Click on photos to enlarge.
Part of the Drakensberg range.
Above is a homestead of an extended family, even out here you find the ubiquitous TV satellite dish. Zulus are extremely hospitable, if you arrive at a homestead and say you are lambile, (hungry) and they will feed you. Say you are godolo, (cold), and have no where to sleep and they will offer you shelter. The term for this is uButhu, caring for one another.
Land in the tribal areas is communal and controlled by an Induna, or Chief. Permission is given by the chief as to where one of the clan or tribe may build a dwelling place or use as a garden. There is no freehold title here to land which does not really encourage development.
Another extended family homestead. In the foreground is the cattle enclosure, or kraal, the cattle have already been driven out to graze. It might look like an idyllic lifestyle but the procurement of water remains a problem. Over the years the government has drilled thousands of boreholes, but water has to be fetched and carried for long distances. It's not strange to see very young girls carrying 25lt containers of water on their heads along the road. In the last 20 or so years electricity has been made available to most rural areas.
Africans have an extremely strong attachment to their "home" and the land. They might own a very smart property in the smartest suburb in some city but that is not home. Home is where your father, his father and the rest before them were born and are buried. A white man will happily sell up move right across the country or to the other side of the world, and then call that home. Not so for an African, there is only one home.
Three or four times a year the whole family will get together at "home", for various traditional events, which nowadays includes Christmas and Easter.
Scattered homesteads with the Drakensberg in the background.
A typical Nguni cow, these cattle have the most beautiful and diverse colouring. Herdsmen from the neighbouring communities of the Injasuthi nature reserve may graze their cattle on the fringes of the reserve.
The lush green hills of KwaZuluNatal.
.
1 comment:
Such an interesting post about the Zulu people, Phillip, and wonderful to read about families so soon after reading about your sister's sixth grandchild.
Congratulations on once again becoming a great-uncle.
K
Post a Comment