The JRB presents an excerpt from Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela, a new isiZulu translation of Nozizwe Cynthia Jele’s novel The Ones with Purpose, recently released by her new publishing house Happiness Books.
The translation follows, in isiZulu and English.
Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela
Nozizwe Cynthia Jele (trans. Nozipho Khumalo)
Happiness Books, 2024
Sesizophila Ngale Ndlela by Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
(Translated by Nozipho Khumalo)
Ukuhlinzwa kukaFikile esuswa ibele kwahamba kahle, akubanga nazihibe. Ngambamba isandla indlela yonke saze sayofika emnyango wasegunjini lokuhlinzwa. UMbuso wafika emva kwesikhashana nje uFikile engeniswe kulo. Ngathi shelele, ngahlangana naye endaweni yokupaka izimoto. Sahlala emotweni yakhe, saxoxa ngokuxilongwa kukaFikile nokuthi banjani ekhaya. UMbuso wahlebeza okuthile ngomkakhe uMapule.
‘Ngiyajabula ukuthi uzile Mbuso. Buka la, angifuni ukungena ezindabeni zakho noma ngikutshele ukuthi kumele wenzeni, kodwa ngelinye ilanga kuyomele ubuyele ekhaya. Umama ushayekile yile nto, sonke sizama ukuyibamba ishisa kepha kunzima. Angikwazi nokucabanga ukuthi singayini ngaphandle kukaFikile.’
‘Uzolulama.’
‘Siyakudinga Mbuso.’
Lapho sonke sesihambile, umfowethu wancenga abahlengikazi ababesebenza ebusuku ukuthi bamvumele abone uFikile yize sase sidlulile isikhathi sokuvakasha. Ngemva kwalokho, kwaba ukuhamba kwakhe.
Ngemva kokudedelwa kukaFikile esibhedlela, ngangiphuma emsebenzi ngiqonde ngqo kwakhe njalo ebusuku ngiyombona. Ngangimsiza ukukhama igazi noketshezi oluphuma enxebeni. Emva kokukhishwa kwamapayipi, sasihlala phezu kombhede wakhe ngimelule izingalo ukuze siqinisekise ukuthi ingalo ayihlali iqinile ngenxa yokuhlinzwa. Noma uFikile ayesezinhlungwini, akazange nangelilodwa abuze ukuthi, ‘Kungani lokhu kwenzeka kimi?’ noma ‘Ngoneni kodwa ukuthi sengingaze ngijeziswe kanje?’
UDokotela uSeme wamkhipha amabhandishi emva kwezinsuku eziyishumi. Sambheka ewaxebula kuvela isibazi nomugqa onsundu osuka ekhwapheni lesobunxele uya phakathi nesifuba. Leli elinye ibele lakhe eliphilayo limile mpo.
‘Ngiyesabisa?’, kubuza uFikile engigqolozele.
Ngezwa ezwini lakhe ukuthi unovalo.
‘Uyazi lingikhumbuzani? Usakhumbula uLesihle eneminyaka emibili noma emithathu, efunda ukudweba imigqa eqondile? Yonke into yayiyindawo ayengadweba kuyo, elinde yena.’
UFikile wavele woma yinsini. Kusukela ngalolo suku, ibele lakhe sase silibiza ngomugqa kaLesihle. Emva kwenyanga, wafonela enye yezinkampani ezazisohlwini lwencwajana ayeyithathe esibhedlela, wabeka usuku lokulinganisa ibele lepulasitiki nobhodisi wabahlinzwe ibele. UFikile wakwenza kwacaca ukuthi ngeke alenze ibele lokufakelwa okwamanje, wathi amanxeba akhe azoba yisikhumbuzo salokho asedlule kukho. Ngahamba naye lapho eyolinganisa.
