I honestly did not know what to title this one. I saw someone tweet that ‘Tshimo ga e lengwe ka loleme’ and I was intrigued. Loosely transalted, it says, You do not plant or sow a field with your tongue. Yep, you actually do not. Talking about it will not cause anything to happen. Talking to the field will not make anything happen.
So why do you think that talking about your dreams will make things magically happen for you? Without working towards your dreams, they will remain just that….dreams.
The tweet stuck a cord in me. I grew up going to my grandmothers farms. I hated the work. It was back breaking. Botswana is very hot so we had to wake up very early so as to start while it was nice and cool. By midday it was too hot to do anything so we would trod back home. I will be honest, I hated it. Sometimes I did not wake up very early like my cousins, but I would have to clean the yard, cook breakfast and carry it to the field for the rest of the family already there.
Sowing season was my least favourite time, but come harvest season and we were eating all those yummy foods we had grown. I would be filled with so much pride and be super annoyed at the lazy relatives who only came to eat and collect food but were seemingly busy when it was time to sow.
As I grew older, I started to appreciate the hard work. Not only because I saw the benefits, but because I saw people who did not see the importance of sowing, the importance of hard work. Their lives were nothing spectacular. They had dreams yes, aspirations, but they wanted someone else to do the work for them. They had built a life around complaining and begging and not actually doing any work. Yes, they got something from their whining and begging, but it was enough for them to survive. Seeing them waste their lives like that inspired me to work harder, to try harder and most importantly, to not whine or beg as people sooner or later get tired of hearing you whine and they avoid you. When they see you from a distance its ‘Here they come again.’
You do not sow with your tongue! What are you still sowing with your tongue? What are you waiting for? Get up and get your hands dirty. Work hard to make your dreams come true. Work hard. Work. Work. Work.