The traveler’s memory

The traveler’s memory

Tell me tortoise-like travelers
Where do you hide your heartily eyes
When you crisscross lands and shores
Of spicy tales and wondrous melodies

Do you seat on the riverside
Inhaling the breath of whispering
Rivers and lakes of showery tales
Depicted by the ancient ones

Or do you roam like a lost buck
In green pastures grazing
and swallowing each story
Its flesh and bone as purely offered

When you kneel beside the grinding maize stone
Pounded like maize with the chronicle of the ancestors
Holding dearly each words of their mouth and
Keeping them in the secret corner of your heart

Do you see in their story their pure heart
Untainted, unstained, pure like their water
Coming out of magical rocks and stones
And like snaking pathways in green fields

At the harvest celebration feast
When spirits are undressed
Naked, revealed to your eyes
save and cherish each moment dearly

Tell me hibernator travelers
Looking for sunrays in thatched villages
Where do you hide the wisdom of
these mysterious African roads

In clamorous songs of shepherds
In ritualistic melodies of these young spirits
aspirant to manhood and womanhood within them
echo the voice of their gods and goddesses

do you hold each bead of each story and song
in your palm to make a string of souvenirs
a necklace of undying moment and treasure
then keep it in your heart where no thief can reach

listen each day to the voice of your heart
when it rewinds each footstep of your journeys
at the rendezvous of souls because each bead
of story and song carries the spirit of the ancestors

... think again when you buy these electronic devices...

During fifteen years of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo more than 6 million people have lost their lives, rape has been used systematically as a weapon of war, thousands of youths have forcibly joined rebel and war lords’ armies, natural resources have been and continue to be plundered by TNCs and foreign governments, over 1 million people are internally displaced and thousands have become refugees in the neighboring and farer countries.

Coltan, a precious mineral found only in the East Part of Congo is one of the root causes of the endless war in Kivu;(East OF Congo) It is a vital ingredient for mobile phones, laptops, pagers and other electronic devices.

So think again when you buy these electronic devices; where is the money going? Why these companies involved in the production of these electronic devices can not take it legally in the Congo and allow the country and its people to prosper peacefully?

Message du 6 Septembre à Baxter Theatre, Cape Town

Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, 6 Septembre: Evénement organisé par la Diaspora Congolaise, Cape Town

Message de Jamala Safari suivi du poème Un silence torturant

Message

Je me tiens ici aujourd’hui, pas pour vous raconter l’histoire douloureuse de notre cher pays ; l’histoire qui est gravée dans nos mémoires comme des empreintes Hontatots sur des grottes de Kalahari et qui coule dans nos veines comme le Tanganyika dans les bains de rift valley mais je me tiens ici pour vous demander juste une seule question, que faites-vous ou bien qu’avez-vous déjà fait pour stopper la peine que cette même histoire contenue à propager sur le cœur de notre peuple ?

On est en 2009, 13 ans de guerre et que quelqu’un du Kivu dira sans contradiction 15 ans de guerre. Mains combien de fois l’image de la R D Congo a déjà fait le titre majeur des journaux internationaux ?

Plus de 6 millions de morts, d’innombrables cas des violences sexuelles inhumaines et des milliers d’enfants soldats, une crise humanitaire sans précédente comparable a la deuxième guerre mondiale ; mais le Monde entier est muet et aveugle. La crise du Darfour attire plus l’attention que les massacres au Congo ; le génocide du Rwanda est plus pleuré que les génocides du Congo ; bien sur que toute vie humaine est sacrée et chère, mais quelle est la valeur de la vie d’un Congolais ?

C’est à nous chers frères et sœurs, compatriotes Congolais de pouvoir élever nos voix.
La guerre est là et elle continue à tué nos frères et sœurs, et chose grave c’est une l’arme étrangère munie de la baïonnette qui meurtrie notre peuple. Au kivu, on pleure, en Ituri on pleure ; nous restons l’espoir de notre peuple.

Je remercie la Diaspora Congolaise pour cette merveilleuse initiative, elle vient bien sur de suivre d’autres événements sur la RD Congo qui viennent de se terminer. J’étais l’initiateur et coordonnateur d’un événement intitule “one day to remember the forgotten war of Congo in the context of the Great Lakes region”.Qui s’était tenue a Herzlia High School, et je remercie tous les Congolais qui s’étaient donné le courage d’assister et de participer. Il y eu aussi la projection du Film documentaire « the greatest silence » que Maurice Mbikayi et les gens De l’organisation DRCSA ont organise ici à Cape Town. Et d’autres que je ne cite pas.

