Chapter 3: A Xhosa Girl

On 17 July 1998, a beautiful Xhosa baby girl was born at Mthatha General Hospital in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. This beautiful baby girl happened to be me, Ayanda Zona Nikita Dlova, a girl from a village called eMgobozweni in Nqamakwe (close to Butterworth) in the Eastern Cape. I am often asked what eMgobozeni means, but there is no direct translation. It comes closest to meaning ‘a place of gossip’, which is derived from the Xhosa word goboza, meaning gossiping.

I spent my early childhood (from one to five years old) living with my maternal grandparents in the village. My grandfather was Hewett Kholekile Dlova and my grandmother was Zelpha Zoliswa Dlova. At the time, my mother, Vulelwa Dlova, was still completing her studies at what was formerly known as University of Transkei but is now Walter Sisulu University in the Eastern Cape.