Kayamandi, 'Home away from home.'

I am taking a class this semester called, Isixhosa: Language and Culture. Xhosa, or in more polite terms, Isixhosa is one of the official South African languages. Some of you might know it as one of the "click" languages. In their alphabet there are certain letters which mean you use your tongue to add clicks to words while you are speaking. There are different kinds of clicks with your tongue placed in different areas of your mouth. "X" is one letter which indicates a click. Therefore you have a strong click when saying, "Isixhosa."

In order to practice, our Isixhosa our teacher set up a day where we would be taken to a nearby township, Kayamandi, and spend a few hours there trying greet people and ask their names. I learned that Kayamandi means, "Home away from home." This is very important in their culture. The Xhosa culture is based on something called, Ubuntu. Ubuntu means, "human-ness." It is often translated as, "humanity towards others." Basically it means that the culture has a universal value of of sharing and helping each other. Everyone is a brother and sister. You greet people every time even if you do not know them. People care for each other and share as one family.

We walked around and greeted people with, "Molo" and "Molweni!" These are greetings saying, "hello" and "good morning." We would say, "Unjani?" which means, "How are you?" We would say, "What is your name?" which is, "Ungubani ikamalakho?" In response I would say, "My name is Georgia" or "Igamalam ngu Georgia."

Later an umama (an older woman and mother in the community) made lunch for all of us. Here is a list of what we had:

Spinach: Imifino
Steamed bread: Isonka samanzi (very traditional in their culture)
Beans and maize: Umngqusho (this has an intense click 'q', and it was my favourite)
Fried Chicken: Inkuku eqhotsiweyo
Spicy relish: Itshakalaka
Drink: Isiselo

Later we had to say what we tried. I said, "I tried the beans and maize. It was tasty!" This would be, "Bendizamile umngqusho. Ibe nencasa!"  Or if you would like to say, "It was nice" you can say, "Ibe mnandi."

After lunch umama told us about the traditional Xhosa marriage process. She says that the man brings the woman to his home. They sit down (usually on the floor) and the potential in-laws discuss. Once they agree both families together will slaughter a sheep. This symbolises that the woman now belongs to the new family. The mother and sister in-laws will spend time on picking a new name for the woman. Not only is her surname changed, but they also pick a new first name which she will carry on. In older culture, and even possibly today, there can be a penalty for calling the woman the wrong name. When you are a bride you wear very specific clothes. Now when the newlywed walks through the community everyone knows she is married, and that she is no longer a "girl." How long the woman wears these clothes depends on her in-laws. There is a sense of her "belonging" to the new family now. Women are also not allowed to wear pants. Of course, this is changing, but most women wear skirts and dresses. However, a woman being able to wear pants or not is also up to her in-laws. If they do not care she can wear them, but if they do not approve she cannot wear pants.

We ended with singing, and finally had to get back to the bus. We left saying, "enkosi" which means "thank you." We had such a lovely time. It was quite amazing.

Extra words to learn:

School: Isikolo
Library: Ilayibreri
Police station: Amapolisa
Clinic: Ikliniki
Shop: Ispaza