Beyonce & Rural Life in South Africa

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Children outside of the classroom are singing traditional African songs. Singing & prayer are a part of everyday life in every school I have taught in here in South Africa. Are these the most kept traditions in rural South Africa where the amaXhosa people live & work? With so much of the developed world around me here everyday, these small references back to traditional life make me feel as though I’m actually in Africa! Seeing zebra, ostrich, rhino & giraffe on the way to school or whilst at school reminds me of where I am. It amazes me that so many elements of Western developed society have reached a very much still developing society. Many children in rural township schools have mobile phones & dress in Western clothes; they watch TV in the afternoon & listen to Beyonce & JZ. Yet their clothes are washed by hand & dried on a wire fence outside, if it rains it simply stays on the fence & takes longer to dry. Although some of their houses are cement with sheet metal roofs, some are of corrugated metal walls & roofs & doors with mud or newspaper floors, others still, are traditionally build with cow dung walls & floor & thatched roofs. Many leak when it rains. Many have only a few rooms for a whole family to live in. They may not have running water or the tap & long drop toilet are outside. Some families keep chickens & goats within the boundaries of the house. There are several siblings in a family & the eldest is often main care giver for the younger siblings. Traditional dance is performed by both the boys & the girls- proudly.
At times I find it very hard to understand this contrast in lifestyle, the merging of the readily available, easily accessible technology of mobile phones & mp3 players, juxtaposed with the traditional rural African life of rearing cattle, growing vegetables, bathing outside & getting wet when it rains(!)…do they sit comfortably together? I can’t decide. Perhaps it’s only me that finds the contrast strange. When will the quality of schooling & school facilities & resources catch up with the other Western developments in rural Africa? When will running water & electricity make it to every household in every rural village? I feel like a few steps have been jumped & some of the most important developments & consciousness’ have been skipped in favor of the appearance of being “up to speed“. Or maybe the smaller developments are just easier & quicker to make.

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Photos

Mooiplaas Party
When the traditional dance is over it's time to pull on a branded jersey & capture the event on your camera phone!

Comments

[Jo]

What an interesting blog! How wonderful to live as part of this amazing culture...