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South Africa

Monday, 31 May 2010

South Africa - World Cup

Today is the 100th anniversary of the foundation of South Africa in 1910, and recently Steve wrote some interesting words about this. I also recommend reading what he wrote about his memories of the 50th anniversary.

The video above is of the unofficial South Africa World Cup 2010 song. Why? Because someone told me it’s better than the official World Cup song….

Posted by bigblue on 31/05/2010 at 07:57 AM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Saturday, 30 August 2008

ANC Express

The three letter acronym ANC stands for a number of different things. One of the things that it can stand for, which is not mentioned on the Wiki page I link to is Anti Natal Classes.

Posted by bigblue on 30/08/2008 at 06:56 AM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Wednesday, 29 August 2007

Madiba

Today the old man was in London, unveiling a statue of himself in Parliament Square. Zefrog was there and posts some photos of the event on Flickr.

The photograph above is from earlier in the year when Graça Machel (pictured with her husband) was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rhodes University in South Africa.

Posted by bigblue on 29/08/2007 at 05:20 PM
Filed under: Europe • United Kingdom • England • Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Friday, 10 November 2006

The Domba

This is a short clip showing the famous Domba - an initiation dance of the vhaVenda cultural tradition in Southern Africa. A government website for the region describes it thus:

The python is the god of fertility in the vhaVhenda tradition and the legend tells us that a vhaVhenda man had a broken heart because of the loss of a great love. In his sorrow he walked into Lake Fundudzi at which time he turned into a python. Young virgin Venda maidens still perform the famous Domba-python dance in this area to honour this god of fertility. We can further speculate about the white crocodile (as described previously) which the vhaVenda’s belief lives in this Lake. This crocodile might have really existed because this Lake is still today inhabited by large crocodiles, and an albino crocodile might have once lived in the lake where young, virgin Venda maidens were once offered to them. Lake Fundudzi is surrounded by mountains and special permission has to be obtained to visit this sacred Lake. No-one washes or swims in this lake.

The lake is apparently regarded with some suspicion because it is fed by the Mutale River, but has no apparent outlet. Traditionally the Doomba was the initiation attended by both young men and women, as the final rite before marriage and after having already attended separate single-sex initiation ceremonies. However Christian missionaries changed the tradition after deciding it was immoral for girls and boys to attend the same ceremony. As a result, now only girls attend the Domba which teaches young women how to prepare themselves for marriage: sexual reproduction, birth planning, giving birth, child care, maintaining good relations with her husband, and the teaching of HIV prevention (a recent innovation).

I filmed a cultural group from Soweto performing this dance at the Folklore Festival in Haguenau, France in 2002.

Posted by bigblue on 10/11/2006 at 06:01 AM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Friday, 09 June 2006

Street Child

street child

This is a photograph I took in Point Road, Durban, last year that I have submitted for Photo Friday (theme: Poverty).

According to a The Childrens’ Institute at the University of Cape Town:

Child poverty is a major issue of concern in South Africa, and a legacy of Apartheid policies of underdevelopment. The lack of resources to adequately care for children and provide for their development has significant policy implications. Poverty not only aggravates the consequences of illnesses such as HIV-infections and AIDS, but also places great demands on the State to deliver basic services that address poverty and reduce inequity. The State’s capacity and will to reduce poverty and create jobs has serious implications for children.

The Department of Social Development released a first draft baseline document in July 2003 for the development of a national policy for families. The document states that 59% of children aged 0 – 17 are poor, and that:
Poverty affects children by reducing their chances of living beyond their first five years, by stunting their growth, rendering them vulnerable to infectious diseases and disabling injury, reducing their confidence and hope in the future, and limit (sic) their education capacity for developing to their full intellectual potential.
This poverty rate is based on estimates of household income using the Income and Expenditure Survey of 1999. However, according to Streak (2001, 23) “These child poverty estimates are conservative. An alternative analysis suggests that when income poverty is defined in the absolute sense – as a situation in which a child does not have the income needed to meet his or her basic needs - the child poverty rate in South Africa is even higher – about 70%.”

Not only is poverty widespread but inequality is also marked and growing. Inequality between and within provinces is marked with African families, families headed by women, families affected by HIV, and families in rural areas being most impoverished.

The children in my photograph live on the street, and would presumably not be included in any statistics on household poverty.

Posted by bigblue on 09/06/2006 at 09:06 AM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Friday, 21 April 2006

Show me the way to amaryllis

There are a number of places in the world known as Mitchell Park: a park in Milwaukee (and various other parts of the USA); a suburb of Adelaide, Australia; and this park in eThekweni (Durban, South Africa).

According to the official city website:

Mitchell Park, once an ostrich farm was named after Sir Charles Bullen Hugh Mitchell who came to Natal as Colonial Secretary in 1877 and 1889 became Governor of Natal for 15 years.

Displays of amaryllis may be seen in season and refreshment facilities, bird aviaries and children’s play facilities attract the visitors. Park rangers are on duty with a security guard service during the night. There is a small charge to enter the zoo, with group tour concessions available.

I added the link to a rather sparse article on Charles Mitchell at wikipedia. There’s a photo of him here. It seems that the park is about 105 years old this year.

Posted by bigblue on 21/04/2006 at 10:41 PM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Saturday, 25 March 2006

Hheyi ngubani lo?

wood carving

I don’t know why, but the moment I saw this large carving in a shop window (on holiday in December in Cape Town) the phrase Ngubani lo? came to mind.

Checking the spelling of this question (which means who is there?) I came across this account of an incident in Swaziland when the King met with church leaders:

The king had arrived and everybody was attentively listening to the speakers when suddenly a dull but sharp sound broke the silence&an unidentified priest had just released his stomach gas just a little too loudly.

It happened after lunch yesterday at Ngabezweni Royal Residence when the church leaders had been served with free food of hard porridge and offal meat. The dull sound of farting seemed to irritate those who were within hearing range because for a few seconds there was murmuring and questions about who has done that. Hheyi ngubani lo? (Hey who was that?),other priests were heard saying. Others, including some members of the security forces were amused by the episode as they chuckled silently.

Many heads turned to the back row, where the farting came from, but the culprit could not be spotted. Like everyone, he probably looked around and asked who did that in an irritated tone. Meanwhile, the event, that is, king meeting church leaders at the royal residence ended late in the afternoon.

Posted by bigblue on 25/03/2006 at 07:13 PM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

Thursday, 23 March 2006

Camps Bay

This is another view of Camps Bay in Cape Town, taken at sunset from the rock in Fresnaye.

I had a strange experience three nights ago - that is if I can claim the experience for my own: a friend in Cape Town dreamed my dream. It was about her, me, my family and my thoughts. Some of the most obvious imagery was pretty clear to her (even then I don’t think she necessarily understood all the details and symbolism). The rest, except for the final image was instantly clear. I was astonished when she told me of the dream because I had been thinking the same thoughts that evening (and took them to my pillow).

I did a bit of research and there are two main ideas about the final, missing, link:

The passage of life

The buffalo sacrifice is important in many Southeast Asian cultures in royal and chiefly ritual, and in funerary rites. The buffalo and horse are commonly viewed as animals that carry the dead to the afterlife.

The coming of Spring (representing abundance, new life, etc)

In the context of the rest of the dream either (or both) of these could make sense.

Posted by bigblue on 23/03/2006 at 09:41 PM
Filed under: Africa • South Africa • (0) Comments • Permalink • Bookmark or Share

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