March 23, 2012
Dumalang, my wonderful friends! I apologize for my absence from cyberspace, but I had a fantastic week!
Oh, my, where do I even begin! Okay, well, I have wanted to get a head start on my ethnography for quite some time now. The people group that my supervisor, Father James Amanze chose for me is the Batlokwa, the largest tribe in Botswana, whose center is located in the town, Tolkweng, close to the South African border. The town is just about a few kilometres from Gaborone, where I live. Father Amanze pointed out that doing research on this localized group would be easier than trying to find an equivalent group in Gaborone, due to the fact that most people are mixtures of several tribes. I was glad about this, but even more when 3 weeks ago I actually met a 22 year old girl named Rorisang, who happens to be from the Batlokwa Tribe and lives in Tolkweng! I told her I needed to research the Batlokwa, as part of my academic studies. She was eager to help, and told me that she would be happy to set up an appointment with one of the chiefs as soon as possible. If you know Africa time, you know that it can be a LONG time before “as soon as possible” happens!
I got my first appointment on Friday the 16th- well, that is, I did have an appointment, but unfortunately it rained the entire night before and a good deal the morning of the 16th. At about 9 am, as Monica and I were preparing to leave, Rorisang called to say that the chief doesn’t handle this wet weather very well, and as a result he had to be taken to the hospital after suffering from an asthma attack. After hearing this Monica and I went on to St. Peter’s. The teachers and children were a little surprised to see us, since I had told them that I wasn’t going to be there that day, but since my other appointment was cancelled, they were pleased to have us there. I was greeted with the usual “Dumela, Auntie Minda,” as all the ch
ildren come up to me, and start fighting for who will get to kiss me on the cheek first. This is especially true when it came to the little boys. The helpers have told me that some of them have little crushes on me. Cute! Since it was a rainy day, the children played in the courtyard rather than on the muddy playground. Goodness, did we have fun though! The kids introduced me to a lot of new children’s songs in Setswana and some new dances. Monica took lots of pictures while the kids grabbed my wheelchair to get me to join in the fun! A wonderful way to celebrate a rainy day I must say!
As for the Passion play I’m helping direct, the kids seem really to understand their parts and the whole thing is coming together rather well. I think it will be wonderful to see the children acting out the events of Holy Week and Easter since I am so far from home in this important season. Of course, the Easter services at the Cathedral will be excellent, but I love sharing all this with the children, since my nieces and nephews are near the same ages!
All in all it ended up a good day, even though it started out a disappointment. Amazing how God works!
Anyway, we had rescheduled for the following Monday, so I prepared myself with my notebook containing some questions I had for him. Just as the taxi was pulling up, Rorisang called and said that she had just found out that the chief wanted me to write out exactly what I wanted to do. He also required a letter making me promise not to exploit the Batlokwa people in any way. He wanted me to put it in writing that this was just an ethnography project for my school. Of course I didn't know this beforehand, and I did not have it ready! So it was discouraging, and the fact that the taxi was waiting outside did not make things easier, either! We rescheduled for the next day. Meanwhile, I had the taxi driver take us to Riverwalk, because I was low on some groceries anyway, and even though I knew that I needed to do that shopping, I couldn’t help feel disappointment. However, little did I know that something really wonderful was about to happen - something that I couldn’t have expected!
As I was going down one of the aisles, a met a woman named Lerato, also from Tolkweng. She knew about me from a trip Sandy and I had made to visit the Dream Center, a school for the disabled, where she works. She had been wanting to talk to me anyway, since she had heard about the ethnography paper, so she asked if I could talk that very afternoon! I WAS ECSTATIC Of course I was delighted, so we got together and talked almost 2 hours - just about the importance of family in the Batlokwa tribe. It was all amazing! As it happens she used to
date one of the Batlokwa chiefs that I’m interviewing! TOTALLY GOD, NO?! She said that she would drive me over to visit the chief the next day, saving us another taxi ride. She also knows Rorisang, because she (Lerato) used to attend the same church as Rorisang!
