CULTURE AND DIVERSITY

X is for Xhosa

X is for Xhosa. Lots of people in South Africa speak Xhosa. We learn Xhosa at
school too. When I go shopping with my Mom there are quite a lot of Xhosa people
around. Some of the Xhosa people live in Transkei and Gugulethu.
Written by: Jaime (Grade 3)

Can You Dance Like an African?

With pounding hearts and over flowing with enthusiasm, we set off to the SA National Museum to learn more about African culture and dance.  Maxwell, Pamela, Thandi and Ndweni from UCT were studying dance and came to teach us proper African dancing.  They told us to bend our knees and stay low on the ground.  They also taught us to sing Tshotsholoza in Xhosa.

The tourists in the museum all stopped to watch us dancing and singing.  Some of them even took photos of us.

It was a great experience and we now know a bit more about true African culture.

By Sara, Nicole and Morgan (Grade 6)

A Moslem Festival

By Miengah and Shahlaa (Grade 7)

Monday the 20th of March was very exciting and a day of nerves for some of the Moslem girls, Miengah, Mishkah, Shahlaa and Sara.  We had to stand in front of the assembly of Micklefield School and tell them about our customs and religion.  The other Moslem girls joined us on the stage.

We told them about the two Eids which the Moslems celebrate.  They are called Eidul-Fitr and Eidul-Adha.  We explained the differences between the to two celebrations.  Eidul-Fitr celebrates the ending of the fast and we celebrate Eidul-Adha for the people who come back from Hadj.  The other reason for celebrating Eidul-Adha is to remember when the Prophet Ebrahim (Abraham) was tested by Allah (God) to see if he really believed in Allah.  Ebrahim had a dream and in his dream Allah told him to slaughter his only son. When he was about to slaughter his son, Allah replaced his son with a sheep, that is why we slaughter sheep on Eidul-Adha.

We explained to everyone what activities we have on Eid and how we dress when we go to the Mosque. The girls asked questions and we tried our best to answer them.

Everyone learned a lot about Islamic customs and we enjoyed telling everyone about Eid.

Beating Drums and Colourful Costumes

On an exciting Thursday afternoon we were entertained by a group of street children from Kraaifontein. They had been training for about 6 months with a group of artists from overseas before they presented their show to us. The skills that were taught to them included acting and communication.

They played drums which were made from animal skin and old tins. They walked on stilts and wore beautifully painted masks and large polystyrene cut out hands. They also wore colourful clothing and danced to the beat of the drums. We were all stunned because everything they used was entirely hand made!

A few Micklefield girls were asked to join in and they gladly did so and thoroughly enjoyed it.
After their performance, we mingled with them and had a closer look at their masks to see how they were made. Each performer received a chocolate, a cooldrink and a packet of chips which was kindly donated by our girls.
 

It was an entertaining afternoon, everyone had fun and the street children produced a work of art!

Written by Rucita (Grade 7)

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