Before Emily and I arrived, Chelsea and Sameen had expressed interest to Mojalefa and Doreen, who are our advisers here at MUCPP, that they were interested in attending cultural events in the community if there was a chance. They have been here in Mangaung for seven weeks, and have traveled nearly every weekend. As this weekend approached we began thinking about places we might want to go in the surrounding region, which would involve renting a car, booking hotels, and driving a pretty good distance.
During our preliminary planning, Mojalefa and Doreen mentioned that this might be a good weekend to stay in town and spend time with the community. Mojalefa invited us to a funeral yesterday that took place in his neighborhood. The deceased was a sixteen year old boy who died after being kidnapped. He was in grade 9, and the service took place at his school, with all of his classmates. While most of the speakers spoke in Sotho, and we could not understand, there was frequent singing throughout, songs that it seemed everyone knew. We drove with the funeral procession to the cemetery just outside of Mangaung, where there was more speaking and singing at the grave site. The coffin was lowered into the grave, and then the boys from grade 9 worked together to re-fill the grave, as everyone sang together. There were dozens of funerals taking place at the cemetery, it was full of cars and music.
The procession next moved to the house where the boy had lived, where his family had prepared food for everyone. They invited us to sit in the tent with them as honored guests, as we ate beef stew, potatoes, and home-made bread. We were surprised at how open the family was to us, letting us share in their food and traditions as outsiders who did not know their son. Funerals in this culture are very important, and Mojalefa told us that anyone in the community is welcome to come and eat with the family if they see a funeral taking place.
After the funeral, Moja had us over to his house for a Braai (barbecue) with his family and some of his neighbors. We ate fish, chicken, and lamb, all cooked up in the yard. There was a lot of music and dancing, and conversation with the community. We got some weird looks at first, as it is not normal here for black people and white people to spend time together. Throughout the day though everyone was very friendly as they were introduced to us and joined us to dance. After it got dark a bunch of neighborhood kids were attracted by the music and fire and came to dance with us. They were really phenomenal dancers. It seems like everyone in Mangaung can dance and sing, and does both all the time. Here are some photos from the Braai:
Mojalefa's old house (foreground) and current house (background).
Laura, Emily, Sameen, and Chelsea.
We don't always wear all black... we had just been to a funeral.
Dance party with the kids by the fire:
Night falls at the Braai.
This morning we went to church with the receptionist at MUCCP, Relebohile. It was a three hour service, intermingling a lot more singing and dancing with prayers and a sermon. They welcomed us as guests and translated the sermon into English for us, which was a really kind gesture. The singing there was also incredible, I wish I could have taken a recording so people at home would understand. There was a drummer with a full drum set and a keyboardist playing two keyboards, and then a chorus of six people with microphones, backed up by a full house of singing men, women, and children.
This weekend was really interesting, especially after being in the creches all last week. Now when we see these children in their school environment, we have a little bit more of an idea of what goes on when they are at home, or at church. Tomorrow we will be back in the creches, one a day throughout the week. I will post more about the work we are doing during the week sometime soon.
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