Kaziwai News & Blog

I'm seeing a lot of Afrikans still calling themselves by names foreign to their language and culture. Every time you call yourself Mr. Smith or Ms. Linkfield or Mr. Kereke or Grootboom or whatever foreign names instead of your own Afrikan name- every time you do that - you're promoting the name that was assigned to you as a property entitlement tag, a kind of slavish mentality. Don't Afrikanize foreign names - you're not a fake.

Time to reclaim your heritage and true identity. Genetic engineering and genealogy tracing makes it possible to retrace your roots and pinpoint your exact Afrikan heritage and name lineage. No more excuses for ignorance. If Jesus could trace back his genealogy for generations and be proud, then why not us Afrikans !? That's why I dropped the foreign name that my parents gave me to align with repressive agendas.

I am opting to favor my very own Afrikan name; a name that my Grandfather Zito, { a Second World War veteran }, gave me. That's right, many Afrikans fought in WWII, arm in arm with the Allied Forces. That name is proudly Changana (Shangaan / Ndau dialect) with roots deep-seated in Southern Afrika. It's understandable why our parents wanted our names to sound English, European or Western at the time. But our generation: We're no longer under Apartheid rule. I choose to be my true self.

Time to shake off those psychological chains that shackled our minds too long. No mind your complexion, if you're melanin class, don't deny your roots; you're a true Afrikan - starting with your name. What's in a name? EVERYTHING!!! It is a must that you know the meaning and origins of your name. The answers to the 'Why' are crucial. Have you ever noticed how people become who they are, following directly on the meaning attached to their names?

Let us not forget that names were originally associated with character, totem and culture. For us Afrikans, nature and tribe were unseparable. Therefore we have the vaera Shumba {totem: Lion}, Mukanya {totem: Baboon}, Mhofu {totem: Antelope}, etc. Each of these totems bear a specific character associated with the pride of the clan. So you should be proud of who you are.

A tale of the complexities of navigating an intricate co-existence between man, animal and modern nature. In this encounter, creation converges to a place of survival of the fittest. Nature collides with modernity in a small-town community of North America.

A family of five migrates cross-country, Southward bound. Their journey kicks off on a New Year's eve at sunset. It is the beginning of a cold Winter. Having come straight from big city life, an abandoned and somewhat dilapidated homestead becomes the family's 'new' home: a new of a kind. Right from the start, drama awaits them, lurking on route to their destination. They race through the night; an enthralled escapade from the hustle and bustle of big-city lifestyle.

Their relocation bid is a 'just-in-time' antidote remediating the chaos of an embattled major metropolis. The story setting is a time when the nation is besieged by a mysterious plague. A Great Pandemic is wrecking havoc across the globe, terrifying the landmass and prompting an exodus of the people en-masse. As life unraveled in the small town, there were unexpected encounters between the elements.

Cohabitation with self-determined and arrogant creatures in a kind of 'small-town zoo' was anything but what the escapees yearned for. The Blake family took leave of the inner city hoping to exorcise themselves of their 'demons'. But those invisible spirits seemed to linger on everywhere, bedeviling their every attempt, if they dared to find tranquility.

Decipher the code in the text, mint out your own interpretation and find your own narrative of the story that is to your heart's content.

Because, in the mind of the author : a stretch of imagination or the lack thereof, is the aberration separating possibilities from reality.

This book was written by Sokonzapi Mashava during the years 2022 to 2023 as a tribute to all those people fighting for a better life for themselves and their family. The story is ‘sculpted’ artistically by the author as a true testament to his ‘masonry’ expertise. The story is a ‘spiced up’ version of the author’s real experiences moving to a new neighborhood in Central New York from Boston, Massachusetts. For real, for real - including Mark the Chuck. There is a touch of enlightened humor which is a reflection on the author’s innermost emotions at particular moments in his exploration of new horizons.