UNokugcina Elsie ‘Gcina’ Mhlophe owazalelwa e-Hammersdale ngo-1959 ungumlweli wenkululeko waseNingizimu Afrika, isishoshovu, umlingisi, umbali wezindaba, imbongi, umbhali wemidlalo, umqondisi nombhali. ngemuva kokuphothula umatikuletsheni ngo-1979 eMfundisweni High School. Wenza izifundo ze-Cadet Journalism e-Rhodes University, izinyanga eziyisithupha ze-Film Making Course njengengxenye ye-Interchurch Media Programme’s Community Project kanye nokufundwa kwezindaba ngezikhathi ezithile kwi-Press Trust, i-BBC Radio, i-Africa Service futhi phakathi kuka-1982/83 wayebhalela I-Learn and Teach magazine.
Wenza umsebenzi wakhe obaluleke kakhulu ngokulingisa ngomusa, esebenzela ukugcina ukuxoxa izindaba njengendlela yokugcina umlando uphila nokukhuthaza izingane zaseNingizimu Afrika ukuthi zifunde. Uxoxa izindaba zakhe ngezilimi ezine zaseNingizimu Afrika: isiNgisi, isiBhunu, isiZulu nesiXhosa.
UGcina Mhlophe ubonakale ezindaweni zemidlalo yaseshashalazini kusuka eSoweto kuya e-London kanti umsebenzi wakhe omningi uhunyushelwe olimini lwesi-German, French, Italian, Swahili kanye ne-Japanese.
Imidlalo yase-Theatre
- 1983 Lead actress in Umongikazi – The Nurse by Maishe Maponya, later touring England, Ireland, Holland and Switzerland.
- 1984/85 Acting in the workshop play The Black Dog – Injemnyama, directed by Barney Simon, touring South Africa
- 1985 and 87 – 89 Writing and acting in the autobiographical piece Have you seen Zandile?, touring South Africa, Lesotho, most of Europe – participating at the Edinburgh festival. Mounting the piece as a Visiting Director at the Chicago Theatre Co. and at Knoxville’s Carpet Bag Theatre in Tennessee with different US. actors, who later went touring USA.
- 1986 Acting in the workshop play Born In The RSA, directed by Barney Simon, touring South Africa, England, most of Europe and the US. Participation at the Edinburgh festival.
- 1987 Visiting assistant director with Barney Simon at Boston’s Brandeis University, workshoping and staging the musical play Written By Hand.
- 1989/90 Resident Director at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. Co-writing and singing in the musical Inyanga, directed by Barney Simon. Writing and directing Somdaka, touring Johannesburg’s Townships and Zimbabwe.
- 1995 Co-writing an adaptation of Brecht’s The Good Person Of Sechuan with Janet Suzman for BBC, London and the Market Theatre, Johannesburg
- 1998 Wrote and performed in the one woman show Love Child, by Mannie Manim Production. Took it to Japan to the Solo Festival in Tokyo
Imiklomelo ye-Theatre
- Ngo-1987 wathola i-OBIE Award yokuba umlingisi ohamba phambili we-Born e-RSA – New York
- Ngo-1987 wathola i-Fringe First Award yomkhiqizo ohamba phambili ku-Have You Seen Zandile – Edinburgh Festival
- Ngo-1988wathola i-Joseph Jefferson Award njengomlingisi ohamba phambili ku-Have You Seen Zandile – Chicago
- Ngo-1988 wathola i-Sony Award waqokelwa umkhiqizo ohamba phambili ku-Have You Seen Zandile – BBC Radio Africa
UMhlophe uhambe amazwe amaningi e-Afrika nakwezinye izingxenye zomhlaba enikeza imihlangano yokuxoxa ngezindaba. Njengamanje, uMhlophe ugxile ekwenzeni izincwadi zitholakale emiphakathini empofu yasemakhaya yaseNingizimu Afrika ngokwenza isiqiniseko sokuthi imitapo yolwazi yakhiwa, kanye nokwenza isiqiniseko sokuthi kugcinwa izincwadi ezihambisana nalendawo namasiko. Ebengagxilanga nje ngokufaka isandla kwezobuciko, uMhlophe ufuna nokusiza ekulondolozeni umsebenzi wabanye abaculi base-Afrika kanye nabantu abadumile ngokusebenzisa iKhumbulani Memory House, isigcinamagugu somlando womlomo futhi usungule neGcinamasiko Arts and Heritage Trust esiza ukukhuthaza ababhali base-Afrika , ukugqugquzela isiko lokuxoxa izindaba ngezinhlelo zalo ezahlukahlukene ze-edutainment.
