STRANGE VIEWS FROM OUR BEDROOM WINDOW

The only window in our bedroom faced the dry stream bed and across the valley the township beyond. Through we learned many different and interesting things. On our first night there had been a death nearby so there was a wake that lasted all night. That is a custom common to all African people. Of course it prevents the very common rats from getting to the body, but it is also a part of the ritual. Later in South Africa we became accustomed to African funerals and learned of the tradition that the widow must huddle in a corner of the room under a blanket until the funeral is conducted, that a candle must be burning by the body, and that the shovels that dug the grave and will be used to cover it must be ritually washed afterwards before the feast that is inevitably served. It was more in curiosity rather than being disturbed that we listened to the singing that continued all night, that first night in our new home. They sang hymns softly, but all night long. This was a first lesson in African culture. Another strange thing was that there seemed to be a lot of activity going on in the open area under the thorn trees at the week ends. Women came and went carrying large tins on their heads. They carried everything on their heads. I remember seeing a woman with spike heeled shoes balanced on top of her head, others with pails of water, and even one carrying a bedstead. These particular women seemed to be carrying something that they had dug up from under a tree. They always replaced it with a full tin they had brought with them. This seemed always to happen at the beginning of the weekend. Then it dawned on us. They were bringing a sweet mixture with yeast, which they buried, in the hole where they had just removed the tin they left there the week before. In this hot temperature, the sugar and the yeast, and what ever else had fermented. This was their "brewery" in action, African style. No one would arrest them for this. This was another lesson in African culture. Never drink just whatever is set before you unless it is a factory sealed cola or a hot cup of tea. On another day we noted, a very strange many-legged "creature" that crept across the horizon of the ridge far in the distance. It was bewildering to see a house, one of the tin shacks really, that appeared to have sprouted legs and was walking away. It was a medium size structure, probably a eight by ten feet, but a group of people, probably men as their bare legs showed from above the knees down, had walked inside, picked it up and were carrying it over their heads to a new space. This was moving day African style.