Initiation School

The boys are always followed by a couple of guys who are around to lead and protect them... I'm still unsure if these are the guys with them in the mountains.

Last Monday when I left home to walk to work, I had to make my way through, easily, a couple hundred people. I have to say, I always get a little nervous when I have to walk through a crowd in the village... one person notices I'm walking through and inevitably attention from everyone near me turns ONTO me. Some days I can handle it, Mondays not so much. Last Monday was different though... no one seemed to care if I was there or not. Yay! I made it to the little stand Salome (MmaDiapo's younger sister) sits at everyday and asked her what was going on. She pointed across the tar road and it was then that I caught sight of all the boys, in their traditional grass skirts and masks, who had come down from the initiation school they are attending in the mountains. So for the last week, while on my way to town with the office or standing on the side of the road waiting for a taxi or walking home or sitting at Ledile's desk...when I've seen a ton of people all walking in the same direction, I know one of the boys isn't too far away. Initiation schools and what goes on in them remains a mystery to me... I've asked a lot of questions to a lot of different people and have come up with very little... it's pretty secretive. This is what I've come up with:
*The schools last around 30 days (some are 3 weeks, some are 7 weeks, some are a month) and are the time when a boy becomes a man... when he finds his place in tribal society.
*Families pay the chief of the village to have their son attend the school.
*Boys are to stay in the bush on their own with no contact with family or friends. They can be brought food by family members, but only men are allowed.
*Some believe that the boys should attend two years in a row... the first year to become
circumcised, the second year to learn more about being a man.
*The school starts with the circumcision that is done by a traditional healer or a sangoma.
*In my area, initiation school is very expensive and some families feel it is more important to
pay to have their son attend initiation school, than to pay school fees for him to attend public
school.
*Some families believe that in order for their son to learn to be a man, he must attend an
initiation school, some believe that if their son attends such a school he will return an evil
person. If a boy does attend an initiation school and comes back to the village returning to his old ways, hanging out with the same crowd, participating in mischief, he is deemed a failure and sometimes is shunned.
*The boys aren't allowed to speak to anyone, they communicate with each other by whistling.
People follow after the boys and it becomes, more or less, a game. They chase the boys, the boys protect themselves by whipping a stick in their direction. On Monday, our taxi was slowed down because there were so many people on one of the dirt roads in Metz.
The boys have come down from the mountains to have people in the village see them and also to ask for offerings. Money, bread, cold drink... you name it. I offered these two boys some coins and in return they let me take photos. (I'm such a tourist and a blogger!)They phaphata-ed (kneeled and clapped, a sign of respect at the offering) and picked up the money. Check out all the bird feathers on their headdresses! Some of them get even more elaborate.
They then danced for me, moving their grass skirts wildly and to the delight of all the people who had gathered around us. Some girls in their audience sang and clapped while they swished.
At the end of the 30 days, the boys are returned to their families and there is a celebration. Some families slaughter a goat or cow and homemade beer is made. In some cases, a boy is presented with a girl to prove he is a man... and to make sure everything still "works". In recent years, a myth began circulating that in order to prove their manhood, boys recently released from the school must have sex with a female who is not their partner.... sometimes new partners who are considered of "lesser value" in the community. Initiation schools have become another controversial point in the whole traditional vs modern situation many South Africans find themselves in. Some believe that initiation schools, dating back thousands of years, are essential, and others believe that they are helping with the spread of HIV and sex with multiple partners, some partners who are very much unwilling. Sex with multiple partners and the use of a condom strongly discouraged, with these new beliefs emerging, the numbers of rapes and HIV infection are rising. The Department of Health has come up with some new guidelines and trainings for traditional healers, sangomas, and other leaders for the schools. The guidelines hope to reduce the numbers of rapes and rate of HIV infection by helping encourage the teachings of not only lifeskills, leadership skills and the responsibilities of being a man, but also human rights and information on HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections.
When I talked to Cedric, from Kodumela, about his experience with an initiation school, he said that a lot of things have changed since he did it. He believes that when he did it there was more of a focus on teaching boys morals and survivals skills. When they went out into the bush for his school, they had no contact with people from home, and lived off the land. Now, when he sees all these boys coming into the village multiple times a week and having such contact with villagers... he can't help but think that they're learning how to beg and depend on other people for their livelihood when they're asking for offerings.