Playing Small No Longer - A Journey Of Cape Malay Heritage

I’ve had two people reach out to me this week, both confirmed that they had ancestors from Bali.

Both of these individuals have vivid stories which have been kept alive through conversations in their families. One decided to trace their lineage, right back to royalty in Bali, centuries ago.

I know there are many more stories and heritage declarations that go untold.

I sit in silence, in bed this morning, wondering about how small we’ve been taught to play. Playing small was associated with being humble and modest, not drawing attention to ourselves.

The thing about playing small is, we are silenced, and silent about the stuff that we need to be vocal about. Not to disturb anyone’s peace, we live in a space of smallness.

Cape Malays make up only 0.6% of a population of 64 million people in South Africa. We are a small community with massive contributions to the landscape of South Africa. Islam was a religion our forebears had already practiced before reaching the Cape of Storms, and when they arrived, it was their religious rituals and practices that formed the foundation of many of our current religious celebrations i.e. doopmals, Thursday night ghatams and thikrs, pwasa and Labarang traditions, rampies-sny during Moulood, to name a but a mere few.

As I write this, I have this ache inside of me, as every conversation and story I have listened to as a child now becomes the manuscript, the action plan for my entire life! How is it possible to know what you’re supposed to do with the rest of your life on the cusp of 50? Everything about my life, the choices I have made and ones I didn’t make suddenly all seem fortuitous, exactly how it was meant to be.

The roots that were planted centuries ago have come to serve my life at a time when I thought the leaves from my own tree had fallen, that some of the branches were broken.

As the messages flood in about my journey and how it’s touched others, I also recognise that we are all yearning for the same thing - VALIDATION!

Do you hear me?

Do you see me?

Do you get me?

I need to say this again:

My name is Cariema Isaacs.

I am South African, Cape Malay.

I was born at no.7 Yusuf Drive, Schotschekloof, Bo-Kaap, The Cape Malay Quarter.

Playing small is no longer an option.

Watch me change this narrative!

Read more about my journey to self-discovery next week.