Ndingangakhe
ndisithele Kwimpazamo
zonke Ndibe
nemizuzu ndedwa ekuthandazeni
I didn’t
know how to write about Lalela and my experience of visiting this place until I
read a chapter from bell hook’s Belonging:
a culture of place. My friend and her partner live on a farm in
Magaliesburg. They named the farm Lalela and opened it up for friends to visit
and experience life differently from city life. I have been here for almost
three weeks and I came with the sole purpose of finding some peace and quiet.
And I have experienced it in abundance.
In her
chapter “Touching the earth” bell reflects on the relationship she has with the
earth. I had read this essay when I first read the book but the essay reads
differently now that I have experienced what bell writes about beyond the
initial reading and understanding. Here are a few extracts from the essay which
resonate with what I have experienced at Lalela as well as what has emerged in
the conversations I’ve had with other people who have been a…