SA part 2
2nd email from SA
Sawubona!
Zulu is a hard language. That’s all I have to say. Unjani? How are you all doing?? Ngikhona! I’ve been here now for 11 days (I cant believe that!) and I have just had the most incredible experience that I think I’ll ever have. I spent Thursday and Friday at Shakaland on a Zulu uMuzi or homestead. Michelle and I left uMlalazi very early Thursday morning, and I swear to you from the moment I stepped out of the car my jaw was on the ground. We were greeted by one of the amaZulu, who took us to the “gate” (a log that was about 3 feet above the ground) and in order to follow Zulu tradition, asked the guardsman permission for us to enter (it’s the guards duty to yell and ask the entire homestead (this one was about 9 or 10 huts) if it’s alright in order to protect everyone), which thankfully the tribe was okay with.
Walking into the uMuzi was breathtaking. A Zulu uMuzi is on a circular plot, with a fence circling it, with one entry. Straight in front of the opening is the cattle enclosure, with a smaller enclosure inside for smaller animals. All along the fence were the indlus, or huts. The one to the immediate right of the gate is boys hut, and the one to the immediate left is the girls’. The boys and girls stay in their mothers’ huts until they are 16, which is the age that they are allowed to fall in love. The boys is always on the right because traditionally they hold their shields (ihawu) in their left hands and their spears (umkhonto) in their right, which means that they will easily be able to defend the girls and the rest of the uMuzi against those who might enter the uMuzi. After that are all the wives’ huts (however many there might be in that uMuzi) - there were 6 in the one I stayed in. Then there is the ‘vacation hut’ or the hut that the man stays in when he’s sick of bouncing back and forth between the wives’ huts. The biggest and most beautiful hut, however, is at the very back of the uMuzi, and is called the grandmothers hut, or ‘indlu inkhulu’.
Upon arrival we were taken around to meet different tribesmen and women, and to learn their different tasks. The amaZulu’s make their own beer, so we helped a woman make some, and then tried the horribly nasty, warm beer. (I don’t recommend it!!) We also learned how to make spears, and clay pots and bowls. At dinner time the headman tested the food, and I ate more than I ever thought I could. Suprisingly the food was absolutely divine. While we were eating, certain amaZulu would just pick up a random instrument, and before I knew it half of the tribe was playing incredible traditional African music. They tried to teach me, but unfortunately it was to no avail. Ha.
The most amazing and once in a lifetime experience, however, was a huge surprise after dinner. The whole tribe told us to follow them, and in the pitch black darkness they all sang one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard (I got a short audio clip of it, once again thankfully). It’s called Tshoshotloza, and they took the time to teach me the words, because they feel that everyone present needs to be singing. They led Michelle and I to the grandmothers hut, told us to sit down, and then they all disappeared. When they all came back they all came with these huge drums, and for the next hour they performed traditional Zulu dancing, or ingoma. I’m sure I will never see anything as captivating again. Michelle says I was literally sitting there the whole time with my jaw wide open, and she claims I never blinked. I took a couple little video clips (of very poor quality unfortunately) because I have to share them all with you when I get back. After they had their nightly smoking break, which is actually just flavored tobacco, and the headman (they kept correcting me when I said chief) gave me one of their pipes. So 418, we will most likely be the only apartment able to boast not only the hello kitty creation that our lovely Trashley will hopefully be making, but also a pipe given as a gift from an amaZulu headsman. We then went back to our indulu and slept until one of the amaZulu came to wake us up with one of their traditional instruments.
The next morning we only stayed for a little while, but I got to meet and witness in action both the healer (NOT a witchdoctor! They made sure I was aware of that) and the diviner. The way that they contact their ancestors and heal their people is amazing, but I could never begin to describe it.
Unfortunately we had to leave the tribe, but I barely had time to breathe before we left at 5 o’clock Saturday morning to go to Huhluwe to see the Huhluwe/uMfolozi game reserve. We spent the day driving around looking for game, and after a couple of hours of nothing we finally saw buck, giraffe, zebras, rhinos, wildebeests, warthog, crocodiles, hippos, and monkeys. Then, right when we were about to leave we saw an elephant, which would have been fine until it got so close to our car that its trunk left breathe marks on the windshield. Michelle was freaking out beyond control but I seriously couldn’t because I was frozen and had lost total feeling in my limbs. We were finally able to get away without it charging, though, and I’m glad I had the experience.
We spent yesterday night at Bonamanzi, and you will never believe it, but I went camping!! Saw way too many creepy crawly things for my taste, but I will be braving the wild African ways tomorrow night as we go camping at Cape Vidal with Michelle’s roommate Jess, and her friends Warren, Richard, and Jeremy. It’s atually a quite dangerous area to go camping, because of the monkeys, snakes, and leopards, but for some reason I agreed to it. So hopefully I make it through tomorrow…haha.
The whole racism thing is still a huge problem to me, but it’s something I’m just gonna have to live with. It’s not just racism against the black people (or muntu as they call them), but pretty much against everyone who isn’t white. Last night my host mum actually said to me that the difference between America and South Africa was that we were smart and killed most of the natives right away. I wanted to strangle her because I could not imagine killing people with as beautiful of a culture as the Zulu, Xhosa, and other South African natives.
Well this is getting ridiculously long, and i wanted to put some pictures with this email but since this is realllllly bad dial up it doesn't seem to want me to. But I'll put them up on my picture site when I get back. I hope everyone’s doing well, and I miss all of you! Salakahle! (Oh and PS Conor, the count is at 33 monkeys (including baboons))
Hambakahle!
