Thuso Mbedu Celebrates June 16 By Reflecting Deep on Her Past
Thuso Mbedu Celebrates June 16 By Reflecting Deep on Her Past. On Tuesday, South Africans, and many Africans commemorated the Day of the African Child. Thuso Mbedu was not left behind as she reminisced on her childhood, and how it resonates with June 16.
“June 16 is a day we will never take for granted as South Africans. This year it feels heavier… bigger than ever,” Thuso said.
The international award winning actress then went down memory lane on the beauty that was her childhood in KwaZulu Natal. She and her family stayed in Ulindi , where they enjoyed every kind of fruit from their big yard. They then moved to Pietermaritzburg, and life changed dramatically. The family was struggling with basics, and to solve the food issue, Thuso’s grandmother made them make a backyard garden.
“Before moving to PMB, I lived in Ulundi where we had a giant yard full of beautiful flowers, sugar cane, banana trees, peach trees, guava trees, among others. We could feed ourselves and we were proud of that. When we moved to the “suburbs” of PMB, all of that stopped. My gran was a pensioner and there were days when tea and bread was all we had. If you didn’t feel like tea, umbhubhudla was your next best option. This is the life we lived for a while until Gogo put us to work in the back yard, making us dig up the garden.
We were excited at the thought of finally getting a swimming pool! (Being delusional is free and we expended all our coupons) However, it was soon revealed that we were tilling the land for a vegetable garden. The intention was not to sell or anything. It was for us to eat so we could survive. And we hated it. We hated being “less cool” than our neighbors. We hated the responsibility,” she added.
Although at the time, this seemed like a punishment, Thuso is now appreciating the results. Because of granny’s plan, she managed to go to school, and become one of the best actresses of our time.
“Looking at that picture 17 years later, I see that my priorities were as dodgy as I looked in that picture. But I now see the garden differently. That “embarrassing” patch of land is the reason we ate when we didn’t have grocery money. Gogo’s resistance preserved us after year after year. Without that garden, there would be no Thuso at Wits. No Thuso in the industry. No Thuso where she is today.
Don’t despise the small beginnings, no matter how “embarrassing” they might seem. They are carrying you into your future. On this Youth Day let’s put all we can into what will keep us alive to tell the story of our country and how far we’ve come.
Let’s go back to the garden,” she said in conclusion.
