Piecing together the pieces that make up The Black Chronicles RFTDS

The Black Chronicles is a book written from a vulnerable position. It is mostly written from the perspective of a young boy child who has experienced neglect and witnessed abuse from his father . He is at a point where he realises that all this is unnatural, it does not feel right. For one the father needs to answer for the negative environment he has created in the home; this hostile setting conducive for the brewing of hate, fear and anger.

This youth is also confronted by the inevitability of growth and fears that he might grow to be just as his father is: abusive to his women (plural) and neglectful to his children. This is a reality the boy fears and dreads as he, unlike his other siblings who have adjusted and acclimatized to the environment, is sensitive. Though not mentioned in the book, he has experienced love from his mother and his other siblings are raised by a stepmother who now lives with the father.
So when this boy who has had the experience of love is put in this environment full of hate and anger, he starts to feel conflicted and realises he has to confront his father about it. But his father never has time to listen to his kids so the boy puts it all on paper. Thus in the first part of the book you have the young man's concerns as he holds his father hostage and forces him to listen and spend time with him. The book will essentially hold my father hostage as at some point he will read it and finally listen to the 16 year old me.

The other vulnerable voice through which the book speaks is of a young girl who had just passed and feels her family and community are all responsible for her death. She feels that their lack of action and neglect has led to her demise. The girl can be assumed to have died from the hands of her blesser/sugar daddy or from a virus that can be contracted through promiscuity which society condoned through their silence and inaction against such.
Letter to my pallbearers speaks to every member of society and asks of them, what role are you playing to protect the vulnerable in society? Because if you do not play any protective role, you are complicit and could be accused of playing a supportive role for the perpetrators of abuse.

We also hear the voices of women in abusive relationships struggling to get out for reasons of dependency and fear of social ridicule if they were to leave their husbands and return to their father's homes. The piece titled "Entropy" wakes us up to another kind of abuse other than the common known physical abuse... These women are not fictitious, they are my stepmothers. Some went out, some could not and are held prisoners in their own homes.

As the reading progresses, so do the concerns of the growing young boy and he elaborates on those concerns he spoke of while holding his father hostage. He paints his concerns and confusions about love on "Love's Grief", he wonders about the right time and age to wed on "Stage and Age" as his peers have married at certain ages; he voices out his political opinions for his father's benefit on a few pieces on the section while also dealing with the grief from a loss of a dearest sister.

The section concludes with pieces that highlight the effects these abuses in a household have on the community as a whole. We see the insensitivity of the male character on "The Birth and Death of Hate" which aims to demonstrate the effects of raising kids under hostile environment and the effects it has on the black community. This is not to excuse the abusers and violent characters in our communities as forces of nature arising from our own creations. This is rather to help us understand that our actions have far reaching consequences for the whole community.

The next section titled "The Black Heart and All its Darkness" deals with the struggles to love for that same boy raised under a household with no love. He does not know what love is. He thinks love is that elusive feeling that cannot be explained. He thinks love is like a mirage that he needs to be constantly chasing after just for the cause. He also thinks love is pain, emotional pain caused by frustrations and unsatisfied needs for attention. He has a void inside created in the house hold he grew up in and he constantly seeks a young maiden who could just fill it up for him. He seeks a girl, a lady, a woman who could make him feel loved so he could feel whole again. He is broken. The saddest thing is that in such a broken community where all the parents are alike, he is doomed to meet a woman just as broken as he is and they will continue to break each other apart...or he will just finally settle for being "The Dark Blanket" in those cold nights.

This section just demonstrates the difficulty of loving and finding love when you have never seen love; never experienced love nor even been loved enough to give it. Love and Pain become one. The ying and the yang! The good and the bad! Food and Liquor! A trick and a treat!

Realising the challenges of life as presented by his own history, the young man starts thinking about things beyond himself. He looks for inspiration to go on and starts contemplating about the value of a life. The section on "Black Thoughts and Other Emotions" represent a transcendence from the self and into greatness. The youth starts contemplating about the meaning of his life and resolves to give meaning to his life through his actions. He resolves to make a difference in his surroundings and bring some light to this darkness he was raised in. He makes "A Solemn Resolve" to live and be remembered for what he did.

