Ndumiso ngcobo biography for kids

I have been toying with the idea of changing my name.

Ndumiso Ngcobo (born ) is a

Yes, I mean going to home affairs and formally changing it. The way I figure, "Ndumiso Ngcobo" has taken me this far and I'm not sure it can take me any further. Take my elder brother. My father named him Mazwendoda. That means "The words of a real man". The background story goes that when my mom started dating him, "a mere, ordinary teacher", some of her family members pooh-poohed the notion that the union would go anywhere.

A doctor, yes. Maybe a lawyer, even. But certainly not some "ruralitarian" chalk pusher. So when they got hitched 50 years ago, the country bumpkin took a swipe at the doubting Thomases, wryly remarking, "Sekuya ngamazwi endoda ke. I think this is a freakin awesome story. It annoys me to no end, therefore, that by the time I was born some 14 months later, my dad had lost his sarcastic bone.

Ndumiso means "praise". How spectacularly lame. Mazwendoda conjures up a Zulu regiment stomping menacingly towards the enemy chanting, "The words of a real man are here, suckers! If there'd been justice in the world, I would have been named Yaphindindoda "The real man has done it again".