Nous avons maintenant des espaces sociales (Twitter, facebook,Netlog,…) sur internet sur lesquelles nous pouvons exprimer nos idées et passer les messages, utilisons-les pour véhiculer les messages de notre pays.

Nous ne resterons pas juste dans des polémiques musicales insensées, choses qui n’avancent pas notre musique mais plutôt la tuent.

Réveillons-nous et soyons plus patriotes qu’avant en se levant bravement pour revendiquer notre espace héroïque dans l’histoire Africaine.

© Jamala Safari 2009

Un silence torturant (Torturing silence: to the 6 million dead in the DR Congo!)


Ecoutez dans ce silence
Le son innocent de souvenir
Au calvaire d’esprit et de Cœur
Sur des pistes sans pitié, inoubliables

Ce silence témoin d’une baïonnette ravageuse
Au silence muet, pénétrant doucement
Ces corps candides, fils et fille,
Père et mère, l’un après l’autre

Ce silence torturant, ce silence mutilant
Me conduisant à ces fosses communes
Ces vallées-tombes au silence dévorant
Des cimetières aux croix innombrables

Fils et fille, père et mère, l’un après l’autre
L’un sur son cou, l’autre sur son ventre
Couchant dans les fosses communes
Ce silence qui me tue,
ce silence de ces 6 millions des Congolais tués

© Jamala Safari 2008

“One Day to Remember…The Forgotten War of the DR Congo in the Context of the Great Lakes Region”

PRESS RELEASE

Asylum Seekers, Refugees and South African Youths Gather in Cape Town
To Remember the War in the DR Congo

“One Day to Remember…The Forgotten W ar of the DR Congo in the Context of the Great Lakes Region” is the title of an raising event organized by Unity for Tertiary Refugee Students (UTRS), NPO in waiting, in cooperation with the United Africa Society (UAS) of Herzlia High School and the Congolese Diaspora in Cape Town, held on 23rd August 2009 from 9:30 to 4:30 at Herzlia High School in Cape Town. The main objective of this event that took place on the International Day for the Commemoration of the Abolition of Slavery, was to remind the world about a modern day humanitarian crisis, the story of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the root causes of the ongoing conflict through a full day awakening which presented it from a regional perspective.

The Great Lakes Region has witnessed over the past decades a series of conflicts which have unfolded in Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda and Uganda oftentimes with a domino effect. During fifteen years of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo more than 6 million people have lost their lives, rape has been used systematically as a weapon of war, thousands of youths have forcibly joined rebel and war lords’ armies, natural resources have been and continue to be plundered by TNCs and foreign governments, the education and health care systems have collapsed, over 1 million people are internally displaced and thousands have become refugees in the neighboring and farer countries, including the Republic of South Africa. In spite of this, the ongoing conflict of the story of the DR Congo hardly ever makes it to the media. The crisis is rendered silent and is forgotten by the world.

The event was particularly wanted by the South African Holocaust Foundation and the Congolese community of Cape Town. Several experts contributed to a panel discussion, including Kathryn Sturman Head of the Governance of Africa’s Resources Programme at the of the South African Institute for International Affairs (SAIIA), Charles Obol, Chief Operating Officer at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, Marian Matshikiza, Great Lakes Project Leader at the Institute for the Healing of Memories and Tom Butcher, the author of the book Blood River, A Journey Through Africa’s Broken Heart. Refugees and asylum seekers from the Great Lakes shared their personal stories of living in war, persecution, flight and how the became asylum seekers and sought refuge in South Africa. All participants were invited thereafter to share traditional African food from the Great Lakes region and enjoy the performances of refugee artists from the Great Lakes who showcased the cultures of their home countries through poetry, dance, drama, song, instrumental music and visual arts.

This event brought was attended by around 120 people, including refugee and asylum seekers from all over Africa, leaders of the Congolese community and Congolese associations in South Africa, secondary and tertiary South African and refugee students, representatives from NGOs, civil society organizations and refugee service providers in the Western Cape.

Contact:

Jamala Safari,
Event Coordinator