A story about culture

- a true story from my history professor

Once during fall, during a heavy rain a farmers road risked being flooded. There were branches blocking the drainage pipes and he had to get them out. He needed help from his Xhosa worker, but the worker hesitated – he wasn’t willing to help. The farm owner insisted. The worker still didn’t want to. At the end the farmer forcibly helped him into the water to help him get the branches out. The farmer could tell that he wasn’t happy about it, but he needed his help, otherwise the roads would flood.  He didn’t understand why the servant was being so stubborn.

The next morning when the farmer woke up, the worker was gone. Due to the flood, this was the time when the farmer needed his worker more than ever before.

The worker was gone for five days, and when he came back he had an assortment of beads wrapped around his wrists, neck, legs and stomach. The was bewildered, and yelled at the worker. The worker told him that because the farmer had forced him to go into the water he had become sick. ”I was in that water too, i im perfectly fine, so get your act together” the farmer said. A couple of weeks later the farmer talked with some antrophology professers, and he told them the story.  The professesers told the the farmer that according to the worker’s Xhoxa religion, the ancesters live in the water. If you weren’t on good terms with your ancesters you would have to make certain sacrifices and follow rituals. The farmer immidiately felt bad. ”This is a matter of different cultures” the professor told the farmer! After years of growing up in South Africa, even the farmer can be  humbled by the complexity of different cultures.

- Sabine