The last section is titled "Black Progress". It represents hope in that the new generation will do things differently. It starts off with a piece titled "A Baby Born". This baby brings hope and new vibrancy to the black community. This baby, "The Black Pawn" represents the hope and future leaders of the black community.

 This baby will be guided through to promotion by this young man who had to face and overcome all of his personal and emotional struggles to get here. Chess might be the new baby born in the black community or it could even be the young chess Phenom, the young master Mhango who is the new baby born representing this bright new light that suddenly shines in the black community.
This section represents new hope and the piece titled "The Chronicle" reminds us not to make our struggles the inheritance of our children. It reminds us that we need to confront and conquer our challenges so the next generation does not have to. They will have their own struggles waiting for them.

This book is written more from heart than mind. It is more vulnerable than anything and inspires the same emotions from the reader. It allows you to feel and exposes your vulnerability then it carries you through that roller coaster of feelings to bring you to the next level of your existence. That of living for a bigger purpose than yourself. Selfless service to your community and to the next generation. That is a bigger purpose than living for self-enrichment.

This is more a work of heart than a work of art. And yes, it is dedicated to my beloved late younger sister Beatrice, forever the love of my life. The closest soul to mine, closest thing to an angel I'd ever known...then she became one.

I hope this sheds some light to those who own a copy. Happy reading.

I am hoping the next question after this essay would be "where can we get a copy of this book"?

To which I will say: www.theblackchronicles.net

Call or whatsapp :0715814519

<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-1945240122822914" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

Turkish Delight

A nine hour flight takes them from OR Tambo International Airport to Istanbul in Turkey where they have to connect to a City in Turkey known as Konya. It is a one hour flight to get there. In total, it took ten hours of flying to get team South Africa to Konya in Turkey for the World U16 Olympiads. Msogwaba Chess Club has a player in Europe, this here is an incredible milestone.

As soon as they arrive, CM Banele Mhango complains about the weather in Konya. It is extremely cold the whole day through. Well, at least they get a day after arrival to acclimatize and get over the jet leg. As it happens, that was not the only thing this international Chess super star of ours had to deal with.

Playing board 2 for the South African U16 Chess Team in the World U16 Olympiads, CM Mhango is paired against a 2300+ rated Fide Master from Poland for the fisrt round. We had the white pieces which is usually an advantage for the Candidate Master(Fide Master elect), he hardly loses on the white pieces. We were soon to discover that the levels are different. 2300+ rating in the World stage over the board is no deception. Poland made light work of the SA team beating them 3.5/4 with only a draw on board 4. Our young Master lost.

Game two he is paired against an even higher rated player. Still playing board 2 for SA, Mhango plays a 2400+ rated International Master from Azerbaijan. He has the black pieces this time. We have to be worried, but we chose not to. The recent World Chess Championship between Caruana Fabiano and Magnus Carlsen has taught us that Black is still ok. In fact, playing the black pieces or the white pieces does not offer an obvious advantage anymore. That is why the World Chess Championship 2018 ended in 12 successive draws till it had to be decided on tie breaks. We were calm as it starts but the game soon turned south and before it got worse Banele resigned. He was getting frustrated now, none of his strategies are working for him. He felt he could give it one more try since next game he had the white pieces. This players are strong but he still felt he was strong enough to compete against them.

Game three, he took a break while South Africa played Ireland then returned on game 4 to take another chance against a Mexican Candidate Master rated 2000+. Still above young Mhango but our CM felt his punches could reach that high. They did not. It sent him to a mini depression. Never in a very long time has CM Banele Mhango played a Chess tournament and lost three consecutive games like this. The boy has gotten so used to winning losing felt too strange. He suddenly missed home. Not home where family is but rather home where winning is easier. He was so used to winning that winning felt familiar and when he started losing, he felt lost. He complained that these people play a different kind of Chess than he was used to. They think differently, they respond differently and it just confuses him. He was frustrated and did not know how to prepare for the next game. I have never played on that level myself, I cannot assist. I could only sympathise.

