Khulumani associate Dr Ben Khumalo-Seegelken travelled from Oldenburg in Germany this weekend to join the people of uMbumbulu in a cleansing and reconciliation ceremony that took place on Sunday 27 October 2013 at eZimwini (Ogagwini Area) in the uMbumbulu District.
Dr Ben’s visit to South Africa in September 2013 led to the reactivation of processes that had been initiated in 2010 when the first such ceremony was held in Vulindlela. See the attached paper entitled ‘UkuHlambulukelana nokuBuyisana – – Cleansing and Reconciling in KwaZulu-Natal Today’ which describes the origin of the ceremony of ukubuyisana“, meaning to ‘meet halfway in order to proceed together and to bury the hatchet.’
Dr Ben in his article explains that ukuHlambulukelana and iHlambo meaning ‘to come to terms with each other once more’ to ‘cleanse,restore to spotlessness and respectability’ were practices that his fore-bears were said to have performed to get rid of the invisible depressing shadow and the nightmares that afflicted people who had human blood on their hands as a result of combat.
The uMbumbulu ceremony of 27 October 2013 has been the initiative of the Premier of KwaZulu Natal, Mr Senzo E. Mchunu in partnership with Sinani, the KwaZulu-Natal Programme for Survivors of Violence. See www.survivors.org.za
Sinani, meaning “we are with you”, works with communities in KwaZulu Natal, affected by violence, poverty and HIV & Aids.
Khulumani board member, Mr Musa Ndlovu, from Richmond, planned to attend the ceremony as a representative of Khulumani Support Group.
For more information on Dr Ben’s work, please see http://www.benkhumalo-seegelken.de/suedafrika.html” target=”_blank” style=”color: rgb(17, 85, 204); font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial;”>http://www.benkhumalo-seegelken.de
