18/09/2026
THE STORY BEHIND MBAKISA
I love storytelling.
There is something special about sitting down with someone and listening to them narrate a story about something that happened to them. It could be something funny, something sad, a childhood memory, or even a simple experience that carries a life-changing lesson.
For me, storytelling is more than just entertainment. It is a way of preserving memories, history, culture, and the wisdom of those who came before us.
I am also a big fan of Mokoro rides. There is something incredibly peaceful about being on a Mokoro—the gentle movement through the water, the fresh breeze brushing against your face, and the opportunity to simply relax and enjoy the surroundings. It is an experience that allows you to slow down and appreciate nature.
My love for Mokoro rides once led me to a very interesting conversation with my grandfather, D.K. Sinka Vasha Chika, affectionately known as Daps.
Daps has a wooden Mokoro called Mbakisa, a name that immediately caught my attention. I was curious about where the name came from and, of course, I had to ask him.
The phrase connected to the name was:
“O mpakisetse go rata dilo tsa batho o sa itirele tsa gago.”
In Sesubiya, Mbakisa comes from “wambakisa”, carrying the idea of something that has been borrowed or kept temporarily from someone else.
Daps then took me back to a time in his life when he had borrowed someone else's Mokoro. As time went by, he became comfortable with it and started using it almost as if it were his own.
But, as these stories often go, there came a day when the owner wanted his Mokoro back—and wanted it back before the time Daps had expected.
Daps had no choice but to return it.
At the time, he had been using the Mokoro for fishing. It was also a period when they had been farming and had planted maize and other field crops. Then the floods came.
The rising water eventually made its way into the fields, creating a completely different situation during harvest time. With water covering parts of the fields, a Mokoro became particularly useful for moving around and accessing areas that would otherwise have been difficult to reach.
Perhaps losing the borrowed Mokoro at that particular time was what pushed Daps to think differently.
He decided to carve a Mokoro of his own.
And when he finally made it, he gave it a name that would forever remind him of that earlier experience:
MBAKISA — “WAMBAKISA.”
It was a humorous reminder of the Mokoro he had once borrowed, grown comfortable with, and eventually had to give back.
What makes the story special to me is that Mbakisa is more than just the name of a wooden Mokoro. It carries a memory. It tells a small chapter of Daps' life—the days of fishing, farming, floods, borrowing, and eventually deciding to make something of his own.
Every time I hear the name Mbakisa, I think about how our elders carry stories within seemingly ordinary things.
A Mokoro can be a means of transport.It can take you fishing.It can carry you through flooded fields.
But sometimes, it can also carry a story from one generation to another.And perhaps that is why I love storytelling so much.Because when we sit down and listen to our elders, we are not simply listening to stories about the past.
We are listening to pieces of our history.
We are listening to our culture.
We are listening to memories that might otherwise disappear.And somewhere along the way, we might even learn a lesson or have a good laugh.
Mbakisa will forever remind me of Daps, his story, and the wisdom hidden inside the simplest things.
