In a recent conversation I had with a close friend of mine we talked about what ‘home’ meant to us, and arrived at an idea that home is perhaps the place where you feel most comfortable to challenge the things that you may see yourself as. Negotiating how we belong somewhere is a process that we as humans are engaged in daily. We look for ways in which we can approach our lives with dignity and purpose. However, at times we are met with resistance and are forced to abandon the very things that we may value, to change and ‘fit in’. Many external pressures exist to remind us of how we ‘don’t belong’. Race, Gender, Socio-economics, Political unrest, Faith all elicit a sense of homelessness. It then takes courage to do the very thing that frightens us most: to uproot and go in search of ‘home’. In contemporary Southern Africa, migration is by no means a foreign concept. Cross border migration to and from South Africa is a contentious issue and adds to the growing dialogue of ‘who belongs where’. The ‘china bag’ has become synonymous with the notion of movement, migration, and the dispersal of people from their homes to other spaces. In addition to the sense of physical migration, one should be aware of the subtle psycho-social migrations that communities and individuals may be forced to undergo when one conflates matters of culture with matters of home. If one is to migrate physically and then further negotiate the psycho-social baggage we all have with regards to culture and home, how much would we be willing to carry? Stellenbosch is no stranger to these discourses.

In ʼn gesprek wat ek onlangs met ʼn goeie vriend gehad het, het ons gepraat oor wat ‘tuiste’ vir ons beteken, en op die gedagte afgekom dat tuiste dalk die plek is waar ʼn mens op jou gemaklikste voel om hoe jy jouself sien te bevraagteken. Bepaling van hoe ons iewers inpas, is ʼn proses waarby ons as mense daagliks betrokke is. Ons soek maniere waarop ons ons lewens met waardigheid en doelgerigtheid kan benader. Met tye kom ons egter voor weerstand te staan en is ons verplig om juis van dié dinge wat ons moontlik waardeer, afstand te doen, dit te verander en daarby ‘in te pas’. Daar is baie eksterne druk wat ons daaraan herinner hoe ons ‘nie behoort nie’. Ras, geslag, sosio-ekonomie, politieke onrus, geloof – dit alles ontlok ʼn gevoel van ontheemdheid. Dit verg moed om juis dit te doen wat ons die bangste maak: om te ontwortel en na ‘tuiste’ te gaan soek. Deesdae is migrasie in Suider-Afrika geensins ʼn vreemde begrip nie. Migrasie oor grense heen na en van Suid-Afrika is ʼn omstrede kwessie en dra by tot die groeiende dialoog van ‘wie hoort waar’. Die ‘Chinese sak’ het sinoniem geraak met die gedagte van beweging, migrasie en die verspreiding van mense van hulle tuistes na ander ruimtes. Afgesien van die gevoel van fisiese migrasie, moet ʼn mens bewus wees van die subtiele psigososiale migrasies wat gemeenskappe en individue verplig word om deur te maak wanneer kultuur-kwessies met tuiste-kwessies saamsmelt. As ʼn mens fisies moet migreer en dan die psigososiale bagasie wat ons almal het wat betref kultuur en tuiste verder te bowe moet kom, hoeveel sou ons gewillig wees om te dra? Stellenbosch is goed bekend met hierdie diskoerse.

Kwincoko ebendisandula ukuba nayo nomhlobo wam osenyongweni yayikukuthetha ngentsingiselo yekhaya, sithetha ukuthini xa sithetha ngekhaya. Safika kwingcinga ethi, xa sithetha ngekhaya sithetha ngendawo ekwenza uzive wonwabile nekwenza ukwazi ukucela umngeni kwizinto ozibona uzizo neziveza ububani bakho. Uthetha-thethwano ngokuba sonke sisuka kwaye sixhomekeke endaweni yinkqubo esithi sijongane nayo singabantu yonke imihla. Sikhangela iindlela esinokuthi sibujonge ngayo ubomi bethu ngesidima nenjongo. Nangona kunjalo, ngamanye amaxesha sidibana nentandabuzo noqhankqalazo kwaye sinyanzeleke ukuba silahle yonke into elixabiso kuthi, sitshintshe ‘sifaneleke’. Uxinzelelo olukhulu oluvela ngaphandle lukhona ukuze lusikhumbuze ukuba ‘sisuka apha, singabalapha’. Ibala, isini, iimeko zoqoqosho ekuhlaleni, ukungazinzi kwezopolitiko, ukholo zonke ezi zinto ziveza imvakalelo yokungbi nakhaya. Ngoko ke kufuneka ukhaliphe ukwenza Kanye le nto ikoyikisayo: ukuncothula nokuhamba uyokuphanda ukhangela ‘ikhaya’. KuMzantsi Afrika wangoku, ukuthutha umzi asiyongqiqo ivela ngaphandle, yinto eyaziwayo. Ukuwela umda ukuya nokusuka eMzantsi Afrika ngumba otshisa ibunzi kwaye wangeza kwingxoxo mpikiswano ekhulayo yokuba ‘ngubani ongowaphi’. ‘Ingxowa yetshayina’ isuke yaziwa njengehambelana nomba wentshukumo, ukuhamba ngokomsebenzi, kunye nokuthi saa kwabantu besuka kumakhaya abo besiya kwezinye iindawo. Ukongeza kwimo yokususa kwindawo abeme kuzo abantu, wonke ubani kufuneka aqonde ngeemeko zoxinzelelo lwengqondo-nezokuhlala abadibana nazo abantu xa bathe banyanzeleka ukuba batshintshe amakhaya abo okuzalwa xa kufuneka behlanganisa imiba yezenkcubeko nemiba yezekhaya. Ukuba umntu uyakwazi ukutshintsha indawo ayibiza ikhaya kuze kufuneke enze uthetha-thethwano umthwalo woxinzelelo lwengqono-neimba yasekuhlaleni mayela nekcubeko nekhaya, ingaba silungele ukuthwala umthwalo ongakanani? IStellenbosch asilondwendwe kwezi meko.