At 91 years old, Constance Mabusela has launched her first book, I Was Blind But Now I See, a heartfelt exploration of the cultural dynamics of her youth in Mbembesi and the profound changes she has witnessed over the years.
The book was unveiled during a special event on Saturday, where Mabusela, a former teacher, shared her journey of writing, starting with reflections jotted in an exercise book.
She explained that her motivation stemmed from the challenges parents face in guiding children in a world vastly different from the one they grew up in.
She explained that her motivation was to highlight the challenges parents face when trying to guide their children in a world so different from the one in which they grew up
“I wrote the book because the environment in which I grew up in is so different from the environment where we bring up our children and this makes it very difficult for us to advise our children as how to live and what to do in life because we grew up long back,” she said.
“If we tell them that now, they will think we are not being serious, they want nowadays things, so it becomes difficult for parents to advise children because there are many contradictions.”
She shared personal anecdotes, including her experiences growing up as the firstborn in a family of five children, with four boys and one girl. “We used to milk cows and herd cattle. When I tell children this, they don’t believe me.
“I even carried a knobkerrie and fought with the boys in the bush,” she recalled. “The boys taught me how to fight. These are some of the reasons I wrote the book—to show that I’ve come from far and have gained knowledge along the way.”
She said the other reason she wrote the book was to show that herding cattle by girls was normal, “ I was doing everything, I don’t know if that is still happening.”
Another major difference she pointed out was the disciplinary methods of the past.
“The other contradiction that I came across was that when we grew up, if you did anything wrong and an elder saw you, they could beat you and that was acceptable, nowadays you can’t do that as the parents would ask you who are you to beat up their child.”
Mabusela also reflected on how, in her youth, parents often chose careers for their children.
“Growing up I wanted to be a nurse, all my dolls had bandages and could drink medication but when I grew up, my mother said I am going to do teaching because she was also a teacher, something which I never thought of, as a result I had to train as a teacher.”
“The reason my mother gave was that I will see many corpse to the extent that when she dies I won’t have a feeling because I will be used to dead bodies,” she said.
Mabusela said she had to listen to her parents and their wishes.
“Along the way, I found so many blessings. I have been to five continents of the World, so I am saying to children, listen to your parents, they have a four sight even if they are not educated, they can see what’s ahead,” she said.
She said during her era, they were taught to run away when seeing boys, “ we were not told why we had to run away but we only ran, but the same boys were born within our families but we just ran.”
Mabusela also spoke about ‘ukuthwala’ tradition in Mbembesi.
“When a young man saw a girl they admired, they will just pick her up ‘ ukuthwala’ and take her to his homestead. The mother of the guy will then remove her clothes to cloth the girl and then send people to her homestead to say they should look for her coming in that direction. Most of the women in Mbembesi bathwalwa and they could be beaten along the way as a way to force them to cooperate, we grew up in such times, so it’s difficult to advise tour children as you will be born in a different era while it’s now a different era,” she said.
Mabusela said she wrote the book to show the changes in time.
Some participants who came to the book launch said Mabusela at her age, was an inspiration to them.
“She is the second person from Mbembesi as a Xhosa to write a book, we are challenged as people from Mbembesi to wake up.”
“She also writes about our culture as the Xhosa , how we grew up and how it is today, so we are grateful for that,” said one participant.
