Worship at Impaphala
(Sunday, 6 May 2007)
Text of report letter to North Weymouth church:
Sanibona, Pilgrim Church!
This e-mail will give a bit of information about our Sunday visit to Impaphala. A set of nine additional separate messages will forward some photos from the visit.
This was our Sunday for Impaphala, to deliver the items from North Weymouth – the scrapbook, prayer shawl, stole, and the two books – with the additional plan to have a first conversation by telephone between Noelle O’Rourke and the indicated prayer connection from Impaphala, Mrs. Siphiwe Xulu.
We were due at Impaphala either at 11, per Rev. Shangase, or at 10:30, per Mrs. Xulu. (The service is theoretically supposed to start at 10.) We aimed for the earlier time, giving ourselves plenty of leeway for the two hours or so it should take us to get there from Umhlanga (just north of, and municipally within, the city of Durban) where we stay while here in South Africa. The trip up by car isn’t terribly difficult, half of it on the N2 National (interstate quality) highway along the coast, to Gingindlovu where we take off on the R66 northwards and inland. This is the route up to Melmoth and beyond to Ulundi, the Zululand capital and erstwhile competitor for provincial capital, before the ANC gained control of the provincial government and decided that its city-boy bureaucrats and provincial government ministers could stay in Pietermaritzburg rather than facing the relocation to Ulundi, as had been one of the goals of the IFP when it controlled the province. It was a Sunday morning, but yet it seemed as if there were fewer speeding Mercedes and BMWs with tinted glass zipping along on the R66, than in our prior visits while the 'co-capital' idea was still on the cards. This route does make one begin to realize how much sugar cane is grown here – a lot! It’s rather a boring vista along the flat coastal plane, but as you climb inland, the rolling hills with wave upon wave of sugar cane is more interesting. We took one stop, at Eshowe, in an ‘under new management’ Total brand service station; the new management did not make it superfluous that (as we’ve learned to do) we had carried a spare roll of toilet paper with us in the trunk of the car.
We had our earlier notes on the route to the Impaphala church, and reached it in good order, on our earlier time target. The church sits along a road which is paved until a few kilometers before the church, on a separated ridge, over a steep valley from the road; when we’d first visited Impaphala two years ago, getting to the church from the road was a major adventure, as the steepness of the downward and upward inclines of the dirt drive was rivaled by the gullies that ran along and across the drive, making the sort of road that makes one ponder the in terrorem clauses of the rental car contract. There is a primary school near by the church on this ridge, and it was the impending visit of some official to that school that seems to have spurred the re-grading of the drive, so now the way into the church is, while not easy, at least passable in a compact, low clearance, vehicle. When you get up to the school, you drive around the side, on a half-lane track, back through a couple of gates up to the old mission church, with the manse behind it, all sitting on the point of the ridge with nice views through the trees to the hills around.
When we arrived, the congregation was beginning to gather. A couple of automobiles were parked there (Mr. and Mrs. Xulu, who are both high school principals, and Mr. Nkhathi [a stab at the spelling of that name, of which there are a number of variations], a newly elected deacon who is a primary school principal, were arriving by that means), and several parishioners were coming packed into the covered bed of a ‘bakkie’ – a small pick-up truck --; and some on foot. But it was unlikely that the service would get underway for a while yet, to allow for additional arrivals. We’d been alerted by Rev. Shangase that it was an Amabutho service, today, so the members of the local branch of that ‘men’s’ organization of the Zulu churches of the Congregational tradition, dedicated to evangelization, would have responsibility for the service including the reflection on scripture, testimony, and choice of hymns and such; Rev. Shangase had arranged that when they were done with that, a ‘part two’ would be tacked on, for us to address the congregation with greetings from North Weymouth.
We met (Rev.) Lungisani and (Mrs.) Nokuthula Shangase in the manse, the old mission house back behind the church. They had come up the night before from Durban via Mathonsi, the other church that he serves, an hour or so away towards Durban; there’d been a funeral there. They were each in the khaki uniform as an Ibutho ['soldier']; Amabutho -- formally, Amabutho ka Kristu, the 'Soldiers of Christ', while referred to as the ‘men’s’ organization of the church, actually has more women members in many of the churches, including (as with Nokuthula) women who are members as well of Isililo, the dominant women’s organization. Lungisani had a bit of a cold, and wasn’t in any great rush to lead us over to the church for the service, anticipating that it would be a while yet before they actually got going. As we were served tea and biscuits, Nokuthula joined us and we picked up a few strands of conversation we’ve had going with her for a year or more, now, about family and church matters.
Lungisani retrieved Mrs. Xulu (Siphiwe is her name) from the church and brought her back to the manse to introduce us, and Ruthann followed up on the discussions that she’d had by telephone earlier with Siphiwe concerning the hope that we could make contact that afternoon with Noelle, to put them in touch for the beginnings of the prayer connection. We found out a little more about her, as well – that both she and her husband are high-school principals, his school with 600 or so students being near to Impaphala, and hers much further down the same road, at a newer but very rural school with 300 or so students. She also taught isiZulu, and threatened to teach us as well. The family lived in Sunnydale (sp?), a suburb of the nearest town of any size, the sugar company town of Eshowe. Mr. Xulu’s father’s family were from Impaphala, and it was there that the father, himself a school inspector who’d moved the family around the province while Mr. Xulu was growing up, had decided to settle on his retirement, establishing the link which had led to the son’s family coming to the area and back to the family's home church as well.
