I’m greatly fascinated by the ways in which sagacity becomes embedded in our indigenous languages, that perhaps gets lost if we don’t speak them or think within them. For instance in isiZulu (my mother tongue) it is common that if someone offers you food, a gift or shares some wisdom with you – beyond simply saying ‘thank you’ we also further utter these words: ‘makwande lapho uthathe khona’. This saying is both a form of acknowledgement that there is a greater source to all things and a meditation for a continuous circulation of love, gifts, blessings and knowledge…
Nduduzo Makhathini
