Introducing Myself
Hello Fellow Sojourner and Reader Let me introduce myself. My name is Dingiswayo. My two other names are Allan, my middle one and Sambo, my surname. My parents gave me the name Allan while my grandfather, on my father’s side, gave me the name Dingiswayo. When giving it, he had two options; either Dingiswayo or Zambo. My parents were horrified by Zambo; Zambo Sambo? Out of the question. So they accepted Dingiswayo but didn’t call me by it for some time, preferring to call me Allan still. When my father went on study scholarship to Australia back in the 70s, and took one-year old me and my mother with him, the neighbours in Canberra, Australia asked, ‘Don't you have an African name for your son?’ My parents answered, ‘We do. It is Dingiswayo.’ The neighbours loved it and refused to call me Allan. From then on I became Dingiswayo. Of course, Dingiswayo was a mouthful for them Australian folks; Dingi was what they could manage. And that is how I became Dingiswayo All...