On the Scene with Mpho Moloi Ernst

Mpho Moloi Ernst, 24, was born after apartheid ended in 1994, but the legal system of strict racial segregation that divided South Africans by skin color is part of her heritage. She was born in the Soweto area of Johannesburg, one of the townships the white minority government had built for black residents, but by the time she was in high school her mother had moved them to one of the more modern suburbs. From there she went to college, earned a bachelor’s degree in commerce, and was working as a junior auditing consultant (“getting paid big bucks”) when she decided to travel. With her mother’s encouragement, she quit her job, left South Africa and came to Hawaii.

Let’s start with the obvious question: Tell me about your hair.

My hair is a form of expression for me, but this kind of hair style is not unusual in South Africa. It’s called box braids (because) it’s braided in threes. It takes about 10 hours to put in. High schools in South Africa allow braids but only if they’re black — no colors. The stereotype that black people are supposed to look a certain way and dress a certain way, and their hair color cannot be anything but black is stereotypical to say the least — part and parcel of apartheid remnants.

Americans are notorious for not knowing much about the world outside the United States. What are some of the most memorable questions you’ve been asked about South Africa?

One is “Where is South Africa?” Another is “Are there lions that roam in the street in your neighborhood?” The only lions in South Africa are in zoos and the national parks. Top of my mind is “So, do you speak South African?” I can understand where that comes from, but nobody in South Africa speaks “South African.” We’re a country of 11 official languages and I speak five of them: English, Northern Sesotho, Southern Sesotho, Zulu and Afrikaans.

What is something that might surprise Americans?

The homes that the apartheid government built in Soweto are still very fully functional and good infrastructural homes, whereas what the South African government is building now is very poor workmanship and cheap materials. My grandmother says it was better when the white man was robbing us because it felt like there’s nothing you can do — it was one race against the other. But when a black man is robbing you it hits home because you had the hope that if there were a black man in power he would take care of his own, but he’s not.

What are some of things you enjoy doing in Hawaii?

I’ve been writing poetry in English since the age of 11. I started (poetry) slamming when I got to Hawaii and do First Thursdays at Hawaiian Brian’s. Now I’m starting to write poetry in Sesotho. I was never given the opportunity to study it (in school) so I’m not fluent in the writing of it. I’m only fluent in the speaking of it as a result of my relationship with my mother. I also enjoy hiking, and I have a bead business and design African jewelry.

What is something you haven’t done yet that you want to do?

Take a DNA test. My great-grandmother, who is “colored,” was married (illegally) to a white man, and when they produced my grandmother, she married a black man, and they produced my mother. There could be some surprises.