So on Tuesday I gathered up my things once again, along with my reassurance letter for the chief. The day looked very promising, and indeed it was! Lerato came to the flat to collect me and Monica at half past 8, and headed to Tlokweng for our 10 appointment with the chief; we picked up Rorisang on the way. By the time we got there, the chief was still in a meeting in the Kgotla (the meeting house) with some people. Rorisang, Monica, Lerato, and I sat under the shade and waited and spoke mostly Setswana, which is also the tribal language of the Batlokwa. It is now the national language. As we were sitting there talking I couldn’t help noticing the large golden-brown statue of their great chief, Gaborone, for which the capitol city of Botswana is named. He was a strong man, and apparently a strong leader, too. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to photograph the statue or anything else for that matter. It was fun nonetheless to look at everything.
Finally at about 11 the chief was ready to talk with us, but instead of taking us to the Kgotla where there were no tables for me to write on, the chief brought us into his very nice air-conditioned office. I gave him my reassurance letter, and signed it in his presence. He complimented me on my handwriting and seemed surprised that I could hold the pen between my chin and arm. Once this was done we went straight to the interview. He told me the fascinating story of how the Batlokwa came out of South Africa along with many other people groups because of the tribal wars that were taking place in the early 1800’s. Our long conversation went really well, and the history of the tribe, especially fascinated me.
There is one brief story that I thought was interesting that I will share here. All of the Botswana tribes’ people have a totem. The Batlokwa totem is the Antbear. It once was the leopard, but during the migration from South Africa to Bechuanaland, they became extremely thirsty and as they pressed on f
urther and further the more their thirst increased. Then they saw a dog coated with mud and the people became hopeful because they knew that they were somewhere close to water. They followed the dog which led them to a hole full of water, which turned out to be the home of an Antbear. They believed that this Antbear had saved their lives and for that reason, the Batlokwa changed their totem from the leopard to the Antbear. Pretty cool story!
There is so much to learn about these incredible people. Lerato and Rorisang are going to help me set up more interviews with various older Batlokwa who really remember the “was it was” before independence. I also want to talk to younger ones to see how important the tribal affiliation is to them now. It’s all good. I am very happy to be here -
Okay, that is all for now!
Ke o Rata (I love you)! Minda
Dumalang, my wonderful friends! I apologize for my absence from cyberspace, but I had a fantastic week!
Oh, my, where do I even begin! Okay, well, I have wanted to get a head start on my ethnography for quite some time now. The people group that my supervisor, Father James Amanze chose for me is the Batlokwa, the largest tribe in Botswana, whose center is located in the town, Tolkweng, close to the South African border. The town is just about a few kilometres from Gaborone, where I live. Father Amanze pointed out that doing research on this localized group would be easier than trying to find an equivalent group in Gaborone, due to the fact that most people are mixtures of several tribes. I was glad about this, but even more when 3 weeks ago I actually met a 22 year old girl named Rorisang, who happens to be from the Batlokwa Tribe and lives in Tolkweng! I told her I needed to research the Batlokwa, as part of my academic studies. She was eager to help, and told me that she would be happy to set up an appointment with one of the chiefs as soon as possible. If you know Africa time, you know that it can be a LONG time before “as soon as possible” happens!
I got my first appointment on Friday the 16th- well, that is, I did have an appointment, but unfortunately it rained the entire night before and a good deal the morning of the 16th. At about 9 am, as Monica and I were preparing to leave, Rorisang called to say that the chief doesn’t handle this wet weather very well, and as a result he had to be taken to the hospital after suffering from an asthma attack. After hearing this Monica and I went on to St. Peter’s. The teachers and children were a little surprised to see us, since I had told them that I wasn’t going to be there that day, but since my other appointment was cancelled, they were pleased to have us there. I was greeted with the usual “Dumela, Auntie Minda,” as all the ch
ildren come up to me, and start fighting for who will get to kiss me on the cheek first. This is especially true when it came to the little boys. The helpers have told me that some of them have little crushes on me. Cute! Since it was a rainy day, the children played in the courtyard rather than on the muddy playground. Goodness, did we have fun though! The kids introduced me to a lot of new children’s songs in Setswana and some new dances. Monica took lots of pictures while the kids grabbed my wheelchair to get me to join in the fun! A wonderful way to celebrate a rainy day I must say!As for the Passion play I’m helping direct, the kids seem really to understand their parts and the whole thing is coming together rather well. I think it will be wonderful to see the children acting out the events of Holy Week and Easter since I am so far from home in this important season. Of course, the Easter services at the Cathedral will be excellent, but I love sharing all this with the children, since my nieces and nephews are near the same ages!
