Behind the Torch: The Marantu Dispatch
Issue: Ma 04, Y0 – The Torch and Beginnings
Welcome Note
A new year begins, but not with fireworks or countdowns. In Marantu, we do not inherit calendars – we create them. And so today, I begin again at Ma 4, Year 0. The torch only lights as far as I can see, and that is enough.
Behind the Torch
I start this year with a torch in my hand, not a floodlight. The truth is, I cannot see the whole path ahead of me. I don’t have every resource lined up, nor every answer ready. What I do have is a flame – small, imperfect, flickering – and I have learned that is all a story needs to begin.
When I was younger, I thought progress meant certainty. Now I understand it means movement. One step, one flame, one Ma at a time. In Marantu – the City of the Sun & Moon – even darkness is a teacher. It shows us the value of light. It reminds us how far even the smallest glow can carry.
This morning I was reminded that babies are not born depressed. They arrive whole, untouched, carrying only breath. The depression comes later, in the steps we take, in the illusions we inherit. And yet, true happiness is uncaused. Life is easy. What is brutal, are the illusions.
Today, South Africa celebrates Heritage – a day to remember fragments of who we are. The irony is that in Africa, heritage is not a day. It is the whole story. Marantu is the heritage. The City of the Sun & Moon is not a piece of memory, but the fullness of our being.
This is how I begin the year: not with grand promises, but with a torch, carried as honestly as I can. The rest will reveal itself, as it always does, in the space between the shadows and the flame.
AI&I: Creativity Meets Technology
This week, I leaned on AI not to show me the full road ahead, but to hold the torch alongside me. Together, we tried to imagine what the City of the Sun & Moon might look like – its streets, its cafés, its faces. AI is not my replacement, but my companion. It helps me test the boundaries of the light, so that Marantu can feel closer, even in its distance.
But still, the question remains: how far can any torch shine if carried alone? That’s where you come in.
What’s Next
This Ma, I step forward with the torch in hand, ready to share fragments of Marantu and to listen as you add your light to mine.
What small flame are you carrying into your new year?
Reply to this note, or tag me on social media with #BehindTheTorch – I would love to hear from you.
Thank you for stepping into Ma 4 with me. One flame at a time, we light the road to Marantu.
Play your role well. Then pass the torch.
— Uzanenkosi
Torchbearer, Marantu
Ma 04, Under the Sun & Moon, Year 0.