Celebration of community traditions

Bantu Bambanani Aids Project, a non-profit organisation (NPO) held a retro lunch at the Ivory Park Region 2 offices calling the young and old to come together for a nicely prepared traditional meal.

Some of the community members came to dine in their traditional outfits, while conversations around the table were about, life back then, food, education and Ubuntu, among others.

Founder of the NPO, Phina Roy explained the reason why they invited the elderly people as well as the youth, “The old will show the young how they used to live because it seems a bit more different than in today’s era, so we can educate our youth .

“Guests are here in their traditional attire and we will be serving lunch made of traditional foods. What we have on the menu today is samp, phuthu and inkomasi, hardbody chicken and beans.”

One of the young guests who attended, Simphiwe Sphofana, had donned his Xhosa traditional attire.

Sphofana said that his garment was inspired by the Xhosa royal house, “The skin or leather and these white beads I have one resemble what gets worn by royalty.

“Heritage Day is a day we remember our ancestors, our roots and where we come from as Africans, thus I am wearing these clothes.

“But with the way society and the youth are today, I don’t think we are embracing our cultures, because if you go around now you will see a lot of people chilling with their beers.

“You will not even see one thing that resembles heritage and I think that shows we are just losing our African values.”

Related Article: 

https://www.citizen.co.za/midrand-reporter/210518/community-for-change/