by: denzel nyathi.
“Would you mind if I gave you water in a champagne glass?” Christelle asked me breathlessly once we were in her apartment. With a chuckle, I graciously accepted. I was just glad to have finally settled down somewhere. It was the type of hot Friday afternoon that called for nothing but relaxation and a cold glass of juice. Except, in Christelle’s case, no such days exist. We’d only just embarked on the 20 minute walk from the African Media Matrix building to her apartment to get the money to buy tickets for Traffic Light Party later that evening. She still wasn’t sure if she wanted to go. She would have the whole walk back to campus to make the decision, she assured me.
A lot happens in her life and it happens all at once. Christelle is never the type to be caught idle. She exists in a constant state of motion, always in the middle of some process. In fact, Christelle-Emie Ilunga is a middle child between her two brothers. These children are born to her Congolese parents based in Cape Town. Her father is a pastor and her mother dutifully plays the important role of a pastor’s wife. Her family happened to be in their own state of motion leading right up to the very moment Christelle was to arrive at the university currently known as Rhodes University.
“How were you feeling right before you came to Rhodes?” I asked. This was several hours after we’d left her apartment. Since then, we’d been to the theatre café for a single muffin, she’d bought her ticket (and was now committed to going out later that evening), made a new friend, and had picked a bright yellow flower which she brought to me on the benches just outside the music department. While we talked, soft notes from a piano floated in the air around us. With the sun beginning to set, a peaceful atmosphere set the tone for the interview.
“Very anxious,” she says without a doubt. “As a family we were moving as well. I kinda felt like me coming to Rhodes was the last thing on everyone’s mind. I hadn’t paid the initial fee yet and I hadn’t got my life together yet. […] Because there wasn’t much focus on that aspect of my life, which was something so big, I felt anxious because I wasn’t sure what would happen once we got here.”
As much anxiety as Christelle bears, her colourful and expressive way of dressing would have one think her confidence is unshaken. On that day, she wore a light wash denim dungaree dress over a white tee with floral designs. Her hoop earrings can probably fit her whole fist. But it’s her eye makeup that she prides herself most on.
“I love doing [eye makeup]! It’s almost like artistry because you get to draw on your face,” she expands on the topic of her personal style.
It is in those very eyes that one sees the world of deep contemplation parts of her live in. Their deep brown is illuminated in the sun. I watch her drift into her zone of concentration when I ask: “Who do you think you are right now?”
A beat.
“I think I’m very awkward and unsure of myself,” she concludes.
“And how do you think other people see you?”
“I think it’s almost natural for me to think they see me the same way I see myself. I don’t think I’m the most likable person […] but I also don’t think I’m unlikable,” she hesitantly states. A brief silence hangs over us. We’re pondering perception.
Miya, the friend who Christelle cites as her go-to when she has something she wants to share, describes the process of getting to know Christelle as “exciting”.
“I’ve felt so comfortable around her,” Miya shared. “It feels like I’ve known her for years. Getting to know her has felt natural, much like learning how to make my favourite sandwich.”
I can echo Miya’s feelings about Christelle bringing a sense of comfort. Perhaps it’s in the way she always smiles at everyone. Perhaps it’s in her laugh, which lightens the atmosphere. Perhaps it’s in her almost meditative introspection. There’s just something about her.
Interestingly enough, she thinks the best version of herself in the future is when she’ll be comfortable being alone. “In a sense, I’ll become my own company,” she determines, “I need to be able to do with Christelle. I need to be able to spend a weekend alone without going out and everything, and I’ll be fine.”
When such a day has come, perhaps it will be the end of “Christelle in motion”. Her steps will not be to the beat of her own drum, but the melody of her grand piano. On that day the world
can only hope to find out what unspoken thoughts lie in those deep brown eyes. But for now, Christelle seems to be enjoying motion. She goes out to parties and smiles at everyone she meets and draws on her face. It’s all an artistry.
periodt.
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