All in all it ended up a good day, even though it started out a disappointment. Amazing how God works!
Anyway, we had rescheduled for the following Monday, so I prepared myself with my notebook containing some questions I had for him. Just as the taxi was pulling up, Rorisang called and said that she had just found out that the chief wanted me to write out exactly what I wanted to do. He also required a letter making me promise not to exploit the Batlokwa people in any way. He wanted me to put it in writing that this was just an ethnography project for my school. Of course I didn't know this beforehand, and I did not have it ready! So it was discouraging, and the fact that the taxi was waiting outside did not make things easier, either! We rescheduled for the next day. Meanwhile, I had the taxi driver take us to Riverwalk, because I was low on some groceries anyway, and even though I knew that I needed to do that shopping, I couldn’t help feel disappointment. However, little did I know that something really wonderful was about to happen - something that I couldn’t have expected!
As I was going down one of the aisles, a met a woman named Lerato, also from Tolkweng. She knew about me from a trip Sandy and I had made to visit the Dream Center, a school for the disabled, where she works. She had been wanting to talk to me anyway, since she had heard about the ethnography paper, so she asked if I could talk that very afternoon! I WAS ECSTATIC Of course I was delighted, so we got together and talked almost 2 hours - just about the importance of family in the Batlokwa tribe. It was all amazing! As it happens she used to
date one of the Batlokwa chiefs that I’m interviewing! TOTALLY GOD, NO?! She said that she would drive me over to visit the chief the next day, saving us another taxi ride. She also knows Rorisang, because she (Lerato) used to attend the same church as Rorisang!So on Tuesday I gathered up my things once again, along with my reassurance letter for the chief. The day looked very promising, and indeed it was! Lerato came to the flat to collect me and Monica at half past 8, and headed to Tlokweng for our 10 appointment with the chief; we picked up Rorisang on the way. By the time we got there, the chief was still in a meeting in the Kgotla (the meeting house) with some people. Rorisang, Monica, Lerato, and I sat under the shade and waited and spoke mostly Setswana, which is also the tribal language of the Batlokwa. It is now the national language. As we were sitting there talking I couldn’t help noticing the large golden-brown statue of their great chief, Gaborone, for which the capitol city of Botswana is named. He was a strong man, and apparently a strong leader, too. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to photograph the statue or anything else for that matter. It was fun nonetheless to look at everything.
Finally at about 11 the chief was ready to talk with us, but instead of taking us to the Kgotla where there were no tables for me to write on, the chief brought us into his very nice air-conditioned office. I gave him my reassurance letter, and signed it in his presence. He complimented me on my handwriting and seemed surprised that I could hold the pen between my chin and arm. Once this was done we went straight to the interview. He told me the fascinating story of how the Batlokwa came out of South Africa along with many other people groups because of the tribal wars that were taking place in the early 1800’s. Our long conversation went really well, and the history of the tribe, especially fascinated me.
There is one brief story that I thought was interesting that I will share here. All of the Botswana tribes’ people have a totem. The Batlokwa totem is the Antbear. It once was the leopard, but during the migration from South Africa to Bechuanaland, they became extremely thirsty and as they pressed on f
urther and further the more their thirst increased. Then they saw a dog coated with mud and the people became hopeful because they knew that they were somewhere close to water. They followed the dog which led them to a hole full of water, which turned out to be the home of an Antbear. They believed that this Antbear had saved their lives and for that reason, the Batlokwa changed their totem from the leopard to the Antbear. Pretty cool story!There is so much to learn about these incredible people. Lerato and Rorisang are going to help me set up more interviews with various older Batlokwa who really remember the “was it was” before independence. I also want to talk to younger ones to see how important the tribal affiliation is to them now. It’s all good. I am very happy to be here -
Okay, that is all for now!
Ke o Rata (I love you)! Minda
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