Xhosa Funeral

Our reporters find themselves in the middle of a Xhosa funeral in Gugulethu. Here they capture the sights and sounds of the traditional Catholic ceremony over-layed with African songs, and the lively wake with plenty of food and friends.

Spreading the word

May 25th, 2010

Yesterday saw final touches added to the report from the Gugulethu group on the funeral of their aunty. We drove to the graveyard where students Linda, Alutha, Mangaliso and Thanda recorded intros to their report. Tutor Lukhanyo Calata gave guidance notes on the footage they shot on Saturday at the burial and the wake. We’re going in for a re-cut and adding a voice-over too. The report should be ready for viewing by the end of the week, so watch this space!

The Khayelitsha group goes from strength to strength. Students booked out phones over the weekend and will be cutting their news reports together today. We watched their intros to camera yesterday and they’re absolutely brilliant. Pelisa and Sisa in particular were straight out of SABC (The South African equivalent to the BBC). Students clapped at the end of these reports, astonished at how quickly they could look and seem like reporters, the reality of what they were preparing to do finally sinking in,  their confidence rising.

Our Producer here, the canny Simcelile Kalimashe, appeared on Khayelitsha community radio yesterday to spread the word about WFC, and to warm up our potentially huge township audience. He called me straight after he left the studio to tell me he was being inundated with calls from interested participants. So it looks like we have our next workshop set-up thanks to Simi’s sales techniques!

The weather is holding and we’re making real progress. I remain overwhelmingly impressed by the talent of these young people. During a conversation with workshop participant, Manez, I learned the students in the Khayelitsha group are pleased to be participating. They’re hungry, Manez tells me, and they see the value in this workshop. Now I just hope we live up to expectations!

Unexpected Experience

May 23rd, 2010

Having travelled to Gugs on Saturday for an extra lesson with the Amy Biehl group, we found ourselves in the middle of a Xhosa funeral. The young people needed a lift to the graveyard  and would be able to leave after that so I found myself watching a traditional Catholic ceremony over-layed with African songs. The women of the church, in their black and white uniform with a streak of red ribbon around their necks sang the loudest. After a while we gave phones to the kids and they shot the burial, capturing each guest throwing sand into the earth and the faces of the ladies sitting under the awning away from the midday sun.

At the wake, while the students shot interviews,  I spoke to the parents about how much they appreciated Amy Biehl and what a difference it made to their children’s lives. Plates of food, fizzy drinks and smiles came from all sides.  I had washed my hands in the big tub and was from then on part of the gathering.

We drove over to the school where we had been given permission to use the computers to edit. Having been delayed by the funeral, we were rather late, but the Principal forgave us when we showed him some of the footage from the funeral, along with interviews with the family of the deceased and a report to camera from some of the students.

We converted the footage and began to edit. As ever, the limited Ram in the computers made playback hard so we whipped out two of the laptops donated by Jenny Estill and Rex Salisbury from Davidson University, which saved the day.

Back at the wake, we gave a DVD of the short report to the sister. It was a great lesson in how quickly their work can turnaround. We found half the group playing on iTunes which they figured out instantly and loved listening to the music in the collection.

It was a great day. More to come soon

If anyone has an old laptop they would be willing to donate to this project, please contact [email protected]

Cheers!