Tag Archives: Kwamhlanga

The Gates of Larger Life: Weekend Away With the Family

The Gates of Larger Life: Weekend Away With the Family

On my way home from Kwamhlanga, I pondered how to describe my weekend away.  My host mother had invited me there for a sojourn to her mother’s house.  The town wasn’t far, but we would be staying overnight.

What was the occasion, exactly?  “Church.” 

I suspected there was more involved, since she had broached the subject weeks in advance and invested the days preceding in amassing buckets of handmade amakheki (sweet biscuits or ‘fat cakes’).

“What will we be doing?” I ventured, in my elementary Zulu. 

“Praying.”

Despite the apparent logic of these replies, I couldn’t quell the sense that something more awaited me.

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