I decided to call for help on his behalf. I contacted South Africa's current National Chess Champion International Master Johaness Mabusela. He's always been supportive and offered to be there for the young Master whenever he needed him. Well he needed him right now and IM Mabu jumped to his rescue. He analysed Banele's previous games and immediately highlighted on a few Chess principles Mhango had broken. He reminded him of the importance of imbalances and that when ever his position was bad, he needed to focus on the few positives and advatages it offered and build on those. Then he added some few words of encouragement to pick the young man's spirit by reminding him never to fear his opponents regardless of their rating and title.

After this session with IM Mabusela, CM Mhango never lost a single one of the remaining five games he played. The next game was a draw against a Turkish patzer which was followed by a win against a 1500+ from Kyrgyzstan and a draw against a 2000+ rated player from Romania. He followed up with another win against an Algerian Fide Master of equal strength then finished with another draw against another 2000+ rated player from Iceland.

Often times we miss the distractive impacts of sending our players out to compete in higher levels of competition without properly preparing them for it. I read a quote once some time ago that reads: "It is cruel to put a child in a position where they care about winning and not prepare them for it."

Chess is a highly personal sport and losing a game, no matter the level of strength of the opponent, affects you personally and emotionally.

I hope, from this experience Chess South Africa realises that it was a mistake to send a team to the World U16 Olympiads without offering them any form of training or preparation before hand. The senior team received coaching from a Grand Master and even travelled with the Coach to assist them with game preparations and other much needed coaching during that tense period. Hopefully the same can be done for the Youth team in future. South Africa has enough International Masters with the needed experience and exposure, Chessa can consider using their expertise and experience to support the junior team in future. It is in the juniors where the future of chess in the country lies and we cannot afford to break their spirits in this manner so early in their Chess carreers. This was a great learning curve indeed.

South Africa finished at position 43 out of the 46 participating teams. The scores of all the other players are attached below.

This has been an incredible experience for our golden black boy here. After missing the World Youth twice in a row, the World U16 Olympiad gave him the similar experience he would have had at the World Youth. He has finally seen Europe and had lots of memorable experiences to treasure for ever. He has made new friends and strengthened old friendships within the International Chess Community. This has been a delightful Turkish experience in Konya.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the sponsors who made this trip possible. Talent would be wasted if it wasn't for your continued support.

The Children Matter organisation paid for the flights, all ten hours times two of them! We greatly appreciate your partnership. You give our youth a licence to dream.

To Kolano Consulting who paid for the registrations fees for the event, thank you. We know you have your hearts set in improving the black condition and this gesture of support from you demonstrates the role corporates can play in improving social conditions in black communities. You are our role models and our youth have leaders to look up to in you.

To Dr Mavuso of Kanyamazane medical center who paid to get us from Msogwaba to OR Tambo International Airport- we trust we always have your support as a community of Msogwaba. Your dedication in supporting sports development in our community fuels our desires to do more because we know that when we need you, you do what you can and it is appreciated. Every community needs a good doctor!

<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-1945240122822914" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>

The Black Chronicles' Argument

The Black Chronicles makes a philosophical argument on the black commuity. The argument is that the black situation will continue being perpetuated from generation to generation as long as nothing changes. The violence will continue, the abuse of women and children will become a norm for as long as fathers leave their sons development to chance; for as long as mothers allow their daughters to learn the ropes on their own. The poverty and unemployment will also persist as long as we continue doing the very things our parents were doing, in the same way they were doing it , that is aspiring for employment and afraid to initiate ventures of passion. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Our children will never learn how to love as long as we love the same way that our parents where taught to love by a system of hate.

The black community is cast into the shadow of time. We are stuck in the dark and this is the result of the apartheid system that governed our country less than a generation ago. Our communities were formerly bantu stans and labour reserves that were never intended for productive human existence. Even their setups do not inspire creativity which makes it extremely difficult for most people coming from there to flourish in life. There are no recreation parks, no relaxations spaces nor any social space open to all members of the community to allow for open social interaction. All we have are a lot of tarvens and churches; a space for the "unholy" alcohol drinkers and a space for the holy and faithful God fearers. The dichotomy found in the black community...if your father was a pastor, then you grow up in church and become a devout christian. If your father was a drinker, then your fate is set. No other options available in our communities. This also perpetuates a division within a community as there are no places where the people from each side can freely come together to socially interact.

