Residents of Turffontein block the winter cold with imbawula
They don’t own any electrical heaters so they rely on their imbawula to keep warm.
WARMING themselves the traditional way brings back fond childhood memories.
Residents on Church Street in Turffontein use imbawula stoves created from a tin container with holes in the sides, to block the cold. Every day from 4pm until midnight Asemahle and Thembi Mazibuko and Josephine Keetse make use of their imbawula heater. They don’t own any electrical heaters so they rely on their imbawula to keep warm. Sometimes other residents of the street join them to keep warm which creates a great opportunity for daily conversations with strangers and friends alike.
Thembi said: “Winter can leave one ill so we try by all means to keep ourselves warm and free from the cold. Since my childhood, this was the only way that my family and I knew how to keep warm. Not to say I don’t like to use electrical heaters but this is a way of saving electricity and money.”
When one of the residents was asked about the imbawula that Thembi uses to keep warm he said: “What they are doing shows creativity and sometimes I do join them so that I can also keep myself warm. When I see them every day sitting next to the imbawula it pleases me a lot.”
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