Anna Fiki: A true warrior fighting for life and love

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Staff Writer | Friday May 17, 2013 00:00

 

This is the powerful voice behind the soulful track Mpolelle re babedi, which has been a constant feature on many local radio stations for so many years and still continues to rear forward in various music programmes.  Anna Fiki, as she is popularly known to her legion of fans and ordinary radio listeners, is among the favourite voices on radio. Her most popular song is a cajoling script of a woman who enjoys the attention she gets from a man who proposes love to her.

She is a free flowing soul who easily relates with any person she gets into contact with, which is why it is easy to tell how the song was born. She is a cheerful character whose positive energy would easily rub off onto those associated with her or anyone who converses with her.  Despite her loveless, troubled childhood and a generally ill-fated adulthood, Anna Fiki is a bubbly music woman whose abundant humour far outweighs the tragic life she has endured since she was a toddler.

In fact only God knows why the singer is still alive because her mother twice tried to kill her but failed. Anna Fiki was born in 1969 in Mabule, a small border village in the southern part of Botswana.  It was during those days when the tradition of botsetsi (voluntary confinement) was religiously observed and her grandmother, who acted as confine mother, was regimental about it.

Two months after Anna Fiki was born her mother was allowed out of the house but the baby had to remain for sometime and instructions were that visitors should not be allowed into the confinement house. But the young mother was a loose canon. She and friends found the strict rules unjust.'My granny told me that every time she returned from work she would find me crying alone while my mother would be entertaining her friends.  I was told when the old woman tried to stop the frequenting of friends my mother got angry and one of her friends advised her to kill me,' she said.  After a few days the young mother had made up her mind but lacked the courage to do it.  'They say she told them that every time she tried to kill me my smile and glowing eyes would scare her,' Anna Fiki said.

Then on one fateful day after the grandmother left for work the young mother concocted a deadly idea.  Because the eyes were scaring her from carrying out her devilish mission she pierced them with a needle.  But still she could not pluck up enough courage to do it.

In a haze of panic, her mother threw the two-month-old baby into a pig kraal hoping that the beast would complete her satanic deed for her.But to many people's surprise, pigs, which are infamous for eating anything at their disposal, especially when there is blood, did not harm the toddler.

'They just licked the blood and tears coming from the eyes until my granny came to discover me in the evening,' she said.Her mother then jumped the border to Mafikeng; hence her baby girl only grew up knowing her granny as her mother.  It was only when she was six-years-old in 1975 that silk-voiced Anna Fiki realised that she had a special situation and that her real mother had disappeared after trying to kill her.

'My grandmother used to scold me about how my mother threw me into the pigs' kraal until one day when I asked her why she often said that and she told me the whole story.  All along I did not know that I was blind until that day.  This was probably because she had taught me almost everything, from bathing, washing clothes and fetching water from the well and I did not feel I was different from other children,' she said.

Soon after the heartbreaking news, her grandmother died and she was forced to relocate to Tshidilamolomo to stay with her aunt.  The grandmother's death brought more pain for the little girl. She was only introduced to her real mother for the first time after the old woman's funeral.  She was excited but her joy quickly turned into misery when her mother openly suggested that since the grandmother was dead it would be better to throw Anna Fiki into a dam.  An argument ensued between the mother and other relatives who knew of her past bad deeds.

'I was just a child and did not take it seriously but I think the elders knew she could go and accomplish her mission given the chance, judging by the way they were fuming,' Anna Fiki told Arts & Culture.The relocation to Tshidilamolomo only brought more pain to the already shattered youth.'That is where all the problems started,' she says with a nod, 'My relatives there were not that helpful though it would be better than staying with my mother.  They were ashamed of me because I was made to stay behind the house every time there were visitors and when ever people went out I would be left in the middle of the sun to guard the family home, I ate from the same plate as a dog and cat.'

The discrimination by relatives nearly cost the singer an opportunity to study when they hid her from the social workers, who came looking for her.  'It was only when neighbours intervened that I finally left to start school at Linchwe Primary School in Mochudi staying at the Mochudi Resource Centre for the Blind,' she said.

She started Standard One in 1977 and passed her Standard Seven with grade 'B' in 1980.  A bright student that she was, her teachers never doubted that she would go all the way to university, but once again fate had another challenge in store for her.  In 1985 while doing her Form Three, Anna Fiki was struck by an unexplained condition.Whenever she tried to do what her 'silent reading' she would feel sleepy but the next thing she would wake up in hospital, vomiting blood.

Doctors found it difficult to treat her condition until one day a doctor, perhaps out of frustration, told her that whenever it happened she should start singing - and the trick worked wonders.  In the process a music talent that was otherwise hidden came to the fore.She failed her Form Three as she had missed so much of her studies and had to return to dreadful Tshidilamolomo - and her troubles started all over again.  She was relegated to that mosalagae role.  But perhaps that was God's plan as she was discovered the love of her life, Jimmy Ditau.

'One day as I was sitting alone a man came knocking, asking for water and I just told him to search all the huts for water and once he drank he came and sat with me.  From then he started checking on me on a regular basis and one day he told me he loved me but I just dismissed him. I thought he just wanted to take advantage of me but clearly I was wrong,' she says with a naughty smile.  The family disliked Jimmy, who was only a herd boy. 

