People are story beings. Stories tell us who were are, where we come from and where we are going. But so often we divorce our stories from where we are and thus rob others from an enriching human experience.

Enriching human experiences are facilitated by events (history), spaces (geographical locations); and people. When we take a look back at some of our past experiences, our imaginations automatically recalls what was happening (events), where we were (spaces); and the people we where with. This is how stories are crafted.  

 

Stories are Memorable, impactful, and personal. They move us intellectually and emotionally. As Dr Pamela Rutledge says: “Stories are how we think.” This is how we make sense of the world around us. 

For a long time I was confused about my surname and its origins. And growing up in the Bokone Bophirima Province of South Africa (Formerly Bophuthatswana), only made matters worse. Can you imagine being an innocent boy walking the dusty roads of this beautiful part of our South Africa with other boys whose surnames would have been Mokgatlhe and Pule, and your surname is Masangane? And an old wise man stops you and your friends on your tracks and asks you this pertinent question: "Who's son are you?" And whilst your friends begin to reveal their surnames to the wise old man, he nods with a grin on his face as if to say "I know whom you are talking about." And when your chance come to do the "big reveal" there is long dramatic pause, and the old wise man looks down on the ground and up to the skies as if he is searching for someone he knows in the village with the same surname as yours. Only to find that there is no one in the village with that surname. And after much deliberations he asks you a question: "Who is Masangane?" At that moment you realise, you don't belong there. You have just become an outsider. Although you talk like them, and look like them, you do not belong there.That same time you wish you knew yourself like your friends did. Although I wished I could own my story like my friends could, I couldn't because my story was hijacked by system that sought to place people according to their ethnicities even though I may have been born in a different geographical location. The words of social worker and practitioner Brene Brown has never rung truer for me: "You either walk inside your story and own it, or stand outside and hustle for your worthiness."

For a long time I saw my family stand outside of their story whilst hustling for their worthiness. 

I have since embarked on a journey of finding where my surname come from and how Masangane fits into the South African jigsaw puzzle of diverse culture and this is what I found out about my surname:

"Masangane Sthole Mdunga o wa dunga'manzi ngo nyawo Mbulase Mabhoko Sindeni Sdwaba sine ntuli Umfazi o mabele amade ucelisa ithole ngaphesheya ko mfula Gwalaza sa mehlo a bovu sadla u dade wabo Mzindelele Mabhoko o nga cali muntu u cala muntu o mthomako"