MAPETLA

[Gloria Grandy]

Mapetla is fairly close to where Wandi lives and she had been contacted by

Nombusa who asked to receive squares for a gogo group in her area ... so we

loaded up some bags of blanket packs and, after visiting Bushkoppies, popped

in to meet up with our prospective new gogo group.

We had also, that very morning, collected 124 blankets from Chiawelo and it

worked out well that we were able to leave them with the delightful bunch of

little ones at a very well run community centre school on the same property.

In addition to the pre-schoolers, there were up to 20 children with special

needs being kept separately in a small upstairs room which Wandi and I were

taken to first.  These children are taken care of merely on an "aftercare"

basis ie. they were not part of the school program.

Wandi and I were made uneasy by sounds of distress coming from somewhere ...

we were never able to pin it down, but we did discover during the course of

the distribution that one of the women involved with the "aftercare"

children, by the name of Zodwa,  was a trainee sangoma (witch).  With

hindsight, the noises stopped once she emerged from the same upstairs room a

while later.

Now, I don't know much about witchcraft except that it is widely practiced

in this country, so we are extremely blessed not to have come into contact

with it before this, but I took a lead from Wandi who was obviously

uncomfortable with the antics of the woman concerned.

We were forbidden to touch her, even in greeting - and her movements were

creepy to say the least !  Exaggerated recoiling movements, refusing to be

alongside the group for photographs and, we noticed she was wearing all

sorts of strange looking trinkets (bones ?  teeth ? human ?

eeeeeeeeuuuuuuu !!!! )

We distributed the blankets as quickly as we could and took our leave.

Wandi and I did laugh about this once we were on our way back to her house

in the van ... feeling less creepy by then.

But since this was the woman who had been appointed to oversee the stitching

of the 45 blanket packs by Nombusa's gogo group, we decided that they

should simply be stitched up and distributed  without any further input from

KAS !!

As always the little ones were perfectly sweet and we were delighted to have

given them the gogo blankets on the spur of the moment.  It's an ill wind ...

[Susanne Leverton]

Witchcraft and Sharmanism goes under many names and is widely practised in many countries. Our Indigenous people have Ngunkaris who perform healing...the Aborigine knows that you must look after Body, Mind And Spirit. In many Remote Indigenous health clinics the Ngunkari and the nurses work in close cooperation with mutual respect....I have been privelidged to do so.

[Anne Powell]

Thanks for mentioning this Suzanne. I did a bit of reading after seeing your post. I like the idea of modern medecine and traditional medecine working together within an indigenous population.

We have similar situation here in Canada. For far too long our ancestors tried to make our indigenous people "just like us" much to their detriment. We are finally reaching a stage where we are dealing heavily with "truth and reconcilliation" and it is to be hoped that within a generation or two we will have achieved what we should have been seeking from the start - a respect for and understanding of the culture that was here first while offering them the best of ours.

In Canada, our indigenous people rely heavily on traditional healing, especially in the spiritual and psycholgical spheres. We are finally getting to the stage where we recognize its importance as part of their culture.

[Gloria Grandy]

Thank you Susanne and Anne.  Reading this gives a clearer explanation of what Ronda was probably 'hearing'.  I actually don't feel so bad about it now, and think you both may have put a lot of minds at ease.

[P. Jeanne Haessler]

I have said some prayers for those special needs children and that that trainee witch does them no harm.  I don't blame you for being creeped out at all.   I am grateful you were able to distribute all those blankets and also arrived safety back home again.

Love and hugs,

Jeanne xoxoxoxo

[Bev Jeffery]

I also feel much concern for those  children with special needs.

Love the pics of the children enjoying their blankets. 

[Gloria Grandy]

Sue, I agree with you that it is worrying to think of what those dear chidren must go through.  If the adults are nervous, then what must the children be feeling?

On a lighter note, I am always amazed at how large an 8" square looks when in a blanket held by a child :) 

[Sue Gillman]

Oh dear I dread to think of what those little special needs children are subjected to !!  That visit certainly brought some more creepy thrills than you wanted. The little ones look so cute dragging their blankest around and the blankets look beautiful !! The school looks quite well appointed too.