"I was not there"
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© UNICEF SA photo by A Berther |
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In the Girls' Education Movement, boys are girls’ strategic allies in the home, schools and communities. UNICEF works with its partners to empower girls and boys to know their rights and responsibilities. |
In the poem below by 15 year-old David Ramakgwakgwa of Limpopo Province, the young man laments the unequal situation of women and girls during colonial times and asks that today, boys like himself be included in the Girl’s Education Movement because, after all, they did not create the inequalities! The poem was written and performed by the young student during the children’s parliament organised by UNICEF and the South African Girl Child Alliance to launch the Girl’s Education Movement in the province in 2002.
“I was not there”
I don’t know why
I feel it is so cruel, embarrassed
I don’t know which sin I committed
I don’t know who created this …
Discrimination and gender inequality
How can I know?
I was not there.
Women were persecuted and abused
Not, just abused, but really abused
They were taken as the faulty drops
In this planet earth
Around our geographical directions
They were slaves
Living with sjambok
But and I was not there.
Struggling to know their rights
Abuse and tongue-lashing without representative and advisor
They were forced to dress in long clothes
They were forced for early marriages
But me, I was not there.
Gone are the days when we used to sit
With our great grandmothers
Questioning them about the past.
One day, I remember yes, yes
Rakgolo telling us
The deeds of courage
By a young girl, Makhalanjalo
He said:
While women were mentally abused
There in the sky arrived Makhalanjalo
Flying like an eagle
Running like a rabbit for
Assistance, advice and help
Darting like a springbok
Roaring like a lion
Screaming like a seagull,
But me, I was not there
Oh people, good people, halleluya
Halleluya GEM, halleluya SAGCA
Don’t, le seka la discriminator
I want to live like lesea
I am proud of your kind deeds
Unfortunately, I was not there
Oh, the President of SAGCA
Don’t, o seka wa discriminator
Oh Makhalanjalo
Ngwana wa go lla nako tshohle
Ngwana wa matepe
Meokgo ya kgausi
A girl with African spirit
A girl with monagano wa lepheto
Don’t discriminate [against] me
I don’t want to lose weight like ke block on the sun
But I was not there by the time of colonials.