They insisted Anna Fiki should fall for a man who would provide for her.Their love was too strong to be broken by any challenge and they persisted.  On July 16, 1990 the couple's first child, Lindiwe, was born.Anna Fiki's family was hell-bent on separating the two lovebirds and decided to distort the news, claiming to villagers that the father was some 'respectable' Serowe man.

There were no signs of bitterness as Anna Fiki narrated her touching story but one moment stood out.  She broke into tears trying to explain how her bundle of joy also nearly lost her life, once again because of the same woman who tried to kill her.  Lindiwe emerges from the house with a glass of water for her emotionally charged mother and as the two clung to each other, sorbs replaced the deafening silence that had characterised the place for some minutes.  Both struggle to fight back tears for some minutes.

'I was recalled to Pudulogong Rehabilitation centre 18 months after Lindiwe's birth.  My mother was back from Mafikeng and I was forced to leave the child in her care.  During the school holidays on my return to Mabule, I was surprised that she was the only one absent when I arrived home and to my shock she was hospitalised in Goodhope and no one had told me about it,' Anna Fiki lamented.

As if that were not enough, on arrival at the hospital the next day, Anna Fiki was told that her mother had insisted she should not be allowed into the ward as she posed a threat to her child. It was only when she threatened to call the police that she was allowed in.

Lindiwe was malnourished because the grandmother was negligent. 'She was so drained and I think it was only through God's grace that she survived,' Anna Fiki said. From then mother and child re-bonded and after the school holidays she took her baby girl along though she had no idea who would take care of her during classes. Fortunately, the school social worker lent a helping hand and life became smoother for the two.  She fell pregnant again in 1992 with her second child Kethiwe.

Once again her relatives were up in arms and she was chased from home.  The two were determined to fight for their love and decided to move to Lobatse hoping for a better life. Once in Lobatse, it was one misfortune after another.  On one such occasion the couple with their young daughters spent a cold night at a church facility in Lobatse after they were chased away from Jimmy's parents' home.

From there it was straight to a council facility where they would later be unceremoniously chased.  Another person came along offering free accommodation only to change her mind later.'We were later told that one of the children had purchased some machines which were to be kept in the same room we were using and there were often stories that because I was blind I messed up the toilet and that my daughters were destructive,' she said. 

With very little resources the couple decided to look for a house to rent.  This was necessary as Lindiwe was now schooling and needed a steady home to grow up in.Anna Fiki would start playing a string bass made by her partner to make money for survival while Jimmy worked in the construction industry to augment what his partner brought home.  Later she acquired a keyboard, which replaced the outlandish musical instrument.

One day Jimmy was startled when Anna Fiki asked him to leave his job so he could become her sight-guide.  He acquiesced and then accompany her during her performances in front of shops in and around Lobatse.  Since then Jimmy has accompanied her to all her performances.  Occasionally she gets invited to some high profile events.

Jimmy, who has been Anna Fiki's pillar of strength throughout, proved his mettle one day in 2009 when he proposed marriage to the blind singer.  'I was overjoyed and when we went to register at the District Commissioner's (DC) office it was as if we were the only couple on that day.  Everyone took off their hats for Jimmy but I knew he loved me.  Unfortunately my relatives once again blocked him when he tried to negotiate for the bride price,' she said agitatedly.

The couple, who had just moved to their own plot donated by a good Samaritan in Pitsane, did not have any money for a celebration but were pleasantly surprised at the response from members of the community who ensured that they celebrated their big day into holy matrimony in the true sense of the word.'The DC gave us some groceries, Kgosi Lotlaamoreng contributed P200 and then things just came flooding to us.  One woman who runs a catering company here in Pitsane brought a tent full with accessories and food and for that I do not know how to thank them,' she said.

Although life has been a roller coaster for the blind singer things have been improving lately. Barclays Bank has built her a two-and-a-half house, which her eldest daughter Lindiwe is currently extending into a 'complete family house' with four bedrooms, a sitting room, a kitchen and a bath and lavatory.  Lindiwe is currently working as a Special Constable at Ramatlabama.

'I have to thank a friend of mine called Charles Lonesdale who was instrumental in our settling down at this plot, helping us build a small house; and a certain woman who used to run Taj Stores here in Pitsane for giving us free cement and food during our trying times,' Anna Fiki said.

The trials and tribulations Anna Fiki has endured have but only contributed positively to her creativity.  She sings inspiring songs to lift spirits often appealing to god to give her strength to continue.  But her strong sense of humour has also permeated her music. Songs spiced with street lingo like Eitha Da are testimony to her penchant for banter.  Hardly a minute passes without Anna Fiki fusing her language with some tsotsi taal.  Words such as laitie yaka, bruru ga gona toche are dominant in her conversations.

Anna Fiki Ditau has fought for her life like a true warrior, fought for her love like a protective mother-tiger but still found a way to live peacefully with those who wronged her, making sure she continues enjoying her life to the full and mesmerising audiences with her sheer musical brilliance.