Heritage day

First of all- sorry for the lack of updates.  Days just keep passing and the blog just keeps getting shuffled to the back of the list.

This week has been a holiday from school, which I absolutely needed to catch my breath.  Tuesday was a public holiday, Heritage Day, and I was very interested in what celebrations would look like.

At Masinyusane, I was lucky enough to help some grade 11 students implement a festival celebrating their Heritage.  I was a weary of instigating ANOTHER day of school where little learning took place, but I was excited that some of the students were passionate about this project, so in the end, I encouraged them to proceed.

It turned out to be quite the success!  We all filed into the assembly hall down the street from school wearing traditional garb. (I of course wore plaid)..  The community was invited, and the procession started only 2 hours after it was scheduled to start!! I was prepared for much more of a delay.  Each class was responsible for a different skit; many preformed song or dance.  It always kills me how musically talented these people are, and what’s more is the fact that everything is far more participatory than an American assembly.  So while the grade 9 started singing a song, the whole hall joined in, and when the hall joined in, the people outside joined in, and when the people outside joined in, the people down the block came to see what was happening.   I was happy that all of this talent drowned out the sound of my voice attempting to get involved J

Here is one of the dances, a gumboot dance, that the students worked very hard on.

We also invited a local Reverend to speak who was deeply involved in the struggle for freedom.  The majority of his rally was in Xhosa, but from what I gathered, he was saying that God didn’t make a mistake when he made the Xhosa man black.  He didn’t make a mistake when they were oppressed, and he certainly didn’t make a mistake when they were liberated.  He spoke about the need to celebrate their history, the good and the bad, and be proud of who they are.  It’s hard to put into words how empowering of a speaker he was, but it was dead silent when he spoke, except for a whole lot of “Amens!” exclaimed in agreement.

Most of these students are mine doing a dramatic performance about struggling to get water (I think). 

That night, I went to hang out with a crowd of friends of the other side of the train tracks, and the festivities were quite different.  To them, it wasn’t Heritage Day, it was National Braai Day.  (Braaing is like barbequing- but on a much bigger fire, and a whole lot less rushed).  There was no song and dance, no speech about our history.  In fact, lots of the people there didn’t realize what public holiday it was.  But there was a lot of meat, beer, and conversation!  I am still always thrown by the different lives that are coexisting here- sometimes it’s very hard to reconcile, and know exactly where I fit in in this jumble of a “rainbow nation.”  Am a suposto be working to bridge this gap?  Am I suposto recognize that this is absolutely an issue that needs to be addressed in my own country?  Am I suposto accept that this is what the road to rebuilding looks like?  I don’t know…But I’m happy to be here; wearing my plaid, eating my meat, celebrating in Black struggle and perseverance.