UGcina Mhlophe uthole imiklomelo eminingi (ngaphezu kwalokho esingakubala lapha!), Futhi wahlanganiswa njengomunye we-BBCs 100 Women for 2016, uhlelo olugubha abesifazane abanethonya nabakhuthazayo emhlabeni jikelele . Buka ividiyo emfushane ekhombisa ukuthi u-Gcina Mhlophe ukhuthaza kanjani!
Inkondlo Yokudumisa
Inkondlo yokudumisa eyenziwa ngo-1989 ukuhlonipha uNokukhanya Luthuli, umfelokazi ka-Chief Albert Luthuli – owayengumongameli we-ANC eminyakeni yama-50s kanye ne-Nobel Peace Prize ngo-1961:
If the moon were to shine tonight
To light up my face and show off my proud form
With beads around my neck and shells in my hair
And a soft easy flowing dress with the colours of Africa
If I were to stand on top of a hill
And raise my voice in praise
Of the women of my country
Who have worked throughout their lives
Not for themselves, but for the very life of all Africans
Who would I sing my praises to?
I could quote all the names
Yes, but where do I begin?!
Do I begin with the ones
Who gave their lives
So that we others may live a better life
The Lilian Ngoyis, the Victoria Mxenges
The Ruth Firsts
Or the ones who have lost their men
To Robben Island and their children to exile
But carried on fighting
The MaMotsoaledis, the MaSisulus
The Winnie Mandelas?
Or maybe I would sing praises to
The ones who, have had the resilience
And cunning of a desert cobra
Priscilla Jana, Fatima Meer, Beauty Mkhize
Or the ones who turned deserts into green vegetable gardens
From which our people can eat
Mamphela Ramphele, Ellen Kuzwayo
Or would the names of the women
Who marched, suffered solitary confinement and house arrests
Helen Joseph, Amina Cachalia, Sonya Bunting, Dorothy Nyembe,
Thoko Mngoma, Florence Matomela, Bertha Mkhize,
How many more names come to mind
As I remember the Defiance Campaign
The fights against Beer Halls that suck the strength of our men
Building of alternative schools away from Bantu Education
And the fight against pass laws
Maybe, maybe, I would choose a name
Just one special name that spells out light
That of Mama Nokukhanya Luthuli
Maybe if I were to call out her name
From the top of the hill
While the moon is shining bright;
No-Ku-Kha-nya!
NO-KU-KHA-NYA!
Maybe my voice would be carried by the wind
To reach all the other women
Whose names are not often mentioned
The ones who sell oranges and potatoes
So their children can eat and learn
The ones who scrub floors and polish executive desktops
In towering office blocks
While the city sleeps
The ones who work in overcrowded hospitals
Saving lives, cleaning bullet wounds and delivering new babies
And the ones who have given up
Their places of comfort and the protection of their skin colour
Marian Sparg, Sheena Duncan,
Barbara Hogan, Jenny Schreiner.
And what of the women who are stranded in the homelands
With a baby in the belly and a baby on the back
While their men are sweating in the bowels of the earth?
May the lives of all these women
Be celebrated and made to shine
When I cry out Mama Nokukhanya’s name
NO-KU-KHA-NYA! !
And we who are young, salute our mothers Who have given us
The heritage of their Queendom!!!
Icashunwe ku-Women Writing Africa: isifunda esiseningizimu. UMargaret Daymond et al. (ama-eds). EGoli: Witwatersrand University Press, 2002.
Mlalela ekhuluma ngezinhlelo zakhe ze- oral history museum: