Letter 12 - Die huis brand

 Hello hi 2021,

Disclaimer: I never imagined that I'd one day be those embarrassing adults who enjoys being on the receiving end of iirastation (recitations). I am here now and I totally understand why they did it. I understand why we had to repeat them over and over...

Elder people used to have such a fascination with us performing iirastation. I got used to the drill very quickly. Linda, yizo kwenza  iirastation zakho ezase skolweni (Linda, come and performan your recitations from school). I never needed to be asked twice. Yes, I was such a forward child. I liked poems, singing from time to time and definitely reading. Caught the bookworm bug very young. I'd get applauded. If the guest was really kind, the applause would come with some incentives.

Fast forward to when I could request for iirastation. One of my requests always stands out. The performer chose to sing uMzi watsha / Die huis brand (the house is on fire) in isiXhosa and in Afrikaans. They did it so well. What I could never get over though was how they altered one section of the lyrics which changed the meaning of the song altogether. The lyrics changed from "...die vuur, die vuur...gooi die water..." (the fire, the fire...pour the water...) to ndifile, ndifile...gooi die water...(I'm dead, I'm dead...pour the water). I've been in stitches since then. It never gets old.

2021, I'd be rich if I were to have a penny for every time my house was on fire on your timeline. If we smelt like our problems, I'd have a signature Fire & Smoke scent. During your toughest moments, that rastation would come to mind and I'd also sing along to the ndifile section. Most of the times, the humour of it all would catch up with me before I could feel pink. Grey is too beautiful a colour to be used to describe anything sad. I refuse. So, yes, cracking up from ndifile came through before feeling pink kept me sad and down. Yer, 2021!

Your timeline also took me back to what Pastor Pushie Watson once said. "Just because I've been through fire, it doesn't mean that I should smell like smoke". I felt that when she said it at an auditorium full of women. I feel it at my lowest times. I feel it even more when I dance with Grace and Hope.

Thank you for the hard times 2021. Yes. You heard me correctly. Thank you...