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Thursday, June 25, 2009

Gule wa Ingoma


(Video - may take a while to download)
Sunday, June 21 there was a large Ingoni tribe dance (Gule wa Ingoma) where I live. It was originally a war dance performed after a successful battle.
About 400 people from Malawi and nearby Zambia attended and it was quite a celebration of traditional culture.

It was organized by my landlord and Malawian brother Williams Lipunga as a cultural celebration and to welcome me to the community.












Many village headmen attended as well as the Group Village Headman, who oversees 14 village headmen.












There was also a small delegation from Mchinji including 2 Peace Corps volunteers: Irene and Lauren, the District Planning Director, and the assistant Forestry Officer.










There is always food involved and the women here are cooking Nsima, the staple food of Malawi. It is a pattie made from a thick cooked mixture of maize flour and water. A Malawian does not feel satisfied unless there is Nsima.















The men wear goatskin and carry a "club" which is a stick with a ball of the end. You can see it between the feet of the dancer on the right.

It was a great day for all!















1 comments:

Mammalo said...

Thursday...3:21 PM...6-25-09...Thanks for your continued photo display and editorial of your life in Africa...My health is much better as I am off all heart pills because my health is good as well as my numbers but I am on a cholesterol pill...I finally got my 1st laptop:MacBook which I am typing to you from the Willits' library who has Free WiFi...We are growing more foods and yesterday we split our 1st strawberry...We appear to be having much volunteer squash coming up in our compost/soil area...USA & California & Mendocino County & Willits continue to get further broke with reductions in service and continued layoffs...We miss and remember you but who am I?...With Peace and Health and Harmony...Be Balanced...Be Thankful...Be Whee...

Disclaimer

Even though it is just little bits of electricity flying through the ether the contents of this blog are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the US government or the Peace Corps.