The day took place over two events, one being a gathering of family (extended and beyond) and friends while the other was a wedding-cum-block party in another part of town. In both locations I had wonderful conversations and exciting moments with a wide-range of people. It would be impossible to recount (or remember for that matter. We were on a strict beer-drinking regimen!) the totality of the occasion. However, I have pinpointed a few choice moments:
- A woman quite my senior took a liking to me early on in the first location. She made her intentions perfectly clear: it was marriage or bust! However, when she noticed there wasn't any meat on my plate of food, she became distressed, "what am I going to eat when we're married?!" "Well," I responded, "it's something we're going to have to talk about isn't?" We both had a good laugh.
-Sitting with my friends in a circle of milk crates, a gentleman came up to us and started singing. With both hands clasped on two of our shoulders he bent down low and sang with intensity: "God is the misssssion... God is the misssssion." Within a few seconds he had us all involved in his harmony! For the rest of the day we were stuck with that catchy tune in our heads!
-Shortly after we appeased the man with our dodgy harmonizing, six or seven older ladies came out of the back room singing a song in Sotho. They marched out slowly into the party, singing in strong, full-voiced way that had other older folks quickly joining in. It was magical to me, but a bit annoying to the younger guys I was with. "Oh finally" one said after they had circled around the grounds and ended their song. "That was amazing!" I exclaimed. "Yeah, but we're so used it" came the rejoinder!
-Later on in the evening, after we had moved spots to the wedding, we were holding court with seemingly all young men in the neighborhood. I had the pleasure of hearing the perceptions of two really incisive people, in particular. They were notable for their difference in tone. One guy, an engineer at GM in South Africa, went to a top university in South Africa, and was optimistically pointing out the progress (especially economically) that the country has made. His basic sentiment was as follows: We are still young (as a country), but look at what I have been able to achieve already with the new opportunities presented to me. The other conversation was more negative in its outlook, but extraordinary for its passion: "We wanted alcohol, now we just get drunk. We wanted books, we don't read. We wanted TVs, we don't watch the news. We wanted education, now we don't study" (this is pretty much word for word as he said it with such fiery conviction I HAD to remember). These are the voiced frustrations of a post-apartheid generation with itself. This gentleman also lamented that those who came up in the struggle were showing their disappointment with today's youth. While he is pointing the finger inwards in the figurative sense, it is important to acknowledge the other contributing (nay, controlling?) external factors that have constrained the transformation of the country. As one friend told me later, person #1 was more of an exception than the rule. That is, there weren't many people in this neighborhood who had the opportunity to study at a first-rate university. Furthermore, at the behest of his parents, person #1 went to a private school definitively outside Atteridgeville...
And finally, at the end of the night we got a small cypher going in which I beatboxed a bit for some cats to freestyle. Needless to say, I have completed one of my goals for the year! Hopefully, however, I will be able to replicate this entire experience many times over during my stay here.
Dancing on the street! Backed by the great music of the above mentioned bands. Some lady saw me filming and beckoned me to join! (Which I did, of course!).
Wow, what an experience.
ReplyDelete