A pennywhistle for them

Day 9: smidgins of joy

A pennywhistle for my thoughts as I contemplate today’s smidgins of joy.

There was a tribute to the late Johnny Clegg broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation which popped up in my YouTube feed today.

So when my brain hit a wall as it does at 16:00 every day (almost to the minute) in summer, I lay down and listened to it.

Midway, after Sipho Mchunu (Clegg’s Juluka partner) had delivered his tribute in Zulu (from which I could only pick up bits and pieces, since most of my upbringing happened in Zimbabwe), Mandisa Dlanga, the female vocalist in Savuka and the Johnny Clegg band, led the start of the ceremonial singing. Without thinking, I found myself clapping softly to the beat.

That was when I remembered the Shona funeral held in Harare, Zimbabwe a good while ago for another white man by his many staff, of which I was only one. How odd it always seemed to me that his views were so similar to mine. We had some grand conversations after he retired. How equally odd that the small act of clapping like that should bring those years flooding back.

And then I got all serious and thought about what a privilege it has been to know such marvellous people in my life. And how glad I am that Africa shaped me. She is a great mother of so many.

My ears rang and the cicadas sang most of the day. A pennywhistle for my thoughts, I guess.

©2019 Allison Wright