CK and Shona Culture Night

Thursday, 5th March

Today's lecture was centred around geology and how it is the basis of what wildlife we see around us. To see it in real life, we climbed Castle Kopjie, a granite outcrop that has been weathered to produce enormous boulders. The view from the top was incredible as we sat and watched the African sun bid farewell to another day; it felt like you could see the whole of Zimbabwe. There were no sounds apart from the gentle wind and birdsong from the canopy below, giving the moment a breathtaking tranquillity. From our vantage point spied some eagles and rhinos, which ended up in us making a rather hasty retreat back down so they didn't cut us off from the landrover!

After our sundowners we went to nearby Numwa House, the main volunteer house, for our Shona culture night. Some of the local children from the families who lived and worked on Imire came and showed us traditional dancing. The noise from the singular drum (made from a plastic barrel), maracas and singing was tremendous and very uplifting!

After maybe 25 minutes of their performance, they got us up to join in with them; perhaps a dozen children and 20 students and volunteers. Each of them were fantastic dancers and we were all mesmerised by the lead singer, who only looked to be about 13 but would give Beyonce a run for her money with how energetically she could dance and sing so powerfully and in tune at the same time. One dance involved hopping round on one leg whilst holding hands in a circle - obviously I was caught on film as the idiot who fell over and destroyed the circle. Hugs, handshakes and High-5s were exchanged all round at the end and we were certainly ready for our supper.

We then were served a Shona meal which a lovely lady called Maymatzika had been preparing all afternoon and evening. She helps run the local women's support group which gives schoolgirls reusable sanitary packs so they can stay in school; most girls skip a week of school every month when they have their period which leads to a very high drop out rate. Imagine if the whole female population of students in the UK aged 13 and upwards skipped 25% of their education.

Maymatzika had prepared about ten different dishes (my favourites were the spinach with ground nut (peanut) butter and chicken and ground nut stew - of course with a huge helping of sadza!) I chatted to her in the kitchen before the dancing and she was exceptionally friendly and proud to explain to me what she was cooking, all in immaculate English.

Because it was Shona culture night, though, we had to do things the traditional way: men had to sit in higher places than women, so we all sat on the floor whilst the men sat on sofas. The oldest man is served first, down to the youngest man, and then the same happens with the women - meaning I was last to be served! But Maymatzika explained they always save the best cuts of meat for the youngest so it wasn't all bad... I tried to get her to serve herself before me but she was so gracious she wouldn't have any of it. We also had to say grace (palmasaroi) and clap as that is the Shona way of showing appreciation.

The food was incredible and whilst we ate Maymatzika told us some more about traditional life in Zimbabwe. For example, each family has a totem animal and it is taboo to marry into the same totem.

We went to bed with full stomachs and even fuller hearts. She is a truly inspirational lady.