Student name: Donvé-Anne Fullard

Student number: 69388288

Course: AFL 1501

Assessment title: Assessment 6 (688684)

Due date: 14 November 2023

Name of teaching assistant: Melusi Xaba

Group number: AFL 1501-23-S2-85T

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction

First Portfolio Activity

Second Portfolio Activity

Third Portfolio Activity

Fourth Portfolio Activity

Reference list

Plagiarism declaration

Introduction
This portfolio is an intimate journey through the inner landscapes of the various languages
of the people of South Africa’s hearts. By exploring our own language, territories and
soundscapes, we are able to resonate with the sound of fellow travellers and perhaps even
break through our collective barriers.

Oral traditions and storytelling carry with them tools for life and remind us how similar we
are. The tasks we undertake remind us where we come from and understanding that, we
see where ‘others’ come from.

As fellow South Africans and citizens of the worlds, we are survivors carving out a new way
of life to a different drumbeat here at the southernmost tip of Africa. Our communities are
not grouped in the same ways of fellows on other continents, some who seem to have
forgotten the notion that it takes a village to raise a child. And yet, drawing family-trees the
world over, is a project of anchoring. We are part of the human race and we need to belong.
Visiting the great variety and unique, traditional ways in which each clan celebrates births,
deaths, weddings and Seasons, all make for a rich cultural tapestry which needs to be
preserved at all costs.

What’s in a name? Exploring my own double-barrelled name, I gained insight into the side-
effects (cultural schizophrenia?) of having one foot in Africa and the other in Europe.
Fortunately, my Sotho nick- name offers a stabilizing third leg to a tricky triangle!

FIRST PORTFOLIO ACTIVITY

Task 1 n/a

Task 2
Reflection

My name is Donvé-Anne Fullard and I was born in 1967 in Kroonstad, a town in the Freestate.
From my name, one may notice that my story has been a little complicated: people always
asked where I come from and seemed incredulous that I come from a what was then, a
predominantly Afrikaans environment. Although the primary years of my education was in
Afrikaans, the language of my heart became English for various reasons, not least the fact
that I had ‘mixed’ (language-wise) grandparents and parents.

I experienced reticence answering the ice-breaker question and in retrospect, after this course,
I know the reason: after matriculating in 1985 I wanted to run away from my Afrikaans
heritage. And I did. I went to an English university, spoke only English, learnt French and
German, wanted to leave the country, and everything it represented to me at the time:
violence, racism, apartheid, unfairness, inequality, myopia and conservatism. My mother’s
language (Afrikaans) and therefore one could say my ‘mother tongue’, was a shameful scar in
my being and I wanted to abort all of it! This course helped me, given another chance, answer
the question to myself at least and acknowledge my heritage sans the guilt I have taken upon
myself to carry.

Firstly, being a classical pianist and accompanist, through music I have had lots of contact
with particularly black choirs singing Eurocentric music. I was fascinated by the introduction
to this course. I grew up on a farm in the Freestate with Sotho people but at the time, none of
us ever learnt more about each other. My factory has mainly Sotho-workers in it, and this
course has guided me to incredibly interesting interviews with my own staff where together
we discovered things about each other’s cultures none of us were aware of.

My expectations have been surpassed and ms Boshomane’s comment that ‘Unisa will take all
the colours under its umbrella in consideration’, was reassuring.

Second Portfolio Activity

Task 1: Family Tree Drawing

Family tree drawing, task 1
Task 2: Clans and Totems

a. I have selected the Sotho culture to gather information about because I grew up and
currently live in the Freestate in areas surrounded by mainly Sotho-people. Also, the
staff-component in my small factory is mainly Sotho folk.
b. Although I have now become acquainted with quite a number of clan names and
totems in the Sotho culture, for this assignment I choose the Bakwena with the
crocodile as their totum.
c. In Lesotho, King Letsie the third represents the royalty of the Bakwena-clan. In my
interview with a knowledgeable member of staff, Makhaleme Tsoeunyane, I learnt
that each clan also has their own dialect or unique manner of speaking. Another
totem-animal is the elephant of the Batlaung-clan. Interesting for me was to learn
that, although the Ndlovu is a Zulu clan, they also adopted the elephant as their
totem. So, an animal (or plant)-totem is not exclusive to one clan. Academia: “The
belief is that the ancestral spirits incarnate the totem animal and dwell in it. Further,
“To adopt an animal as totem meant that it became not only member of the group,
but also their patron and its meat became sacred and is not eaten.” Other southern
Sotho clans Makhaleme knew the the totem-animals of, is the Baphuting with the
Kudu, the Batshweneng adopted the monkey, the Batlokwa, a tree and the Bafokeng
believe the rabbit is sacred.

d. My maternal side has a strong family-history and presence in our lives. The Naudé-family
still celebrates a family festival at the farm Middelvlei in the Eastern Freestate every three
years.

The Naudés were part of a group of people who fled

religious persecution after the Edict of Nantes was declared in 1685. According to geni.com
200 000 French Huguenots emigrated to South Africa, Germany and Switzerland. The Naudé
surname can be found on the list of arrivals in 1722.
My grandfather who went by the name Francois Paulus Naudé framed these ‘lessons for
life’ his grandfather F.P. Naudé from the farm Middelvlei left for his offspring. Visual
example from google search: FP Naudé, Middelvlei.

e.According to most Afrikaners, older people are addressed as “oom” and “tannie.” This can
sometimes become a confusing form of address when English-speakers use the direct
approach of ‘you’ and one’s personal belief is that respect is earnt. I have learnt a lot from
the Sotho-people's incredibly gentle and respectful manners irrespective of other people’s
behaviour.

f.The above-mentioned Afrikaans way of speaking to older people may have been an
adaptation from other European languages seeing that French and German have formal and
informal ways of addressing people according to familiarity. Afrikaans, which have been
called a ‘kitchen-language’, can be a very direct and to-the-point way of expressing people’s
views and emotions. It often borders on being rude according to Western standards. In my
opinion, English as a European language with all its frills and diplomacy, must have had an
influence on our African identities. It is the language of colonists, so with that a kind of
superiority was (falsely) assumed until it became more accessible as the standard language
for communication and learning. In my experience, the shame I felt for being able to speak
Afrikaans and in fact speaking the language, was a double-edged sword, I suppressed part of
who I am yet at the same time could not agree with the things the language symbolised.
Luckily writers like J.M Coetzee whom this course introduced me to, helps me get
perspective.

g.

