My naam is Februarie / My name is February
By Diana Ferrus
My naam is Februarie.
Ek is verkoop – my borste, privaatdele, my oë , my brein is nog nie myne – soos die Sao Jose loop ek opgekap, word ek telkens gesink deur ‘n ander storm – geen Jesus wat op die water loop vir my My naam is Februarie Ek soek nog die stang van die stuur want onderwater lê die familie, die kind aan ma se rokspant, die ma aan pa se hand. Hoe diep lê hulle, aan watter kant? My naam is Februarie – opgeveil, verkoop, die hoogste bieder het ontslae geraak van my regte naam, geen vergoeding betaal vir dit my naam, gesteel, gesink – onderwater lê dit nog – saam met die familie – wrakstukke van die Sao Jose – ten gronde geloop deur ‘n wind, briesende branders wat die buit se hele toekoms besluit , die profyt teen die wal uitsmyt My naam is Februarie, die Masbieker op die Sao Jose – so was ek genoem toe my hierse moedertaal gestalte kry – toe tonge met mekaar begin te knoop en letters ‘n vrye gang begin te loop in ‘n desperate poging in hoop dat magte ook nie hierdie identiteit moet stroop word ek die Masbieker, net ‘n naam – onder ‘n ander lug gekraam en diep gevul met skaam. |
My name is Februarie.
I rearranged this landscape. My hands wove the patterns of the vineyards. My feet pressed the grapes and I was paid with the wine. I carry Alcohol-Foetal Syndrome children on my back My name is February. I still march on the eve of December one, I walk the cobblestones of this city when I cry in desperation, “remember the emancipation of the slaves!” My name is February. Two hundred years after the Sao Jose I was given the vote, they said I was free But do you see how often I am submerged, weighed down? I am the sunken, the soiled, forgotten and yet memory will not leave me! My name is February, stranded at Third beach but no one comes to look for me, no one waves from the dunes, no bridges back to Mozambique My name is February. I will be resurrected, brought to the surface unshackled, unchained, unashamed! My name is February! (link to source http://www.thejournalist.org.za/spotlight/not-just-a-shipwreck-poet-diana-ferrus ) |
On December 3, 1794 the São José Paquete África set sail for Maranhao, Brazil with 400 slaves on board. The ship was owned by Antonio Perreira, captained by his brother, Manuel Joao Perreira. On December 27, 1794 the ship struck submerged rocks and sank. The captain, crew and half of the slaves survived, while 200 slaves sank with the ship. Sam Tonkin (2015) found, “'This discovery is significant because there has never been archaeological documentation of a vessel that foundered and was lost while carrying a cargo of enslaved persons,' said Lonnie G. Bunch, founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.” While only a small part of the wreck had been excavated, researchers have found shackles, copper fastenings and copper sheathing. Also found were iron ballasts which were used on ships carrying slaves to weigh down the ship. Sam Tonkin (2015) found, “‘Mr Bunch added: 'The Sao Jose is all the more significant because it represents one of the earliest attempts to bring East Africans into the trans-Atlantic slave trade - a shift that played a major role in prolonging that tragic trade for decades.'”