Isn’t it funny how you see someone and automatically make an assumption that they are a particular kind of person and when starting to converse with the person you realize that they actually quite interesting? And isn’t it funnier how you make that mistake over and over again? Well if you have made such a mistake (which you most probably have), about a thousand times in your life, then don’t worry because it happens to all of us.
While sitting at the library basement waiting for Monde Mdodana, I had a lot of things going through my mind; such as; I wonder what this dagga smoking, fake version of Bob Marley is going to say about his first year at Rhodes. You might be thinking that’s a bit naive of me to think of someone in that way but when you see a young man with long dread locks, wearing a Bantu Stephen Biko T-shirt with torn pants and carryng a bag with Rastafarian that’s got a picture of Bob Marley painted on it. You usually make that assumption about that person.
Monde, the eldest of three kids was born in the small town of Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape. “My mother was a Christian but I hated going to church, not to say that I’m a Satanist, it’s just that I belief in finding my God through writing”, he says. In growing up, Monde says that he’s always been someone who was very anti-social, “To be honest, I’ve never liked being surrounded by people; I’ve always enjoyed my own company”. During his Matric year, he would always just focus on his writing, because that’s where he found himself. “Through writing a poem or short story, I believe that I am communicating with my God” he says.
He explains his first year at Rhodes dull, seeing that the work is so much and he doesn’t have that much time to focus on his writing. “For me the year had no real defining moment as a first year student, though being here has given me room for growth”. The one thing that he describes as totally fantastic was when he sold out all his copies to his short story booklet during the June vacation. “That was really awesome, I didn’t expect such a good responds from people and to my surprise people really loved my writing”. He says that that inspired him to write more, in fact his never been in such a good place in his life.He finds his inspiration from any and every one. He believes that everyone has a story that is worth being written about and we all have the gift to write that story.
Amongst the stories his written, is one called the English note, he describes the story as a little autobiographical, as he was writing about how he sees himself in the character portrayed in the story.“See, we all change from character to character to suit what society wants us be”, he continues by saying, when coming to varsity, you switch from the character of a typical naive high school learner to a totally different character that you believe will make you cooler when being at varsity.
To Monde, the year has enabled him to grow as a writer and as an individual, because to him writing his writing is what defines him.
Mondes’ book of short stories is called Marxism, Marijuana and literature.
Source list: Monde Mdodana 1st year Bachelor of Social Science student Contact Details: Tell: 0782018754 Email address: phicon Mdodana" <mphicon@gmail.com>
Source list: Monde Mdodana 1st year Bachelor of Social Science student Contact Details: Tell: 0782018754 Email address: phicon Mdodana" <mphicon@gmail.com>
4 comments:
The hero in this story or profile is Monde Mdodana. Monde is a first year student who loves writing and thus finds joy doing it. Writing to Monde seems to be a way of expression and a way for him to come alive as he is defined by the writer as an anti-social being. The writer states that Monde saw that his first year was dull and this can be seen as a disruption that he had to overcome as he found growth by learning to cope with university life. The writer of this profile highlights through this story how it is important to not look at some one and just jump to assumptions, that people are more than how they look .I find this profile very encouraging to me as a reader as it has been written in that way. One can see how the writer too wishes to point out that every person in this world has a story to tell.Precious Fatyela
‘The story of a young man that finds himself through writing’ is very drawing because of the unique nature of the main character and hero Monde. Monde is a young man who discovers spiritual healing through his writing. University like all societies in the world are subject to its own set of conventions and most people strive for these norms in order to fit in. It is the fear of all of us that we will not fit in. Even though Rhodes has a very diverse culture, there are and will always be people, like in any other social structure who will struggle to fit in. Monde is a hero in the sense that he not only managed to preserve his unique character in an unfamiliar space but, in doing so he was able to share his talent with those around him and in turn grow as an artist.
Many people who seem not interesting, are those who are very interesting than those seeming to be. People wonder why he or she’s life is camouflaged. People like Monde have a go ahead about there lives because there a true character of themselves, using art as an inspiration, smoking weed for their own use not faking someone else’s character. Me myself while lastly chatting with Monde, he said to me, please man can you release your underground tapes every year because you know your street art and life is also mine. His book of the Marxist, dagga and literature. It is of course about the positive grind of a hustle, anti religious, and weed contribution to the lives of street corner cats. The work load of academics makes the dude not write many stories as he used to and that makes me cry, but i am glad though he finds himself grown as being here at Rhodes. Thanks sister for writing about this dude.
In this profile piece on Monde Mdodana the writer, Nonkie, seems concerned that his writing subject is nothing but a fraud even admits to thinking that he is a, “dagga smoking, fake version of Bob Marley.”
Through the story we see that this is not the case with Monde as it is revealed that he is someone who knows his strength and passion in life-writing. He appears to indeed be a first year hero who is true to himself and his passions and is not afraid to let his opinion be known.
In fairness to the writer he admits that his assumptions were a mistake and this profile also reveals the old adage of don’t judge a book by its cover, an important lesson we all sometimes forget.
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