The Sunday Times recently published an article by Panashe Chigumadzi on Charlotte Maxeke, titled, “Our debt to Charlotte Maxeke: 150 years after her birth, she’s still our mother”. She is celebrated as a mother figure to the struggle, one of the highest compliments one can attribute to a woman.
Chigumadzi cites several mother idioms in the piece. She also talks about Reshoketswe Mosuwe, the president of the Women’s Missionary Society (WMS), known as the “manyano”. Chigumadzi writes: “Across Southern Africa, amaManyano, the ‘mothers’ unions’ of our churches, are one of our most important social institutions. It is here that our mothers hold us up for prayer. It is here that our mothers hold each other. It is here that our mothers cry. It is here that our mothers find school fees for us when they are short. It is here that our mothers arrange which of our sick to visit. It is here that our society is organised.”
It is hard to improve on her description of mothers’ role not only in families but in society. She also speaks of the distinctive “missionary uniform”, a leopard-skin hat, black gown, white sash and African Methodist Episcopal (AME) badge. The leopard skin symbolises that “as a woman, as a mother, you have to be fierce”.
The conversation about the leopard skin, wrote Chigumadzi, reminded her of a Sepedi idiom: “Mmago ngwana o tshwara thipa ka bogaleng,” which translates as: “A mother holds the knife by the blade,” and means a mother would do anything to protect her child.
In a recent interview with Sunday Times Daily, parenting expert Stephanie Dawson-Crosser described moms as the “first-line responders” to all accidents, bereft children and other mothers in need. “Mom is stressed,” said Dawson-Crosser. That is why Mother’s Day, celebrated on Sunday, is the one day in the year we should press pause to appreciate the mothers in our nation where life is not always easy.
Wellness expert Ina van der Watt last week told TimesLIVE women have borne the brunt of the Covid-19 lockdown, taking on additional responsibilities and burdens as primary caretakers over and above existing work commitments. The PwC’s annual Women in Work Index showed that progress for women in the workplace could go back to 2017 levels by the end of 2021 as a result of the pandemic. Last year, we reported on mothers turning to loan sharks in desperate bids to secure enough money to buy food for their families as the price of a monthly food basket shoots up.
Dawson-Crosser advised: “Mothers need to ask for help.” But on this Mother’s Day, our matriarchs need to be thanked, pampered and celebrated. For, as SA artist Nataniël writes, your mother is the only person in the world who displays framed photographs of you in three different rooms. In his words, “you never outgrow your mother, as she eternally walks in the footsteps of her mother”.
