Journal Entry 22: Heritage Day 4

Here’s Tsimba wearing traditional clothes. She’s one of my favorite learners.


















People begin to assemble for speeches, dancing and poetry. Speeches in Venda, and throughout most of black culture in Africa, are long. And really boring. Yup, long and really really boring. Yeah. Generally speaking, they don’t say too much. They just kind of go on and and on and. And on. And then you THINK they’re going to stop. But nope. They don’t. They never stop. They never never stop. Yeah. They just go on and on and on about this and that and that and this. And then, get this, and THEN they repeat themselves. Speeches in Venda, and throughout most of black culture in Africa, are long. And really boring. Yup, long and really really boring. Yeah.















The “dombo” dance felt like a link to traditional Venda and African culture. That sense of tradition isn’t always seen in South Africa but it exists, and often just beneath the surface.














Circling the wagons.