The most precious commodity of our time is our stories. And after that are our storytellers. I marvel at the ability to tell a story as it was and have viewers sitting at the edge of their seats hanging onto every word being said and I revere those that can create the platforms and stay inquisitive to the story as it unfolds. We can never truly have one perspective of one story. It really depends on who’s telling you and how well they can capture your attention. My children’s birth story I find has so many perspectives – my husband’s, mine and perhaps that of my midwife or gynae. My husband tends to be much more dramatic and animated in retelling his shock at the power of a woman’s body – that seems to win many over. But one thing remains true, no matter who tells it, it gives you an idea of a moment in time when a child came into the world and changed our lives.
The reality of this is that whoever tells or creates the narrative ultimately wins. This person owns the narrative. It is saddening to hear of so many of our legends who have stories buried in them; the good and the bad; but these stories often go untold or muddied with untruths that don’t adequately allow them to own their truth – whether it be favourable or not.
I had to bring my dear friend Leruo “Africa” Dichaba out of her shell of privacy to cover this issue of Art of Superwoman for us to continue the Art of Storytelling conversation that is so pivotal to where we are at this point of our African journey. Leruo is executive producer of 16V Doctor Khumalo: Untold. Her main mission: To tell stories for Africans by Africans. I don’t want to speak for her, she’s the storyteller here. Watch her story and journey with us on #SheIsDriven.
We are on the journey of taking back our power and reclaiming our journeys – to finally hearing our voices in those dreams and hearing them proclaim “Stop misrepresenting me! I can speak for myself.”
Africa takes flight.