Many South Africans are mourning the death of local hip hop pioneer Riky Rick.
Some SA celebrities still have him as their display picture on social media. His family has chosen to mourn him in private, but his mother has broken her silence.
Currently, Ricky’s mother, Louisa Zondo, is trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp, and she is documenting everything.
“Dearest MaRiky. It’s early hours of the morning on 23 March 2022 - 01H03, Nepali time, to be exact. 23 February 2022 is the day on which your spirit and body are separated. I am lying on my back in a warm bed in the Bhudda Lounge, Phakding, Nepal. I’m in Nepal because I am on my way to Mount Everest Base Camp, MaRiky,” she posted on Facebook.
The Everest Base Camp perched on the Khumbu Glacier at the foot of Everest is at an altitude of 5600 metres which is reached over a period of nine days, with some people taking two complete rest days en route.
“I’m awake at this hour because I’m reflecting on life, death and the meaning of everything. Since your death last month, I’ve been starkly aware of the need in me to make sense of where I am and how I am called to be. I decided to proceed with this trek to Mount Everest Base Camp, not only because I knew you would want me to do so, but also because I imagined it would present the perfect opportunity, over 14 days, for me to wrestle with the questions - What is the moment; and how does this moment call me to be,” said Zondo.
Some experts agree that you don’t need to be the fittest person in the room to do it, but altitude sickness can be the biggest challenge that Rick’s mother can experience.
But, for her, getting connected to Ricky seems to be her main objective. “I am very unskilled at staying with an enquiry - any enquiry - and going deep into it. You know this because during your 34 years of life on this side, you watched me “busy-body” myself through many crises. In fact you were the first person to really teach me to sit with challenges and “encounter them” without rushing to offer what I perceived to be solutions…without needing to wipe away the challenge.
“For this reason, my Mount Everest Base Camp walk will be embodied in a long conversation with you. I imagine that the conversation will not be neat and orderly and yet all else is unclear to me and the conversation might just present itself as and when it emerges”, she said.
One day two of the Mount Everest Base Camp trek, her desire to feel Rick’s presence was a reality. “As I took in the unspeakable wonders of the mountain, the sense of you being part of it all was so real MaRiky … I laughed out loud and shouted out your name.
“I still hold this huge awareness of your presence. It brings up an inexplicable warmth and softness in me. Being like this brings up the unforgettable experience of gazing at a feeding baby in utter love. When baby takes in the gaze the response is a cooing accompanied by the trickling of milk down the side of baby’s mouth as the gaze orbits baby’s primal instinct to feed. Such moments were, for me, always whispers of God’s presence…Love’s presence,” she shared.
When her son died, she promised to carry his legacy; “My Riky, words no longer have any relevance. There is nothing to be said at this point because my Riky you are no longer this or that, you are everything. “
“I want to thank you for the opportunity to be your mother, I want to thank you for the lasting lessons learnt from your vulnerability and I want you to now rest, I want you to go and meet your freedom. We will carry on your legacy, may it be well with you my son. Lala ngoxolo mtanam”