Other Sports

Tribute to Swazi athlete Samkeliswe Phiri

May 1st, 2012
by Martin McCormack

 "May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams? May the laughter that you find in your tomorrow wipe away the pain you find in your yesterdays."

On the side of a hill we laid Samkelisiwe to rest,  as the light of a new  Swazi day dawned. Her coffin draped in a blanket stood there as speeches were given. Her framed photo wearing my Irish cap stood on the coffin. I had taken it 24 hours before she disappeared.

The cries of her mother and family mingled with the harmonious voices of her class mates from St. Paul's school. I stood there, the Whiteman standing out in the assembly, surrounded by  the athletes of Manzini athletic club. Young people, broken hearted , crying their hearts out, as their team mate was slowly lowered in the soil.

This young girl murdered and cut off in the prime of her life. The  sleeping mat was cut in two  and carefully wrapped about the coffin.

Hours previously I stood with her grandmother placing her clothes , her few worldly possessions around her broken bones. Then the coffin was closed. Now on this hillside the women came forward led by her mother and dropped fists of dry earth onto the coffin. The men began to fill in the grave. All the while the voices of her school mates sang in the background. Manzini athletes  were there  as one, holding each other, sobbing away. Some of us  knelt on the hill side and let our  tears soak the dust. It was a poignant scene. Coach Mabuza wrapped in his blanket stared silently at the scene. I wondered for a second what was going through his mind and heart.

Then the stones were collected and gently laid around the grave, making a protective mound on the final resting place of Samkelisiwe. It struck me that these same stones were crying out for justice.

Hours previously we had gathered for a memorial service at St Paul's school. We listened to testimonies from classmates, teachers , preachers and our athletic club. The night vigil at the home had police presence. I wondered where they were when we needed them  several days before when we reported  her missing. Insult added to injury!

As I left the hillside her mother's eyes caught mine. No words were spoken.

The words, the songs, the prayers, the cries now just reached into silence.

The words of Churchill came to mind as I walked slowly to the car: 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it's the courage to continue that counts.

Manzini Athletic Club

Where hope would otherwise become hopelessness, it becomes faith.  ~Robert Brault

Muzi Mabuza the Swaziland National  athletic coach and Martin McCormack, a Salesian priest from Ballydesmond, set up Manzini athletic club. We deliberately targeted poor children who had no chance in life. all our athletes are extremely poor and we try to help them with school fees and feed and clothe some of them.

Some are orphaned, some have one parent.  One boy was picked from the streets and has no idea where he came from, having been abandoned as a baby. He is presently our 200 metre national champ.

Our national 100 metre champion lives with his mother who sells seeds in a street market. He walks 40 mins to school because he can't afford the bus fare

HIV-AIDS

Hope is necessary in every condition.  The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable.  ~Samuel Johnson

Swaziland has the highest HIV-AIDS related death in the world . In 2010 alone there were 31,000 funerals. We have some 120,000 orphans in a population of just over a million. Death stalks our land. Our athletic club is a family for the athletes. this was so obvious at the funeral the way we clung to each other as our sister, our child  was being buried. No one can really grasp the significance of belonging until you have no one to belong to.  In many ways we are not just coaches , we are parents raising a family. We have great hopes for our children. As St Clement of Alexandria said "If you do not hope, you will not find what is beyond your hopes"

My work in Swaziland over the past few years has been with the poorest children. I covered 60 schools as part of my work and there were 8000 orphans in these. Finding food and clothing is a never ending task.

Irish people have been my support out here and hundreds of children have gone to school because of their generosity .

Muzi the coach, has brought 4 of these athletes to live with his wife and 6 year old child. For me he represents what is wonderful in life. He has such a caring attitude  and puts himself out to help these children.

I've was in a  homestead recently where a 13  year old a child was head of the family. Some 30% of the country lives like this. I met an 11 year old last year in one school who told me he goes to school to get the food it offers so he can feed his 5 year old brother at home

Samkelisiswe's poor background reflects the ethos of our club. She dropped out of school because she couldn't afford the fees at St Paul's.

The head teacher seeing her academic potential went to her mother and brought her back to learn, he like the rest of us was distraught at her sudden death

Education is not free here and only the privileged get the opportunity of second level. Her mother lives with three children, in a rented room with no electricity. When I visited her after we discovered the body, she was sitting on the floor with a flickering candle lighting the darkness, crying inconsolably.   The shadows on the wall symbolic of the dark place she now found herself in.

Success

Once you choose hope, anything's possible.  ~Christopher Reeve

The club's distinct navy blue outfit with McCormack emblazoned on the front and Manzini athletic club on the back is well know at track meets. It's a brand of success. People ask us what are ye feeding your athletes on? I tell them care, self belief, values for life. Sports teaches you for life.

We have 14 athletes on our books including our Olympic hopefuls. Samkelisiwe was one of our outstanding athletes. She had just  won two gold in inter regional Swazi finals on Match 30th. She was selected to represent the country in Botswana in May and had already represented Swaziland last year in 400 metres. Muzi and myself saw her as next Olympic hopeful for the country.

She had that never give up mentality and when you thought she was beaten she  put in a final effort that carried her over the line for gold. She represented our motto that nothing is impossible that " I am possible"

Emotions

God sends the dawn
that we might see
the might-have-beens
that still might be.  ~Robert Brault

Samkelisiwe meaning the one who is sent has been taken from us. Our emotions are raw. We are angry, we hurt, we are helpless

To see one you love and care for dead is always hard to take but to see a loved one brutally murdered tears one apart.

To see a leg in a school shoe separated from its body, a head some feet away from the torso, is the stuff of  nightmares and horror movies. I've had sleepless nights  after assisting  the grandmother pack the coffin with her clothes to keep the remains in place.   I lie in the darkness half afraid to sleep with this vision in my mind.
 
The Future

Hope is grief's best music.  ~Author Unknown

We will pick up the pieces, we will go on and win many more gold medals, we will send our athletes to represent Swaziland. On Monday a frail girl was brought to us by one of the athletes. Muzi and myself let her train with the team. Afterwards we said 'she has the attitude of a winner" so we will take care of her and in coming weeks set her up with trainers and clothing.  We will attract children who see our club as an opportunity   to excel. Our club, our family of poor will become rich in success.

As a club we would like to keep Samkelisiswe's memory alive by hosting an annual competition. When you contacted me about doing something in  Kerry   I said to Muzi a window of light is opening here. Maybe Kerry can help us by sponsoring an annual meet here.  The link between Kerry and Swaziland is very strong with Fr Pat Ahern RIP from Listowel having left an indelible mark on the lives of poor Swazi children during his 40 years working here.

Who knows where this will all end. When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown


Sections

Search Articles



 
Radio Kerry - The Voice of the Kingdom