"Winds of Change Conference " in Australia during 1998. Far right: Getrude Matshe, Zimbabwe. Others: Names unknown. Native countries L-R: Nigeria, Swaziland and Nigeria

GETRUDE MATSHE'S SOUTHERN AFRICA Introduction By Getrude Matshe

Copyright 1999. Getrude Matshe - Johannesburg, South Africa

As a Southern African woman, born and bred on this beautiful continent I have come to realise the importance of where I come from, knowing my roots, my ancestry and origins. The very essence of what I am. I come from Zimbabwe, a small Southern African country North of South Africa. To the east we share a border with Mozambique, to the west Zambia, to the North Malawi and to the southwest, Botswana.

My name is Getrude Matshe, I am based in Johannesburg, South Africa and this is an invitation for you to step into my world and experience Southern Africa from a Southern African perspective. I will supply you with a weekly update of the latest news from the region, political, economic, social commentaries. I will share African literature, language, culture, arts and crafts and give you a small taste of my part of the African continent.

About myself

My father's ancestry is Malawian, his father came to Zimbabwe with the Railroads, married a Zimbabwean woman, settled and died there. My Mother's ancestry is Mozambican, her father came to Zimbabwe with the Roman Catholic missionaries, got married settle and died there. I was born in Zimbabwe, despite my ancestry (which is quite a cocktail), I feel truly Zimbabwean, I grew up with Zimbabwean customs and belief systems. I was socialised in the Shona culture, I speak the Shona language fluently, it is my mother tongue and I'm glad to say I'm proud to be African.

My father is a true visionary, he taught me that for a black person to compete in a White Man's world, you need to the able to compete with the white man. You need an education and for a man of his era, he achieved great things in his lifetime. Before the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe (pre 1980), the black man in Rhodesia experienced racism and segregation in his own back yard. In 1967 my father and mother won scholarships and left Zimbabwe to study in London. My father studied hard to become a Chartered Account and was the first black fellow in Zimbabwe. My mother studied to become a nurse and when they returned home in 1971, my father could not find employment anywhere despite his international qualifications.

He worked for three years in a chicken factory slaughtering chickens because none of the white owned corporations would employ a black person for clerical work or professional work. The only jobs that were applicable were manual jobs, sweeping and cleaning, digging and building. Despite all the financial hardships he managed to put us through the best schooling system in the country. My sister and I attended an all white girls convent. Being a religious institution we couldn't be turned away. However, the segregation was applied by charging extremely high school fees because it was a private school something that is still happening today. So it all boiled down to economics, if you didn't have the money you couldn't attend the school.

My parents worked extremely hard to get us through primary school, I remember my mother used to make doilies (crotchet work or needlepoint) after work. She used to crotchet so fast, and so beautifully without even looking down at her hands.

As a small girl I used to sit and watch her and massage her back and shoulders when she was tied. I couldn't understand at the time why she worked so hard. However, now that I look back, she used to set targets for herself every week and every Saturday and Sunday she would put all her beautiful crafts in a big basket, strap it to her bicycle and sell her wares door to door in the white suburbs. There were days when she would come home injured or bleeding from dog bites. White people would set their dogs on her if she came knocking on their doors. But this would not stop her, every Saturday and Sunday she would be back on her bike, knocking from door to door selling her wares. She taught me the true meaning of perseverance, hard work and determination.

When we talk about it now, a good thirty years later, she tells me that in the end she just had to develop a very thick skin. She told herself that this was something she had to do for her children and that her creator would reward her for her efforts through the success of her children. That is were she gets her pleasure. She says that in a way she was paying for her life insurance policy because in her old age when she doesn't have the strength to look after herself, we will be there for her.

I'm glad to say her efforts have been rewarded. Out of her five children, my eldest sister is now a Laboratory Technologist, second in line is myself, I am now a Systems Support Manager, I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree (Human resources) with an honours in Industrial Psychology. I am a computer programmer, systems analyst, business analyst and Web Developer. Third, is my brother who is now a Lawyer. Fourth, is another brother who graduates this year. He has been studying a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Banking and lastly my baby brother is completing high school this year and also plans to get a college degree.

To get back to my father, he managed to get a decent job after Independence (1980), he is running his own consultancy now and my mother has retired on a beautiful little plot of 5 acres where she grows mealies or white corn, pumpkins, okra and chillies. This is now the time when we the children take over and although they are economically independent we send them money whenever we can to keep them going, we buy them food every month. My brother just bought my father a car because its "payback time". Its time to reward them for all their hard work and sacrifice. They do not demand this of us, however we feel that we need to fulfil that part of the unspoken contract we entered into as parent and child.

My father taught me the value of a good education and that one is never too old to learn. He has been my rock, my friend, my mentor and my inspiration and a lot of what I have achieved in life has been because of my parents. They gave me exposure to the world; I have travelled to England, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Botswana, Lesotho, Uganda, Rwanda and Swaziland.

On this page I will supply you with commentaries and essays about:-

Social and economic issues

NEXT: EXTINCTION OF THE BLACK MAN

RETURN TO GETRUDE MATSHE'S SOUTHERN AFRICA INDEX PAGE

Posted by:

Bennie J. McRae, Jr.
LWF COMMUNICATIONS
Trotwood, Ohio
E-mail: lwf@coax.net

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