WE DO THIS FOR THE CHILDREN OF OUR CHILDREN

It was already dark on Friday night when we saw the taxi's against the mountainface.

As planned they stopped , feigning misdirection, and drove off with all the luggage just after all the men and boys had stepped out for a breather.

From down below we could see the first flashlights flicking on.

They're going the wrong way!! They're going the wrong way!

And they went a way we did not know existed, but they made it safe and sound, the boys immediately depending on their mentors. This was how the camp began.

It was a camp where men and boys spent time together travelling on a journey, mostly unaware of the way ahead, but doing it together. Playing on the beach, being challeneged with the obstacle course , walking at night up the mountain with baboons in the bushes...



All of these were only opportunities to bond and to trust.

A circle of men with boys watching big-eyed as men show real strength by entering their feelings with courage.

A solemn moment when mentors and boys commit.

A boy sitting on the beach with a man next to him. Not speaking, just sitting.

These were moments that are the stuff of lifelong memory.

Being privileged to witness this gold, I realized that these boys and men are forging a relationship that will last beyond the manhood of the boys.

This sacred substance of mentorship which passes between a man and a boy passes on, through the boy when he is a man, to the next generation of boys.

Our work is not just for today.

It is for the tomorrow of tomorrow.

THE FIRST INGOMA KUSASA

Breaking from the traditional Ingoma Ubusuku,Songs of the night, we held the first Ubuntu Bamadoda Ingoma Kusasa, Songs in the morning. In preparation of the mentorship cap next week three of the four Ubuntu Bamadoda isicathamiya groups gathered together on Saturday, despite the rain. each boy's choir delivered their first performance, and each men's choir did a performance. the vibe was relaxed and everyone had a lot of fun. We did not compete, but we shared our music with each other. Zola Qumsa deliverd a passionate speech and call to the men to take their participation int he programme seriously and to remember that is for the boys on the inside and the boys on the outside that we are doing this. 

The event ended with an inner circle of boys moving around a larger outer circle of men. The men were singing to the boys: It is your right my child, it is your right.

The star of the show was zola's youngest son, 4 years old, who proudly joined his older brothers and did all the steps his father and brothers were doing!

Leaving the session I could not help but be immensely grateful for the opportunity to work with such richness in the midst of such apparent poverty.

UBUNTU BAMADODA IS ROLLING!

This week we are:

1 in between the two mentorship camps,
2 after the weekend at the Darling Voorkamerfest,
3 organizing a meeting for our groups on Saturday, where all the boys and men can meet each other
4 doing two Men as Partners workshops
5 hosting a mentor-circle
6 and a men's support circle

!!!!!

The Men as Partners programme is also running strong. After a meeting with the local department of Health we realised we have an opportunity to combine our VCT programme with our MAP programme.
From now on we will offer VCT and entrance into our HIV care and support programme at the end of every MAP workshop.

I think it is safe to say the whole Men's programme is running at full steam right now. All three our Ubuntu Bamadoda target areas are in full implementation phase, the skills programme has been running for a while with the MAP workshops, the english lessons and the basic computer lessons, we are hoping to start soon with sound engineering training and a basic approach to marketing, before the year is out.

The Mentorship programme has had a powerful lift-off with the first camp for the mentors and the mentors stepping into the work with the boys, 22 Sept 2006 we are doing the boys and men camp, and that is just around the corner! Along with this we have recently employed two volunteers to begin a schools - based version of Ubuntu Bamadoda.

I believe the Darling Voorkamerfest has been the strongest development in the promotion and employment aspect of the programme yet. The networking opportunity was immense and we did not miss it!

So it is a busy busy time at this beginning of Spring.

And then while all of this going on, a group of men ,gathered in a shack sing a song:

"Elilungelo gelakho, it is your right my child."

In the same room a group of boys are watching them.

LONG WALK TO FREEDOM

The guys keep on impressing me. After we agreed on “hello my baby” as the apt song for the performance in Evita se perron, they came on stage in front of the country’s foremost artists and performed one of Ladysmith’s songs called “Long walk to freedom”.
It has been a night of excitement and joy as the Khayelitsha United mambazo group is singing their way into the darling voorkamerfest.
Apparently voorkamerfest is a dutch concept, it basicly means the local community open up their homes for performers and audiences to use as venues.
We are hosted at George and Norma’s place in station street in Darling. Their massive stoep in front of the house became the performance area and soon happy audiences were dancing their way to their transport after the performances.

On the way here we picked up an Ubuntu Bamadoda banner and as soon as we arrived we strapped it to the minibus we are using. Everywhere we go everyone can see:
“Ubuntu Bamadoda, there is a boy watching you”

I still feel sad that Khayelitsha United Mambazo missed out on the mentorship camp, as it is so great to hang out with the guys. Maybe we can make a plan and arrange something.

For now the darling voorkamerfest is an amazing experience. Tonight we had a show where all the performers at the fest did a short clip of their show, it was a powerful, funny, moving and amazing two hours.

Although I know I might be biased, I think the loudest applause was for a little isicathamiya group from Khayelitsha. The perron is a venue that is unashamedly “BOER”! With Pieter Dirk Uys’s typical style he had collected hundreds of examples of all kinds of mathoms. Letters from Pik and PW, Mandela and Mangosuthu adorns the walls in the museum and the stage is surrounded by artwork depicting some famous victories of the boers.

Tonight the guys decided to sing : “Long walk to freedom”

No more hey you boy take this do this go there go here
No NO No
No more white boss saying do this well done you did a beautiful job boy

You go guys. You go.

It is almost one AM now and bongani is going to sleep.

THERE IS A BOY WATCHING YOU

The dark wind was howling and pulling at our bodies. I felt the hands of the man on either side of me as a strong presence and support. We were standing firm on the top of a mountain. A circle of men. The wind was doing its best to blow us off the mountain. It was late at night and we were all tired as we shouted our presence to each other.

Yes, I felt.
Yes, this is the way it should be.
I am invigorated and tired.
Yes, we are ready for the boys.

The journey up the mountain at night was a good balance-point for the journey we had taken in the day. At night we had gone up the mountain. In the day we had gone into the dark places in ourselves.
The memories of being alone.
Of being a child that had to survive, take care of a younger sibling, avoid the death by fear or hunger. The memories of the dark things children should never experience.
In order to become a mentor, we went to the place inside ourself where there was no mentor. We looked. We felt as men seldom admit to feeling.
Grief walked with us, and silently alongside, Hope.
As tears and relief flowed through the room on Saturday morning, there were sixteen men, embracing the boy they carried inside.
And there were sixteen boys, relieved at finally gaining the opportunity to just be boys.

And then we played! Lappies introduced us to the obstacle course in the dunes where we climbed and fell and crawled and swung and felt the joy of challenge.

The ocean and the mountain provided us with gifts of manhood, and gifts of boyhood.
This camp was real. It lay the foundation for our return, when we will play again, with sixteen boys inside us, and thirty boys outside us.

This camp was the preparation we regard as necessary to become a mentor. The next camp we will have the boys with us.

We will be ready.

Somewhere on this journey man had said with deep feeling: “Remember, there is a boy watching you.”

This has become our slogan.

“Remember, there is a boy watching you.”