PEN SKETCH OF MANDELA, THE BOY
The Backdrop : Qunu Village
Bestowed with abundant
natural beauty and ethnic culture, Qunu represented Africa in a nutshell. It was a barren
land with few trees and bushes. T he only proof of human habitations was the huts or ‘rondarals’ as known in Africa. With small doors to enter, the huts had the
smell of cow dung, used to smoothen the surface of walls and floors. Trails of footsteps
of children and women were the only roads in the area. Very few cemented structures were
found in the surroundings. The only icons of wealth were the goats, sheep and cattle,
which grazed the scarce grass that grew around the locality. Poverty was the naked truth
glaring at the faces of the people. Constant struggle for necessities aroused every now
and then. Maize, pumpkin and beans was the staple diet of the people. Women and children
formed the major population of the village. Children either worked or whiled away their
time playing. Education was unheard of in the village. Families were closely knit. They
did not make the same distinctions among relations practiced by the Europeans. Therefore,
even a distant relation with each other meant they belonged to the same family.
In such black homeland of
Transkei was born a boy on July 18, 1918 to Henry, the leader of tribe. The boy was
baptized Rolihlahla. The first name could be prophetically, interpreted, as "trouble
maker." His birth was an insignificant and mundane event in the eyes of the people.
His father was a respected counselor to the Thembu royal family.
The boyhood of the future
president was peaceful enough, spent by normal activities of cattle herding and other
rural pursuits. Mandela was a robust and carefree lad who loved nature. His friends always
gave him company. Even late at night, they used to chat and sleep together.
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When he was about five, he became a shepherd and used to tend sheep and calves in the fields. From the very beginning, he was spiritual by nature. He felt the omnipotence and omnipresence of God. His parents had little influenc e on him. He cherished watching sunsets and vivid landscapes. His playthings were a catapult (sling), toys made of clay and bamboo sticks with which he learned stick fighting. His father a polygamist with four wives and the chief of the tribe and his mother busy with households, they never paid enough attention to the kids. Nelson Mandela recalls his childhood, "As boys, we were mostly left to our own devices. We played with toys we made ourselves. We molded animals and birds out of clay. We made ox-drawn sleighs out of tree branches. Nature was our playground. The hills above Qunu were dotted with large smooth rocks, which transformed into our own roller waster we sat on flat stones and slid down the face of the large rocks. We did this until our backsides were so sore. We could hardly sit down. I learned to ride by sitting atop weaned claves – after being thrown to the ground several times, one got the hang of it." He as a boy had observed the things and learnt the lessons of life from those experiences. Once he was playing with the boys. They were riding on the back of an unruly donkey. When Rolihlahla’s turn came, he jumped on and the donkey bolted into a nearby thorn-bush. The thorns pricked and scratched his face and he felt embraced among his pals. The upbringing of children in African countries is such that boys develop a high sense of dignity, or what the Chinese call "face". Mandela recalls, "I had lost my face among my friends." Instead of planning for regaining his "face" he made a point for life that humiliating others was offering them an unnecessary cruel fate. |
Another peculiarity of
African upbringing was that children had an absolute distinction between a girl and a boy
from their very childhood. Usually boys played among themselves. As a child Rolihlahla was
fond of most games. And at times when the boys allowed girls to mingle and play with them,
they preferred to play games like ndize (hide-and-seek) and icekwa (touch-and-run). But
Rolihlahla enjoyed playing khetha the most. The game meant of choosing the one girl, whom
you like. It was not an organized game but a spur of the moment sport. The girls were
given the right to choose the boy they liked, and their choice was respected. But the
girls outwitted them as they would confer among themselves and choose one boy, usually the
plainest fellow, and then tease him all the way home. The games are one of the most
memorable parts of his memories, which the President loves to cherish as the man in his
eighties.
The Shaping years
At a very early age, he was exposed to
racism or ‘apartheid’. As most Xhosas at the time, Rolihlahla’s boyhood was
shaping up by customs, rituals and taboos. It was at Qunu for the first time he came
across few whites. Along with the African traditions one more thing had inscribed in him
the difference between white and black. His conditioning had made his mind to some
prevalent facts of the day. "These whites appeared as grand as gods to me, and I was
aware that they were to be treated with a mixture of fear and respect." Recalls
Mandela in his autobiography. Analysts view the extreme exposure to racism at an early age
as the decisive factor in the making of Mandela – the leader and the Democrat. |
