One Big Extended Family.

During our 2 months of training, we were divided into small language groups. As I mentioned, I was learning Xitsonga along with 5 other Peace Corps trainees. We were assigned to a LCF (Language and Cultural Facilitator) who was our teacher during these two months. Our teacher was a young woman named Ntombi (Ntombifuthi is her full name I have since learned). She was beautiful, very kind and a bit shy at first but she tried to get our unruly group to settle down and learn. We came to form a strange and interesting crew – everyone with a different story - one big extended family of sorts. We were sad to say goodbye to our teacher after training ended. A few of the volunteers in our group actually ended up at sites near Ntombi and she has ushered them into the community and made them feel welcome.

I am telling you this because we learned that Ntombi’s father passed away last week. She invited us all to the funeral and this past weekend our entire language group made the journey to attend his service. Her father was a magistrate and was well known throughout the community. The funeral was packed with family and friends. We all showed up early in the morning (the funeral started at 6AM and didn’t end until after 1PM – and then there was continued socializing into the afternoon…) and it was a beautiful tribute to what seemed like a great man who unfortunately I didn’t get to meet but he certainly raised a wonderful daughter. And even though we kept telling Ntombi not to worry about us she wanted to make sure we were all taken care of and looked after - introducing us to family and friends.

It just really made me appreciate not only the kindness I have been shown by people that I have met on this journey so far (and it’s only just the beginning) but also the wonderful beauty of family and community that are just a way of life here. At first I didn’t understand it and I’m not sure I could completely explain it either but once you start to simply live in it for a bit, it just kind of makes sense.

Here is a picture of our language group. One big, extended family.