Storytelling and Comfort Zones

My paternal grandfather was a very quiet man. That’s the impression my ten year old self imprinted on my mental memory drive and that is how I choose to remember him. I was always perplexed however, at how his quiet demeanor  would fade as he narrated lits’omo (folklore) to his grandchildren. His quietness would melt into chants, laughter and singing as our eager looking faces hungered for more of this miraculous transformation and not so much the stories he told.  “Ke ts’omo ka mathetho” would abruptly send this new Ntatemoholo (grandfather) back to an invisible water drum which my overactive imagination concluded he resided in.

His mellow, sweet and gentle nature would return and an aunt or uncle would take back the spotlight and tell us stories about their childhood which they mystified with exaggerated  themes of poverty and supernatural sightings of ghosts and witches. My cousins and I always lost interest. There was nothing unnatural about the way their faces lit up or how their laughter escalated to earsplitting sounds. They were themselves.

This made Ntatemoholo’s transformation that much more intriguing. My young mind could not decipher the relevance of this transformation but it stayed with me. When I was old enough to comprehend and explore the power of storytelling, Ntatemoholo’s transformation came back. He took heroic status in my eyes. It is his courage and audacity that makes him my hero. The audacity to hunger for education in an era where it was not “proper” for someone like him to go to school. The boldness to instill values and principles in his children at extreme costs sometimes, that set them apart and in turn set us (his grandchildren) apart in this almost homogeneous society we live in. The bravery to fill his house in rural Lesotho with stacks and stacks of books while most of his neighbours were illiterate and saw books as firewood. It is this quiet rebellion of his that tells one of the most courageous stories I know. His willingness to abandon his comfort zone to impart wisdom on the next generation – to caution, inspire and enlighten.

I wish to embody this as I hone my storytelling skill. This writing journey has forced me to abandon my comfort zone and take a leap of faith into the unknown realm -  people’s heads. I will be immersing myself temporarily in the lives of the people whose stories I will be telling. I will be exposing my vulnerabilities so others feel comfortable enough to expose their own, so we grow together. My quiet nature will be fading into chants, laughter and singing (Idols wooden mic style….hehem!) as I try to understand and portray people they way they see themselves.

I want my writings to heal. I want them to inspire hope. Hope that will be so etched in our souls that it acts as a bulletproof vest against the hurdles we may face in life. So be alert. Hear the whispers of the universe to you through the stories of these phenomenal people. Through the odds they continue to rise above dark clouds into the sunshine that will reward their perseverance. Each story has added a glimmer of hope to my journey of soaring through dark clouds. My hope is that the same will happen for you.

Let’s create contemporary lits’omo so the cautionary, enlightening and inspirational elements of our stories resonate with our generation and the next, maybe even beyond for other “Ntatemoholos” to continue being courageous through storytelling.

To the courageous people who will bare it all and expose their bulletproof nature, so others are inspired – Thank you in advance!

Bulletproof Soul – Lerato Molisana