{"id":18892,"date":"2017-01-05T13:59:47","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T12:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/?p=18892"},"modified":"2022-11-09T12:17:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T11:17:35","slug":"mvula-ya-nangolo-namibia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/mvula-ya-nangolo-namibia\/","title":{"rendered":"Mvula Ya NANGOLO – Namibia"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t

\"Mvula<\/a>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Born in Oniimwandi in 1943, Mvula ya Nangolo was one of Namibia\u2019s first black journalists and has worked also for European press. He published poets, and he became \u2019National Poet of Namibia\u2019. He was also Special Advisor to the Minister of Information and Communication Technology. In 1995 he published \u2019Kassinga: A Story Untold\u2019 (with Tor Sellstr\u00f6m), an account of the 1978 massacre of hundreds of Namibians in a refugee camp in Angola by the South African military. His poetry publications include \u2019From Exile\u2019 (1976), \u2019Thoughts from Exile\u2019 (1991) and \u2019Watering the Beloved Desert\u2019 (2008). His work also features in the anthology \u2019When My Brothers Come Home\u2019 (1985).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

From Exile<\/span><\/h1>\n

[published in RN 04 in March 1992, unpublished original text written in English]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

From exile when I return<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to beg someone to touch me<\/span><\/p>\n

very, very tenderly<\/span><\/p>\n

and gradually put me at ease<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish to feel again how life feels<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve not been home for many, many years<\/span><\/p>\n

for many years I\u2019ve been out of sight<\/span><\/p>\n

for many years I\u2019ve not been touched<\/span><\/p>\n

and I\u2019ve learnt to be homesick here in exile<\/span><\/p>\n

where life is not so bright<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve not been touched so tenderly<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been searched by bullets<\/span><\/p>\n

going through my camouflage<\/span><\/p>\n

and leaving my heart so fresh<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish to feel again how life feels<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

From exile when I return<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to beg someone<\/span><\/p>\n

to introduce the newly born babies<\/span><\/p>\n

help me identify those grown-ups<\/span><\/p>\n

and lead me to the cemetery<\/span><\/p>\n

where friends and playmates have long gone<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

From exile when I return<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to beg someone<\/span><\/p>\n

to understand my silence<\/span><\/p>\n

the letter that didn\u2019t arrive<\/span><\/p>\n

about our clan and tribe<\/span><\/p>\n

for now I only belong<\/span><\/p>\n

to my country and nation<\/span><\/p>\n

still I wish to be touched tenderly<\/span><\/p>\n

by hand and atmosphere<\/span><\/p>\n

of people in a peaceful sphere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Mvula ya Nangolo<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mvula Ya Nangolo, Namibia, writer. Extract from the collection of poems ‘From Exile’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250,64],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18892"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22575,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18892\/revisions\/22575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}