Rev. Shangase had been unconcerned about the timing of the beginning of the service, but there wasn’t as much prior singing of choruses as we’d have anticipated, and by the time he and we and Mrs. Xulu were heading over to the church, they’d already forged into the opening prayers, which left us standing, with another latecomer, on the church steps waiting to enter. This was a nice moment, though, hearing Mr. Xulu intoning the prayer from within the church, with the sun shining brightly outside on the old mission church and on us, waiting there, as the hills of sugar cane spread out beyond us in all directions. We were admitted, and Rev. Shangase gave introductions, reminding the folks of who we were and why we were there, and outlining the intended manner of proceeding. And so Mr. Xulu and another deacon, a woman member of Amabutho, proceeded, announcing hymns, Mr. Xulu delivering reflections on the reading from Acts (Paul on the road to Damascus), and the woman deacon giving a brief testimony, and more hymns (well sung, and including – it seems always to be a tune of choice when we’re visiting here – something set to ‘My country ‘tis of thee’ [rather than ‘God save the Queen’, of course, in an American missionary church]), and a prayer or two, and then it was declared to be time for us to do our thing. We had reached part two.
So Jan stood up and transitioned with the ‘i3L chorus,’ which only a few of those in attendance would have heard or remembered, but – aside from a complaint from the other US citizen in attendance that it had been pitched, the first time for this, too low – by the end of the once-through, everyone was singing along (it’s a major talent, the quick uptake for choruses by the people of these churches). And that done, he gave initial greetings in as close to isiZulu as he can manage, a text which was originally crafted last year for greetings brought to the KZN Region’s Annual General Meeting in Durban, so translated for that purpose by our (trusted) friend Florence Madlala of the Lamontville church (participating in i3L as the match for the Townsend church), so we’re reasonably sure he’s actually saying what he thinks he’s saying, and then in English with specific greetings from North Weymouth Pilgrim, recounting the sequence of our visits to Impaphala and to North Weymouth. And we were so pleased to be able to remind them of the glasses, tablemat/trivet, cross on chain, and communion table covers that they’d sent over to North Weymouth with us last year, and Rev. Bickford’s assurance that those would be in use, especially this day, as the Pilgrim church celebrated communion – so that through these items, Impaphala would also be participating in the Lord’s Table that day at Pilgrim; and there were appreciative murmurs.
We had with us, this time again, items from North Weymouth for Impaphala, preceded by a Massachusetts map showing the Pilgrim church’s location, that we’d worked up. The prayer shawl was presented and explained by Ruthann, to Mrs. Xulu who gave a response and talked a bit in isiZulu about her hopes (and trepidations) for the role she was taking on, asking for prayers that she would be capable. And the books and the scrapbook were given to Rev. Shangase on behalf of the church, especial note being made of the pen pal information from some kids, and the decorated ornaments, we guess you’d call them, from the Sunday school kids to their counterparts at Impaphala. The stole was presented directly to Rev. Shangase.
And then Jan talked a bit more about the manner and importance of the attempt to connect, to re-connect, these two churches of the Congregational tradition, so far away in geographical terms but so close in historical terms. The conclusion was greeted by smiles and applause, following which Skhumbuzo Manzini, the youth contact for the relationship with North Weymouth whom we’d met several times previously, gave a brief summary of what had transpired for those of the congregation who were less comfortable with the flood of English to which they’d been subjected.
The announcements followed by the Secretary, and the offering, and Jan was asked by Mr. Xulu to deliver thanks for that, and a closing prayer, after which no one was quite sure whether we were all done, until Rev. Shangase announced that it was time to leave. There was good conversation as people exchanged news and greetings as they were leaving, and we, Mrs. Xulu and the Shangases retreated to the manse to attempt the call to Noelle. This call DID eventually go through, after some concern that the cell phone coverage in the manse wasn’t up to snuff to allow that means to be used (it’s better outside, on one side of the church; no one’s quite sure why it’s so bad up there, the cell phone providers seem to think it’s supposed to be adequate, but ‘I can only get a single bar,’ as Lungisani notes). The manse land line is a prepaid thing, and there’s per usual some issue as to whether or not there’s any money left on the account; in this instance, we had the benefit that we wished to use our VIP account, reversing the call from SA, and so would be calling an ‘0800’ toll-free access line, which should mean that there’d be no drag on the church line prepaid account for the call. It took a while to figure out how to make this all work from a rotary-dial phone, but Nokuthula knew the trick and after, oh, five attempts to make the call, there it was ringing, and we’d reached Noelle on her Sunday morning, and were able to put her and Siphiwe on the line with each other. It was a joy to sit across the room and watch Siphiwe’s side of the conversation, and to get the sense that, indeed, they were hashing out a schedule for them to speak again later that day, to begin the workings of the prayer connection between the two churches. Hallelujah!
There’d been no mention of it being on the agenda, but lunch was laid out for us and Lungisani and Mrs. Xulu, consisting of a mild chicken curry of a sort, with rice, green salad, macaroni and tuna, and ‘mash’ – mashed butternut squash which they call, but isn’t to us, 'pumpkin'. Over the meal, we were able to hear more about Mrs. Xulu and details from the talk she’d had with Noelle.
Mrs. Xulu had been left there by her husband and children, who’d evidently gone on to lunch at the family place; after we were done, Mrs. Xulu was fetched by her eldest son in one of the vehicles and as we left about the same time, after negotiating the ski slopes down and up back to the road, they headed left further into the rural area, and we turned right back towards Eshowe and the sea, and thence down to Durban. We avoided the Total petrol station at Eshowe, however.
We returned to Umhlanga tired, but very energized by this great opportunity to experience the Impaphala church and people again, and to serve as the delegates for Pilgrim’s gifts and tokens to them, and will remember this day especially for the wonderful and significant first step that’s being taken regarding the prayer connection between the churches and the people of the churches.
Siyabonga nKhosi!