www.4yiddish.com Rabbi Natan Gamedze (born 1963) is of the royal lineage of the Gamedze clan of the Kingdom of Swaziland. After his conversion to Judaism as a ger tzedek he became an Orthodox rabbi with Haredi affiliations, lecturing to Jewish audiences all over the world, fascinated by his personal story as to how a person from Swaziland of royal lineage became an Orthodox Haredi Black Jewish rabbi. As a youth, Rabbi Gamedze was educated in private schools in both Swaziland and London, where his father held the position of Swaziland's ambassador to the United Kingdom and EEC countries. According to Rabbi Gamedze: "My grandfather was king. But the British, who had colonized southern Africa, created the states of Swaziland, Bosutoland and Bechuanaland. They drew artificial borders, very often failing to take into consideration the ethnic distribution. So in many places, different ethnic groups were lumped together in the same state. That is what happened to us. And the British chose to recognize a rival royal family as the ruling group. In order to win our cooperation, they made certain concessions to our family -- such as granting ministerial posts—and we have a semi-autonomous region within Swaziland. My father served as minister of education and ambassador to the EEC countries. Today, it's more like a paramount chief than a king, but they do wield power." This account reflects the propensity of oral tradition to function as a "charter of the present" as different groups <b>...</b>