkling of what was going on here in South Africa and the rest of the continent. Today I still lack depth of understanding but now my view is much broader. As can be expected the crowd in this coffee shop was very liberal and therefor tolerant. The crowd was a rainbow mix of whites, blacks, Zimbabweans, South Africans, Nigerians, Americans. All points of view where shared, heard, and addressed. The panel included the actress who played Zimbabwe, Grace Kwinjeh a Zimbabwean political activist , and another gentalmen from South Africa. The discussion began with criticism of the film. People were confused about who this film was addressing, people saw problems, flaws from every angle "it's over simplified" said someone "It portrays Zimbabweans as helpless simpletons, that's bullshit!" said someone else; others were grumbling in agreement or disapproval, a heated debate was brewing.

The panel seemed to be trying to drum up Zimbabwean simpathy but the room wasn't buying into it completely. Then a young white South African stood up. He asked why the disenfranchised from countries like Zimbabwe and Mozambique leave their countries seeking asylum when they could stay where they are and effect change within their own political framework. He meant well with his comment, but essentially he was blaming the victims and the victims were sitting all around the room. Suddenly the conversation was no longer about the film, it was even beyond xenophobia, it was now about the whoas of the African Continent.

Torture, rape, genocide were witnessed and experienced by people in that room, and now they referred to each other comrade. And they were, they shared horrible experiences and now, in that room together, they were trying to understand what had happened to them and their nations. Together they where digging for solutions. An older black South African man in a yellow jacket and knit hat stood up and addressed what was said.

This image is a video still, sorry about the quality

He talked of the endless string of African leaders who operate with a "fractured psyche, an illness." He talked of a sickness in Africa born over form hundreds of years of exploitation. The product of slavery and colonialism. The air in the room felt charged as he spoke "We are a fractured people. Without question!" at that moment the power went out in the cafe, it seemed to emphasize his point.



All of the sudden we were in darkness, the room was lit by candles and the man continued. He told "Africa needs healing at a deep level and the healing must be taken on from within by the people of Africa." The experience was very powerful.