Findesemana con Futhi!

La amiga de mi hermana, Futhi, ha venido a pasar un findesemana conmigo y hemos ido a un motón de sitios… yo, que ya estoy hasta arribita de hacer fotos y ya he estado varias veces en todos los sitios pues me he llevado el móvil y poco más… pero lo hemos pasado estupendamente… además ha sido tan maja que hasta me ha acompañado al Barrister’s a ver el partido de España contra Suecia… eso es de agradecer… la pobre me preguntaba si como Casillas iba de otro color es que era del otro equipo (me recordaba a mis preguntas sobre rugby hace meses…)

Futhi es una persona clave en mis seis meses en Suráfrica pues la vi a los dos meses de llegar en Pretoria (ver post del 17 de ferebro) y me ha contado mil cosas que yo no sabía y me ha encantado saber… se da además la circunstancia de que acaba de publicar su primer libro, ‘Shameless‘ que es un libro que trata sobre la ‘discriminación positiva’ (affirmative action) en Suráfrica… muy interesante, la verdad… por no decir que mi sobrina tiene como segundo nombre un personaje de este libro… en fin, son muchas cosas… es una tía muy maja y me alegro de haberla conocido… Os pongo una reseña del libro por si os interesa.

Futhi Ntshingila introduces her central character, Thandiwe, in the first sentence of her novel with the words: “Thandiwe has been shot”. And then we learn that Thandiwe is a prostitute, working the mean streets of Yeoville. Her life has been hard after her brief carefree childhood in rural Mpumuza came to an abrupt end with the death of her mother in an accident. And things would only get worse – abuse, poverty and then the destruction of her community by the violence of the late 1980s in KZN.

But Ntshingila has not written a gloomfest here. Her characters – Thandiwe, Zonke who is her childhood friend and narrator, and Kwena, the young documentary film maker who wants to tell Thandiwe’s story – are feisty, determined young women, making their own choices in life and living with, even relishing, the consequences of those choices. Kwena, talking to Thandiwe, says her aim is to tell the stories of South Africa with dignity, and that seems to be Ntshingila’s motivation as well.

First published in The Witness.

The characters are appealing, strong young women. Their lives have been tough, but not without humour, and even if the routes they choose are roundabout, you are left feeling that they will get where they want to go, and reach their undoubted potential.

In places the writing is a little uneven, and the changes in time between present and past are sometimes abrupt, but these are minor faults in what is a novel to be lauded, telling a South African story in an assured, concise voice. Let’s hope we will be hearing a lot more from Futhi Ntshingila in the future.