Clean up with a cultural twist
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During the past year, city Councillors and residents, with the co-operation of ZDDT, have on various occasions conducted clean-up campaigns in Bulawayo’s 29 wards.
Most of these exercises involved tidying up of specific public places, such as bus terminuses, the grounds at community facilities and storm drainage clearing, to name just a few.
However, what happened on Wednesday, 20 January, 2010, came rather as something of a surprise for the Trust’s team who were in attendance, as the incidents that they witnessed turned out to be more of an elaborate cultural cleansing ritual than anything else. They were in Ward 29 for the event through an invitation from Councillor Monica Lubimbi and her Community Action Team, in the area, all of whom had also been instrumental with organising the programme.
Your browser may not support display of this image. On arrival at the Magwegwe North shopping centre, around 8:30 in the morning, Bruce Mtengwa, ZDDT’s Provincial Development Officer (PDO), and Lewis Jones, the Organisation’s Field Correspondent, were greeted by a group of about 30 elderly people, divided roughly into equal numbers; male and female.
Proceedings kicked off with a Christian prayer, after which the women were instructed by the occasion’s leader, a male, to remain behind singing hymns and while continuing with devotions, until the men’s return at the exercise’s conclusion. Local tradition forbids women from participating in field operations during cleansing ceremonies of a cultural nature. Apportioned into 3 teams, the men, bearing an assortment of cleaning tools and traditional weapons, marched off into the dense bush bordering the township at its western edge.
En-route to numerous sites that had been ear-marked for ritual exorcising, operation’s leader, Mr. Leonard Ngwenya, aged 63 years, described to this correspondent that the idea behind it, was to destroy by burning, all exposed animal bones or artifacts of a cultural nature that had been discarded in the bushy areas by surrounding communities. He blamed careless practices such as these, for the dry weather that had prevailed over the months of December, 2009 and early January, 2010. Mr. Ngwenya added that it was essential to hold the cleansing ceremony, if meaningful rainfall was to return.
A tour of the affected area revealed that the preceding team had gathered animal bones and fetishes into piles, some of which were alight, while others awaited torching. Also in evidence were little shrines weaved from grass and spread over a wide vista. The tour leader explained that when residents in their individual homes felt that they were being haunted by dead relatives, such shrines were built and the departed spirits would then be encouraged to occupy them. These minute edifices too, were eventually burnt down.
By the exercise’s conclusion, thoroughly tired and grimy, the ZDDT personnel prepared to return to their office, but this did not discourage Bruce from making a crack about the possibility for the cleansing’s success; to which Mr. Ngwenya responded with a knowing stare. A little later however, the old man posed the question; “What would you say if it began raining tomorrow?” He asked.
Perhaps an interesting footnote to this article would be the fact that on the morning following Ward 29’s “clean-up with a difference,” the heavens opened up and the whole city experienced two days of good soaking showers. It’s been raining ever since!
What needs to be taken note of here however is that often prolonged dry weather normally occurs in the latter half of December, through to mid January. Could not the wily old folk of Magwegwe have cleverly timed their rainmaking ritual of 20 January, 2010 to coincide with the expected resumption in the rainy season? Your guess is as good as mine. …or did they just feel it in their bones!!
During the past year, city Councillors and residents, with the co-operation of ZDDT, have on various occasions conducted clean-up campaigns in Bulawayo’s 29 wards.
Most of these exercises involved tidying up of specific public places, such as bus terminuses, the grounds at community facilities and storm drainage clearing, to name just a few.
However, what happened on Wednesday, 20 January, 2010, came rather as something of a surprise for the Trust’s team who were in attendance, as the incidents that they witnessed turned out to be more of an elaborate cultural cleansing ritual than anything else. They were in Ward 29 for the event through an invitation from Councillor Monica Lubimbi and her Community Action Team, in the area, all of whom had also been instrumental with organising the programme.
Your browser may not support display of this image. On arrival at the Magwegwe North shopping centre, around 8:30 in the morning, Bruce Mtengwa, ZDDT’s Provincial Development Officer (PDO), and Lewis Jones, the Organisation’s Field Correspondent, were greeted by a group of about 30 elderly people, divided roughly into equal numbers; male and female.
Proceedings kicked off with a Christian prayer, after which the women were instructed by the occasion’s leader, a male, to remain behind singing hymns and while continuing with devotions, until the men’s return at the exercise’s conclusion. Local tradition forbids women from participating in field operations during cleansing ceremonies of a cultural nature. Apportioned into 3 teams, the men, bearing an assortment of cleaning tools and traditional weapons, marched off into the dense bush bordering the township at its western edge.
En-route to numerous sites that had been ear-marked for ritual exorcising, operation’s leader, Mr. Leonard Ngwenya, aged 63 years, described to this correspondent that the idea behind it, was to destroy by burning, all exposed animal bones or artifacts of a cultural nature that had been discarded in the bushy areas by surrounding communities. He blamed careless practices such as these, for the dry weather that had prevailed over the months of December, 2009 and early January, 2010. Mr. Ngwenya added that it was essential to hold the cleansing ceremony, if meaningful rainfall was to return.
A tour of the affected area revealed that the preceding team had gathered animal bones and fetishes into piles, some of which were alight, while others awaited torching. Also in evidence were little shrines weaved from grass and spread over a wide vista. The tour leader explained that when residents in their individual homes felt that they were being haunted by dead relatives, such shrines were built and the departed spirits would then be encouraged to occupy them. These minute edifices too, were eventually burnt down.
By the exercise’s conclusion, thoroughly tired and grimy, the ZDDT personnel prepared to return to their office, but this did not discourage Bruce from making a crack about the possibility for the cleansing’s success; to which Mr. Ngwenya responded with a knowing stare. A little later however, the old man posed the question; “What would you say if it began raining tomorrow?” He asked.
Perhaps an interesting footnote to this article would be the fact that on the morning following Ward 29’s “clean-up with a difference,” the heavens opened up and the whole city experienced two days of good soaking showers. It’s been raining ever since!
What needs to be taken note of here however is that often prolonged dry weather normally occurs in the latter half of December, through to mid January. Could not the wily old folk of Magwegwe have cleverly timed their rainmaking ritual of 20 January, 2010 to coincide with the expected resumption in the rainy season? Your guess is as good as mine. …or did they just feel it in their bones!!