Pupils immerse themselves in Siswati culture
The entourage of 69 pupils, accompanied by their teachers, descended on the Enkonjaneni kraal, which is led by Chief Bhekumuzi Mantjolo Mnisi, on Friday and left on Monday.
BADPLAAS – An initiative to recognise, celebrate and share Siswati culture and heritage saw learners from White River’s Metropolitan College visiting the Enkonjaneni Royal Kraal.
The entourage of 69 pupils, accompanied by their teachers, descended on the Enkonjaneni kraal, which is led by Chief Bhekumuzi Mantjolo Mnisi, on Friday and left on Monday.
All the learners have taken Siswati as one of the subjects at the college, hence this field trip brought their textbooks to life.
According to Mnisi, the visit was part of their initiative dubbed Tibuya Emasisweni (back to our roots).
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“The prime aim of this initiative is to revive the Siswati culture. With the changing times, Siswati was losing its sting. As traditional leaders, we play a pivotal role in conserving the Siswati being and teaching the generations to come back to the ways of their forefathers,” said Mnisi.
He said as part of the project’s future plans, they want to invite more schools, not only during September – Heritage Month. “Culture knows no months. It is a living culture. We can’t practice our cultures during September only. Culture does not apply periodically, it is consistent. We intend to do such an initiative on a monthly basis,” the chief added.
During their visit, the learners were taught various ways of how Siswati folk used to live during years gone by. The boys were taught how to look after cows: how to milk them and prepare the kraal, among other things. The girls were taught how to make a hut’s floor using cow dung, as well as how to make traditional food and dressing.
Bongisiwe Matsebula, a Siswati teacher at the school, said the visit was very helpful to the learners and towards the school’s goal of maintaining discipline. She said Metropolitan College has enrolled learners from various cultures, backgrounds and countries.
“African people and their culture are one, they are inseparable. Culture defines African people. The African countries inherited their culture from their forefathers. Culture is what the people found and it has been passed from one generation to the other. With the changing times a lot has happened. With the coming of religion(s) and education among other factors, many changes have impacted on the culture of African people. Losing one’s culture is like losing one’s identity. Today we are here to revive our cultures and religions,” concluded Matsebula.
