Children of Xenophobia

Children of Xenophobia Children eating bullets and firecrackers Beggars of smile and laughter Silent corpses sleeping away fertile dreams Povo* chanting new nude wretched slogans Overstayed exiles eating beetroot and African potato Abortions and condoms batteries charging the lives of nannies and maids Children of barefoot afternoons and uncondomized nights Sweat chiselling the rock of your endurance The heart of Soweto, Harare, Darfur, Bamako still beating like drums Violence fumigating peace from this earth. Kinder der Xenophobie Kinder, die Kugeln und Feuerwerkskörper essen Bettler von Lächeln und Lachen Stille Körper die fruchtbare Träume wegschlafen Povo* die neue nackte elende Slogans singen Zu lang wegbleibende Exilierte die Rote Beete essen und Afrikanische Kartoffeln Abtreibungen & Kondome Batterien die die Leben von Kinder- und Dienstmädchen aufladen Kinder barfüßiger Nachmittage und kondomloser Nächte Schweiß der den Fels deiner Ausdauer meißelt Das Herz von Soweto, Harare, Darfur, Bamako schlägt noch wie Trommeln Gewalt die Frieden wegräuchert von dieser Erde. Translator's note: * “the povo (the 'people' - referring to the low-income majority)” – This definition was offered in 1994. Cf. “[...] it has been frequently asserted that the access of the povo (the 'people'. - referring to the low-income majority) to the University of Zimbabwe has improved .” (Paul Bennell and Mkhululi Ncube, “A University for the Povo? The Socio-Economic Background of African University Students in Zimbabwe Since Independence”, in: Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 20, No. 4, Dec. 1994, pp. 587-601. – A skeptical asssessment of povo is offered by an apologist of the West who asserts that “the Povo masses are not attuned to the western format of democracy.” (Charles W. Duke, Zimbabwe: The Land That Weeps. Yeadon, Leeds, West Yorkshire : Best Books Online/ Mediaworld PR Ltd., 2003, p.83.)