Fac'-findin' mission? You on a fac'-findin' mission? I'm not a political person - I don' think I can giveyou any fac's. Me? Folks call me Mattie. No, it's not acause of my hair - my name is Matilda, don' you know? I work for Mrs. Eileen Botha in the city. David, my husband, say there be five million whites in Sout' Africa, and that a million of dem be named Botha. And none of dem be related.
David work in da Zuluhoho Mine. We doin' better than mos' - we have food mos' of da time. Oh, yes, I wanna live in a house like my Madam. We have only one room now, but it do have a roof. I'm sorry, but dese be da fac's I know.
Oh. I did know a woman once - she buy lottery tickets, you know. Every time she get some extra money, she buy a ticket. One day, she won a house. A big, beautiful house. But, dey wouldn' let her accept it. No, she be a black woman, see, and the house be in a whites only neighbourhood. Dey let her buy all da tickets she could afford, but dey don' let her collect no prizes! She still buy lottery tickets, you know. Oh, yes. She say she don' wanna live wit' no hope!
Do dem fac's help you? You know, David say dat da Sout' Africa government, she full of ostriches. It be true! Funny kinda ostriches, dough - when dem don' wanna know somet'in', dey stick journalists' heads in da sand!
Homelan's? I don' understand about dem, really. I don'. Why do the government keep sayin' it want to give blacks a new homelan'? I already got one - what am I gonna do wit' anudder? David say da whites wan' to give us the poor lan' and keep all da wealth for themselfes - mayb you should be talkin' to David, now?
You want to know what life here is like? One Sunday, dere was dis big gadderin' at da University...a lot of important people was dere. Dey was supposed ta talk about livin' in peace and sharin' da land and dat kind of t'ing. David took me. We waited a couple of hours - did I say it took place at a black university? Nobody spoke. Nobody at all. David asks da man beside him what happen. "Haven' you heard?" the man say. "All da people dat was supposed to talk here have been arrested." David say only in Sout' Africa can a rally for peace turn into a silent demonstration agains' police power...
My passbook? Sure. Tha's me...Matilda. David say it tells I'm a black woman, but all one has ta do is look at me ta know dat! David say it be so whites can tell us apart. It also say I be a maid - David read it to me, so I know all about what it say. I carry my passbook every day so's I can work at my Madam's house. "I don' know why I need a passbook," I once tol' her. "I know who I am!" She laughed at dat, den she say, "Da passbook is needed so udder folks can tell who you is." I been t'inkin' 'bout dat a lot - why can't I jus' tell dem who I is? I guess I don' understand about passbooks...
Sanctions? Is dat a new kind of homelan'? Sanctions? Oh - I know what you say! I don' unnerstand politics too good, you know. What would I know about sanctions? My Madam say it harder to find smoked clams now den it used ta be. Does dat help any? Oh...well, I hear lots of black folk been losin' dem's jobs acause dem's bosses couldn't afford ta pay dem no mo'. If dat's goin' ta help us get our homes back, well, I guess it be a good t'ing. Only, we don' seem to be getting' our homelan' back, you know. So - I don' know. I don' have no answers - I just live here, you know?
No! Me and David, we be god-fearin' Christians. We don' like no violence! I was attacked wit' teargas once - it felt like my face was rubbed all over wit' onions. We keep tape in da house, you know, acause when da tanks go down da street out front of our house, da dishes sometime get our of dey cupboards and break. I don' mind dat so much, but it is scary bein' woke up in da middle of da night, especially if you done been havin' a bad dream.
Now, dat be somet'ing else I don' understand. I hear a lot about violence, about a lot of people getting' killed. But, it be mostly blacks killin' blacks! Now, what good can come of dat, I ask you? Oh, and da children! I hear da government keeps children in jail - little 11 and 12 year-olds! I can' believe dat! What kind of people would put children in jail? If you find out anyt'ing 'bout dat, will you let me know?
What? You be goin' now? Where you from? Oh - all over! Well, when you get back to...all over, do you promise to do somet'ing for me? One little t'ing for Matilda, now? Tell people dat Matilda, she speaks true. Will you do dat? Dere be learnin' fac's and dere be unnerstandin', and it be very impo'tan' for people from all over ta unnerstan'...
