A poet’s take on Jozi

Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr of Wilkes University, Pennsylvania, USA, spent a few days in the city for the 40th annual African Literature Association conference.

The poet, essayist and playwright, who is originally from West Africa, shared her experience of Johannesburg with City Buzz.

“[The association] is one of the largest organisations dedicated entirely to the work of, and writers who are, African-born,” she said.

“I gave a paper on the exile communities of southern Africa who lived and worked in New York City primarily and the tri-state area in general. It was to begin to speak about that experience and to talk about the status of ‘exile’.”

AbuBakr said this was her second trip to South Africa, and that she found it diverse, in terms of both people and the amount of construction work being done.

“It was also different because of the rise of monuments to the Strugglers, and the history that each statue or [name-change] brings and contains,” she said, naming Nelson Mandela Bridge, Miriam Makeba Street and the Constitution Hill Dumile Feni sculpture as examples.

“There was an energy that was present, that I felt [it] was very positive; people going about with a purpose, doing things that mattered to the country as a whole,” said AbuBakr.

But the wordsmith wasn’t only dazzled by the City of Gold.

“The problems of street hawkers and children begging, as well as many who seem to have mental issues was obvious,” she said, adding that these problems were global, not limited to South Africa, and that our successes far outweighed our problems.

“If I have a message for Johannesburg, it would be to stay on course,” she said.

“Keep the city alive, green and creative. Perhaps the image of it as a dangerous place is off-putting for some. This could be a great source of income if people felt secure walking around. There is so much to see and hear from the poets and musicians, theatres and clubs, that Johannesburg would only stand to benefit.”

AbuBakr suggested that the city’s image would change for the better as people’s pride in their city and country rose along with employment and improvement in the socio-economic situation.

“I loved every moment [in Joburg], and plan to return as soon as the opportunity permits,” she concluded.