On top of the religious and social division, we now have political structures which also seem to be causing more divisions and highlighting differences in individuals from party to party and from structure to structure. These divisions pose a challenge for the black community when people have to engage on ways to improve the community and offer platforms for those with ideas intended to build a better tomorrow for our children.

All of these divisions, all of the anger, the hate , the violence and fear are the legacies of apartheid. The after effects of a traumatic period from which no Black South African has fully recovered. No Black Community has fully rid itself from the negative emotions that were part of the daily experience in the townships during apartheid.  People are going on about their lives hoping the memories of the past will stay in the past but they do not. The past has shaped our parents in ways that they are unaware of, subconciously influencing their every thought and decision. The fear and anger of the past is continuosly being fed into the hearts and souls of the next generation by their parents who sucked it from the breasts of their mothers.

How else would you explain the continous abuse of children by their parents and neighbours in the community? When a mother would beat up a 2 year old, full palm clap on the face for breaking a few eggs.

When a father takes out a leather belt and whips with all his might on the naked body of a 3 year old son who scratched his favourite record (CD).

Such acts of violence promote violence in the household and community and are a result of a violent background. These acts also instil fear in the hearts of the children, which further victimise and make them targets for more abuse such as molestations. When an abused child is molested, they feel they have no one to turn to. It is even more difficult when the same person molesting them is the head of the household whom is feared by everyone in the household. Sadly this is usually the scenario: the father, head of the household is a violent man who beats up his wife until she is round on the face. The wife, being abused takes out her anger and frustrations to the kids who are now afraid of her wrath. Now when the father starts molesting the kids, they feel they have no one to turn to as they are afraid of the mother and the mother is afraid of her own husband. Thus the kids feel that they are doomed.

The Black Chronicles puts all this into perspective and paints the picture to the reader and holds it up with the implicit question; do you think this is right? Do you realise how this abuse and violence is destroying our communities.

The book challenges the reader to reflect on their actions. Reflect on the nature and structures of our communities. Upon reflecting, the reader will then have to ask themselves if their contribution in their environment is life giving or life threatening. What role are you playing in the shaping of a better community for the future?

There is a scientific concept known as Enthropy that my scientist friend once explained to me. The concept of Enthropy states that everything is in a state of constant decay. This means that the nature of things, anything is constantly deteriorating and if we do nothing to maintain or improve it, it will only get worse. This is true for relationships. This is also true for our communities. If we do nothing to improve ourselves, our communities will not improve. If we do not make conscious decisions to improve, the subconcious ones will be made and they will be influenced by the hate, anger and fear that we have inherited from our parents who were broken by a syetem of hate.

The Black Chronicles says to the reader, before you punish your child for that infraction, think carefully if this decision is not influenced by an anger the child has nothing to do with. We need to deal with these emotions decisively but I am afraid I don't have any solutions to offer on how to psychologically deal with them. However what I do feel I am in position to offer is the advice that we consider our actions and constatly reflect back on the decisions we have made and correct where we find the decision was inspired by fear or anger. The old system and its emotional impacts has to end in this generation.

There is a section in the book titled: Black Progress. This section shows that there is hope that change is possible as long as our actions are geared towards creating that change. New rolemodels are made, champions are created and some light is coming to the dark side. The is a poem here titled The Chronicle. This poem encourages us not to allow our own struggles to become our children's struggles. We have the responsibility to deal with our own challenges until there is none of hem left when our children grow. That is improvement. The old one's may have failed in dealing with apartheid completely but they did their part, the laws and politics have changed. It is ours now to deal with the emotional impacts of it. The inferiority complexes, the anger and abuse that was planted in our communities. It is on us now to uproot them and get rid of them for good so our children start on a slade cleaner than ours

<script data-ad-client="ca-pub-1945240122822914" async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>