Down by the Waterfall

If you go down in the gorge today, you're sure of a big surprise. If you go down in the gorge today, you better go in disguise! For at the waterfall there was this surprise, religious pilgrims camping. Oh they are not allowed to stay overnight yet alone make fires but at 9am this morning I inadvertently woke them up.

Night of the Dead

Okay now this is a sore point for me. I think I am a moderate person, and I tolerate different peoples, cultures, and beliefs but last night, well it was too much. Lets call it the Night of the Dead, as I am dead tired writing this but it needs to be told. Let me start from the beginning. A neighbour who is a South African Police member approached me about 6pm with whom I believe was a family member and 2 other men.

The neighbour wanted access into the kloof or gorge through the gate at the end of our road for the 3 men who wanted to collect holy water. The gate is locked due to security reasons, so I directed them to a public entrance a few kilometres away but they weren’t happy using that entrance due to it being unsafe for their car which was a black VW Polo. Understandable as Polos are targeted by criminals but they wanted to park on my property. It was getting dark and because it was my neighbour asking I gave the go ahead, it was only for a few hours while they hike down into the kloof and back. I expected them back by latest 8pm. Yes I was concerned and I voiced my concern that walking at night in the veldt with its dangerous cliffs was not the wisest thing to do. But they were adamant.

I had Connect Group meeting yesterday evening, so I asked my tenant if she could open the gate when they returned. But when I got back from Connect at about 10 o’ clock and the 3 men were not back from fetching holy water, I started to get worried, so I phoned my neighbour who was on duty. At first he thought I was joking, but I was serious, he rushed over from work. Once here, he tried to phone his family member but no answer; he then called the wife to get the cell numbers of the other 2 men. When the wife heard that the men had not returned, she started crying over the phone. Cellphone reception is virtually non-existent deep in the kloof. So with the police lights flashing at the end of my road, my neighbour and I went into the veldt and hiked to the edge of the kloof overlooking the closest holy water sources to my home. We shined our touches down into the gaping chasm, my neighbour called out to them, but no answer. It seemed dead below us.

It was way too dangerous to go down further into the kloof in the dark, so our only bet was to wait till first light and if they still had not returned, then our option was to bring out the dogs and form a search party. I remember saying to my neighbour, that either they lied to us and planned to sleep over night in the kloof or they got hurt somehow.

My neighbour then drove over to the public entrance and found some Zionist Christian Church (ZCC) religious pilgrims hanging about there, at this time of night? After questioning them, it was discovered that a ZCC ceremony is being held in deep the kloof near the holy waters and is planned to end at midnight. I was very upset when I heard this because this meant they lied to us big time.

I showered and called it a night. While trying to find sleep, I remembered that tonight is the eve of All Saints, or Halloween as it is called in the Western world. Oh dear, this is now serious. A secret religious ceremony is being held in the kloof on the Night of the Dead.

Now I know that the ZCC mixes the Christian beliefs with African traditions such as ancestor worship. The ZCC stem from the Apostolic Faith Mission and I never thought that the Catholicism beliefs of honouring the dead saints especially today, All Saints Day, would be celebrated by them in the form of ancestor worship in the dead of the night, excuse my pun.

The 3 men finally emerged from the kloof about 02:30am in the morning. Talk about the dead rising from the hole in the ground, I was not a happy chappy but remained cool and collective, well as best I could in the wee hours of the morning.

ZCC Disaster

Protea trees are their own worst enemy, as they are one of the few species of trees that can burn while still green. In other words, you don’t have to wait till the wood to dry before using as firewood.

Down in the valley, the pilgrims come from all over to access the holy water springing from the rocks. Thankfully reports I received on Saturday from the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens downstream from where we are, is that the water has never smelt cleaner in a long time. Thanks to all the hard efforts by all the groups concerned. And the pilgrims are too very happy that the holy water is now clean from sewerage.

I don't have a problem with most of the pilgrims, as they just come to pray and collect the holy water, but some like this chap from the Star denomination of the ZCC religious group shown above, spend a couple of nights at a time, roughing it in caves and rock crevasses. It is these chaps which cause the problems.

I caught this ZCC Star member breaking down Protea tree branches to use for fire. Now I have nearly exhausted all avenues in stopping the destruction of the Protea trees. The trees are protected by law but no one, not even the Green Scorpions, are doing anything to stop it. I have spoken to individual pilgrims, I have shown them the alien trees that can be cut down, I have left alternative timber for them to use as firewood, I have spread the story of the Mamlambo, an evil African spirit that lives at the waterfall below us that, who is angry that people are cutting down her children, yet still the Protea tress are being destroyed.

It is becoming a disaster area, and I am losing the battle. Maybe some high ranking ZCC bishop can help? My last resort is that I may need to move away from the religious groups and look at the traditional healers such as sangoma and inyangas. They are respected by the people, so who can help put some powerful muti around here in the Protea forest and along with the ancestors, and the African spirit living down by the waterfall, the Mamlambo, they all can help protect this African heritage?

Take me to the water

I woke up this morning from a weird dream which was still vivid in my mind and although still very early, I phoned each one represented in my dream straight away to see if they are okay. This is not the first time that God had given me such a dream; I will put my dream to post soon on my other blog where I rarely post. My other dream still resides there to this day.

After a wet summer, it seems that winter has arrived early this morning, as took a stroll in a chilly 7˚C down to the waters of the great dirty Jukskei River. The icy wind tore right through me while I tried to generate heat by a frisk pace and all the while my mind was trying to make sense of the dream.

Down by the water's edge, it was even colder, but a singing and clapping of hands drew me ever closer. As drew nearer, a group of Zionists all dressed in white greeted me with big smiles on their freezing faces as they were getting baptized in the blessed Jukskei River. Now who would have thought that there was religion in that dirty water? It must have been freezing in the water but the Zionists had the biggest smiles on their faces as they saw me and invited me closer to the cold water's edge. After a Zion Christian Church (ZCC) congregant gets prayed and splashed on with the holy river water, they emerge reborn anew with their old selves floating down the dirty but blessed Jukskei River. So take me to the water of the blessed Jukskei. Take me to the water where none but the righteous shall be saved.