Nqobile - The Story of Becoming

Nqobile is a young man raised in post-colonial Zimbabwe. Having been awarded a dream bursary to attend college in America, he thinks his success came as a result of his proximity to whiteness; something he's believed in since attending a majority white high school. While on break, he witnesses a depressing incident at the border between Zimbabwe and South African that shatters his desire to maintain this proximity, as he now feels that blacks will always be inferior. Back on campus, he searches for meaning through religion and by joining black consciousness groups. When both avenues fail dramatically, he soon discovers he will have to look within himself to find purpose. In telling Nqobile’s story, which appears as a novella within his novel, author Mandhla Mgijima outlines a new consciousness paradigm of existence that will inspire people to move beyond the conceptual and materially obsessed world we currently live in.

The year is 2016, and movements such as #blacklivesmatter and #Rhodesmustfall are in the news. When journalist Lwazi interviews Sipho, the narrator of Nqobile, about these protests, Sipho surprises her with his opinion. While Lwazi claims that similar revolutions have worked in the past and that these modern groups can effect true social change, Sipho rejects her thesis. He insists that the current movements aren’t built on a solid foundation and they subscribe to the same false assumptions about human nature as the very institutions they want to change. Using an interesting book-within-a-book approach, Mandhla Mgijima provides excerpts of Sipho’s novel, which addresses the limitations of the race-based hashtag revolutions spawning across the globe, while suggesting a template for a consciousness revolution. In Sipho’s book, his protagonist, Nqobile, a young Zimbabwean, travels to the United States to study. Nqobile (meaning Victor in English) is searching for meaning, pride, and a sense of identity within his black skin. He discovers that neither black consciousness ideas nor the church can provide it. Eventually, Nqobile looks within himself and experiences a spiritual transformation. Will he wallow in his newfound bliss, or will he participate in the construction of a new society teetering on the brink of social collapse?

Mandhla Mgijima, a native of Zimbabwe, attended an American college on a full track-and-field scholarship while majoring in economics and finance. He nearly dropped out of college, however, when he realized that pursuit of material wealth would not provide him with the sense of purpose he longed for. Although he kept plugging away at his studies up to graduate level, he spent more time reflecting on what the world’s wisdom traditions say about the true nature of the universe. His reflections have driven him to believe that humanity’s trajectory is singular, and as we face the same fate for our actions, we need to get together to shift the consciousness of the entire world.