Grahamstown

So, Friday night I fell asleep before I could even post my blog.  I woke Saturday with a runny nose, sinus headache and a mild cough.  We left Langerry at 8am towards Grahamstown on a bus with Bradley as our tour guide.  There was fog so thick that we could barely see 20 feet in front of the bus.  First, we stopped at a musical instrument manufacturer who makes African instruments such as the marimba (the same instruments we had a workshop with for music class), kalimba (finger pianos), and xylophones.  We waited outside for a bit in some drizzle, and it was actually cold!  We heard the history of the company and how the instruments have spread over the world since the time of WWII by the efforts of Hugh Tracey and his son, Andrew.  Our guide, Christian, shared his passion of integrating music into education, emphasizing the importance of creativity and right brain development.

Next, we visited Egwazini Outreach Center, a police-station-turned-community-arts-center.  The police station was known during Apartheid to have housed some very violent interrogations, and now Egwazini employs community members to create linocuts, carved linoleum blocks used for print-making, and some other fabric crafts.  I got a piece of fabric to match a pillow cover that I bought in J Baai yesterday.  I also saw a beautiful lighter tan tablecloth with dark brown toile.  It was unique because toile is usually Victorian scenes, but, rather than Courier-and-Ives-esque, this was African scenes.  I would love to find some at a fabric shop and bring some home to work with.

Next we went to the rural areas of Hamburg, near Grahamstown, to a Heritage Site.  We saw a traditional music and dancing program from some young girls of the village, “sampled” HUGE portions of traditional food such as samp and beans, squash, chicken, potatoes with peas, and ginger beer with a bite.  We had drumming lessons on Djembe drums and were challenged with singing and drumming at the same time—way harder than it may seem.  And finally we were subjecting to the humiliating performance of Zulu dance.  It wasn’t that bad, but an entire village laughed at us “all in good fun” I’m sure ;)

Kalimba= finger piano.  Apparently these are popular in the NW coast of the US, mostly Washington.  Perhaps there are a lot of Zimbabwean immigrants there?

Christian playing the kalimba

Two people on the xylophone

Some of the prints of linocuts at Egwazini

A linocut. 

Culture for Bruce

Bradley mentioned that it is often misinterpreted as disrespectful to women when traditionally men entered and left rondavels (round mud homes with thatch roof) first, holding a stick.  He said this tradition is meant to protect women from wild animals or intruders.  He pointed out that in the West, it is polite for men to open doors for women to go through first.  These traditions both, in their own way, stem from the ideology that women need men for strength and protection.  I will not pretend that men are not bigger than women, in most cases, but in this day and age, women are strong enough to open their own doors and just as likely as men to get eaten by a wild beast who has taken up residence in their home.  Unless women begin taking responsibilities unto themselves such as paying for dinner, opening doors, and outside work, we enable the stereotypes of women’s weakness and therefore inequality.  These ideas affect women in the workplace in terms of promotions and equal pay (look up the current case against Wal-Mart if you need an up-to-date example).  In addition, I am of the opinion that services are rarely a free gift.  If men are always the ones to offer protection, women always owe, and it becomes a control mechanism.    I guess what I’m trying to say is in the interest of gender equality, “Thanks, but no thanks.”  And yes, I'll step down off the soap box now.