Village Farewell

After 5 weeks of homestay, the four villages that hosted PCTs (PC Trainees) were invited to attend a farewell ceremony. Health volunteers conducted demonstrations on healthy behaviors learned during technical trainings. My friends and I demonstrated WaterGuard Wa Ufa & the benefits of clean drinking water!

Our host families were invited to attend the ceremony and receive certificates of honor from the PC Country Director. In appreciation, our amayis (mothers) performed a traditional dance in our honor. Chiphazi's amayis all dressed in the same chitenje (traditional cloth worn by all women).

Traditional Dance of Chiphazi Amayis

After all the certificates were handed out and village dances were over, the Gule Wamkulu (The Big Dance) came out to celebrate...The Gule Wamkulu are a special & secret group of men that dress in costumes and masks and provocatively dance when the village chief invites them to special ceremonies. The Gule are considered to be in an animal state when dancing & are not responsible for their behavior. It has been rumored that if you cross a Gule's path, you could be potentially kidnapped. Children run away in fear of them. The dance is symbolic of meshing of the the ancestral spiritual world and the present. It was quite a sight to see :)

The Gule Wamkulu

During village homestay, I witnessed a girls' initiation in which the Gule Wamkulu were performing. Many Christian religions forbid their congregants from attending events with in which the Gule perform because of their lewd behavior. At the initiation, girls naked and decorated with beads danced to the beat of the drums and with the encouragement of the Gule Wamkulu. These girls had reached puberty...the day before the Big Dance, the girls gathered around a large tree to learn about their menses and childbearing. The Gule Wamkulu danced all weekend. The one time I was out late in the village was to watch the Gule in the moonlight...a small group of us danced with them!