Lauren
Sawubona!
Zulu is a hard language. That’s all I have to say. Unjani? How are you all doing?? Ngikhona! I’ve been here now for 11 days (I cant believe that!) and I have just had the most incredible experience that I think I’ll ever have. I spent Thursday and Friday at Shakaland on a Zulu uMuzi or homestead. Michelle and I left uMlalazi very early Thursday morning, and I swear to you from the moment I stepped out of the car my jaw was on the ground. We were greeted by one of the amaZulu, who took us to the “gate” (a log that was about 3 feet above the ground) and in order to follow Zulu tradition, asked the guardsman permission for us to enter (it’s the guards duty to yell and ask the entire homestead (this one was about 9 or 10 huts) if it’s alright in order to protect everyone), which thankfully the tribe was okay with.
Walking into the uMuzi was breathtaking. A Zulu uMuzi is on a circular plot, with a fence circling it, with one entry. Straight in front of the opening is the cattle enclosure, with a smaller enclosure inside for smaller animals. All along the fence were the indlus, or huts. The one to the immediate right of the gate is boys hut, and the one to the immediate left is the girls’. The boys and girls stay in their mothers’ huts until they are 16, which is the age that they are allowed to fall in love. The boys is always on the right because traditionally they hold their shields (ihawu) in their left hands and their spears (umkhonto) in their right, which means that they will easily be able to defend the girls and the rest of the uMuzi against those who might enter the uMuzi. After that are all the wives’ huts (however many there might be in that uMuzi) - there were 6 in the one I stayed in. Then there is the ‘vacation hut’ or the hut that the man stays in when he’s sick of bouncing back and forth between the wives’ huts. The biggest and most beautiful hut, however, is at the very back of the uMuzi, and is called the grandmothers hut, or ‘indlu inkhulu’.
Upon arrival we were taken around to meet different tribesmen and women, and to learn their different tasks. The amaZulu’s make their own beer, so we helped a woman make some, and then tried the horribly nasty, warm beer. (I don’t recommend it!!) We also learned how to make spears, and clay pots and bowls. At dinner time the headman tested the food, and I ate more than I ever thought I could. Suprisingly the food was absolutely divine. While we were eating, certain amaZulu would just pick up a random instrument, and before I knew it half of the tribe was playing incredible traditional African music. They tried to teach me, but unfortunately it was to no avail. Ha.
The most amazing and once in a lifetime experience, however, was a huge surprise after dinner. The whole tribe told us to follow them, and in the pitch black darkness they all sang one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard (I got a short audio clip of it, once again thankfully). It’s called Tshoshotloza, and they took the time to teach me the words, because they feel that everyone present needs to be singing. They led Michelle and I to the grandmothers hut, told us to sit down, and then they all disappeared. When they all came back they all came with these huge drums, and for the next hour they performed traditional Zulu dancing, or ingoma. I’m sure I will never see anything as captivating again. Michelle says I was literally sitting there the whole time with my jaw wide open, and she claims I never blinked. I took a couple little video clips (of very poor quality unfortunately) because I have to share them all with you when I get back. After they had their nightly smoking break, which is actually just flavored tobacco, and the headman (they kept correcting me when I said chief) gave me one of their pipes. So 418, we will most likely be the only apartment able to boast not only the hello kitty creation that our lovely Trashley will hopefully be making, but also a pipe given as a gift from an amaZulu headsman. We then went back to our indulu and slept until one of the amaZulu came to wake us up with one of their traditional instruments.
The next morning we only stayed for a little while, but I got to meet and witness in action both the healer (NOT a witchdoctor! They made sure I was aware of that) and the diviner. The way that they contact their ancestors and heal their people is amazing, but I could never begin to describe it.
Unfortunately we had to leave the tribe, but I barely had time to breathe before we left at 5 o’clock Saturday morning to go to Huhluwe to see the Huhluwe/uMfolozi game reserve. We spent the day driving around looking for game, and after a couple of hours of nothing we finally saw buck, giraffe, zebras, rhinos, wildebeests, warthog, crocodiles, hippos, and monkeys. Then, right when we were about to leave we saw an elephant, which would have been fine until it got so close to our car that its trunk left breathe marks on the windshield. Michelle was freaking out beyond control but I seriously couldn’t because I was frozen and had lost total feeling in my limbs. We were finally able to get away without it charging, though, and I’m glad I had the experience.
We spent yesterday night at Bonamanzi, and you will never believe it, but I went camping!! Saw way too many creepy crawly things for my taste, but I will be braving the wild African ways tomorrow night as we go camping at Cape Vidal with Michelle’s roommate Jess, and her friends Warren, Richard, and Jeremy. It’s atually a quite dangerous area to go camping, because of the monkeys, snakes, and leopards, but for some reason I agreed to it. So hopefully I make it through tomorrow…haha.
The whole racism thing is still a huge problem to me, but it’s something I’m just gonna have to live with. It’s not just racism against the black people (or muntu as they call them), but pretty much against everyone who isn’t white. Last night my host mum actually said to me that the difference between America and South Africa was that we were smart and killed most of the natives right away. I wanted to strangle her because I could not imagine killing people with as beautiful of a culture as the Zulu, Xhosa, and other South African natives.
Well this is getting ridiculously long, and i wanted to put some pictures with this email but since this is realllllly bad dial up it doesn't seem to want me to. But I'll put them up on my picture site when I get back. I hope everyone’s doing well, and I miss all of you! Salakahle! (Oh and PS Conor, the count is at 33 monkeys (including baboons))
Hambakahle!
Lauren