Isitolo esasindaweni encane eyinxanxathela yezitolo sasibukeka njengazo zonke izitolo ezithengisa izingubo zangaphansi. Njengakwezinye izitolo, naso sasinonodoli abagqoke ezibomvu nezimnyama zikanokusho zangaphanzi. Samukelwa ngumninisitolo, ongapholisanga maseko, wakala uFikile. Wayexoxa naye engathi kuzolinganiswa ubhodisi ojwayelekile, sengathi akukho okungajwayelekile ngesifuba sikaFikile, umugqa omncane la ibele lakhe lesobunxele lalikhona. Ngahlala kusofa ngaphuza esibandayo isiphuzo esinamagwebu nejikijolo lidansa phakathi engilazini yami, ngapheqapheqa ibhuku lezempilo yabantu besimame. Ngangidamane ngiphonsa amehlo kuFikile owayelinganisa, ngimemeze ‘Yebo, ukahle-ke lowo!’, ngibuye ngihwaqabale uma ngingawuboni kahle. UFikile akaphumanga esitolo nobhodisi nengubo yokugqoka egqokwa lapho ulala emhlophe ehlobe ngoleyisi abamnyama nje kuphela, waphuma engowesimame ophelele.
~~~
The Ones with Purpose by Nozizwe Cynthia Jele
The operation to remove Fikile’s breast went off without a hitch. I held her hand the whole time until we reached the theatre doors. Mbuso arrived shortly after Fikile was wheeled into theatre. I slipped off and met him in the parking lot. We sat inside his car and spoke about Fikile’s diagnosis and everyone’s wellbeing. Mbuso mumbled something about his wife, Mapule.
‘I’m glad you came, Mbuso. Look, I don’t want to meddle in your life or tell you what to do, but at some point, you must return home. Ma is a wreck, and we’re all trying everything to manage the pain but it’s tough. I can’t bear to think of our lives without Fikile.’
‘She will be fine.’
‘We need you, Mbuso.’
My brother negotiated with the night nurses to see Fikile after the visiting hours, after we had all left and gone home.
And then he was gone.
After Fikile was discharged, I went straight from work to see her every evening. I helped her drain the blood and tissue fluid from the wound. After the tubes were removed, we sat on her bed stretching her arms to reduce the stiffness from the operation. Although Fikile was in pain, she did not once ask, ‘Why me?’ or ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ Doctor Seme removed the bandages when ten days had passed. We watched as she peeled them off revealing scar tissue, a deep, brown line running from Fikile’s left armpit through the middle of the chest. Her other breast, thehealthy one, stood upright and defiant.
‘Do I look hideous?’ Fikile looked directly at me.
I sensed apprehension in her voice.
‘You know what it reminds me of? Remember when Lesihle was two or three and learning to draw straight lines? Everything was a canvas for her, waiting for her lines.’
Fikile threw her head back and laughed. We started referring to her breast as Lesihle’s line.
A month later, she called one of the companies listed in a brochure she had picked up at the hospital and made an appointment to fit a breast prosthetic and mastectomy bra. Fikile was clear that she would not reconstruct her breast yet, she said her scars would serve as a reminder of what she’d been through. I drove with her to the fittings. The shop, located in a small shopping centre, looked like any lingerie shop with its displays of mannequins in racy allures of reds and black mesh and lace underwear. We were welcomed by the owner who proceeded to take Fikile’s measurements, chatting to her like it was a normal bra fitting, as if Fikile did not have a thin line where her left breast once was. I sat on the couch drinking cold bubbly with a cherry dancing at the bottom of my glass and browsing through a women’s health magazine. Occasionally I lifted my eyes to scrutinise Fikile’s bra parade, screaming ‘Yes, that’s the one!’ or frowning in disapproval. Fikile did not leave the shop with a handful of bras and a white nightdress with black lace trims, she left a complete woman.
~~~
- Nozizwe Cynthia Jele is the author of two novels, Happiness is a Four-Letter Word (2010), which won the Best First Book category (Africa region) Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and M-Net Literary Award in the Film Category. The book was adapted into a film with the same title in 2016. The Ones with Purpose (2018) was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Fiction Prize and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Prize. Jele is founding member of the Happiness Literary Foundation, an artist-run NGO that fosters and promotes the culture of reading and writing within communities and invests in the professional development of local artists. Jele holds a MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia.