Third Portfolio Activity

Task 1: Ceremonies and Occasions

I attended and arranged my mother’s funeral a few years ago. Although she was a member
of the Presbyterian Church, one of my siblings felt it was important for him to have the
service in the Dutch Reformed Church. Reaching a compromise, a service was held in town
in the said church and her remains was laid to rest 40 kilometres outside town in the little
family cemetery of the farm she grew up on. The two services or gatherings went as follows:

Family, friends and aquaintances were informed of the date, time and place where the
church-service would be held. I asked my brothers and her siblings to write a short piece to
commemorate her life for the funeral-letter (programme). This brochure was handed out to
everyone who attended church. The service included the usual welcome, a short message
and condolences from the priest. I undertook to do the eulogy and accompanied a singer to
a favourite piece of music she liked. After the committal, the congregation sang a hymn and
retired to the church-hall for tea and treats. This is usually where family-members and
friends meet and talk about the deceased, grief together, perhaps even laugh together and
just mark the end of the person who passed on’s life.

In my mother’s case, a convoy of close family members and a bus of choir members from a
farm-school left to conduct a small ceremony where her ashes would be laid to rest in the
family-cemetery on the farm. Again, her siblings each had an opportunity to say their
goodbyes to her and we listened to some choir-music singing more of her favourite songs.
Everyone gathered for the rest of the day in the garden under the shade of trees and ate
sandwiches, drank tea and talked some more about her life. Her tombstone was erected
much later by her grandson on his return from abroad.

For me, the fact that we were able to offer music to celebrate her life was very important. It
gave her life, which ended rather tragically and in less than desirable circumstances to the
life she was accustomed to, a transcendental edge. The music she so loved was a tangible
reminder for the ones left behind of her effervescent spirit in spite of the sad environment
she found herself in towards the end of her life. Significant and symbolic were the fact that
we offered opera at the formal church in town and “FAK-liedjies” as well as a Sotho hymn
sung by a black children’s choir in the veld on the farm.
In contrast to my mother’s funeral, to this day I don’t know where my father’s ashes are
strewn. My paternal grandfather was a freemason and felt it wasn’t appropriate to have a
funeral. Although I haven’t always agreed with the formal arrangements of funerals, the
resentment I felt taught me several things. My brother was at the time of my father’s
passing on the border, fighting a war no-one believed in. We had no way of contacting him
and I felt at least he would have a grave or place to go to, to come to grips with the reality of
my father’s death on his return.

My mother’s passing could have ended with her ashes being anywhere really, such were the
circumstances of a divided and ‘strewn about’- family at the time. However, it brought her
siblings together, they had to physically remake the road to the old cemetery for us to have
access since parts of the farm no longer belonged to them. Everyone laid down their
differences and remembered where they came from, they could smell the earth, sense their
childhoods, smell and hear the blue gum trees and tell each other stories. By the singing of
the black choir, they were able to be part of the future too and perhaps make sense of the
new journey the country is taking thus making space in hearts and minds.

For me, I could make her a tombstone in my small factory which her grandson went to erect
on his return from working abroad, thus having his own little service with her. For all of us
who grew up there, it bound us together but also to this sacred earth which is Africa. I
understand how important a sense of place is for all of us who feel displaced and don’t have
the opportunity to go back to where we came from and reinforce our sense of belonging.

Photographs:
 The first two photos top left
and middle right is the gravesite at the farm Grasmere 40 km from Kroonstad on the old
road to Bothaville. Her grandson erected the gravestone some months after the funeral at
the site where we celebrated her life. Unfortunately I do not have access to any photos of
the funeral. The other two photographs are programme notes of the service in Kroonstad
and contributions from my mother’s siblings and children.

Fourth Portfolio Activity

Task 1: Ubuntu and Helping Others

I am familiar with the term Ubuntu and have listened to Tutu, Mbeki and Mandela’s
contributions to the term which in general means: “I am because you are.” My favourite
description is by Bishop Tutu who explained that there would be no point to language, if we
had no-one to speak to! And indeed, this is repeated by Magda in Coetzee’s Heart of the
Country when she says: “..but if one cannot think of oneself in words, in pictures, then what
is there to think of oneself in.” (pp 44-45) She finds herself literally in the middle of nowhere
with no-one to talk to and her journal is her saving grace.

The term Ubuntu extends to all areas of our lives: our thoughts, our actions, how we speak,
how we interact with others and underlines the importance of interdependence amongst
humans. As products of nuclear families and the accompanying endeavours, it has become
most urgent that we embrace this philosophy which is directly opposite to the disastrous
path of make-belief self-sufficiency we pursue in the Western world. No man is an island
and never has been!

We are here to help and support one another and walk our brief journey on earth in an
interconnected manner, keeping in mind a community or a team is only as strong as its
weakest link. And that link is everybody’s responsibility.
Yes, donating and/or volunteering is definitely a sign of Ubuntu. The example explained in
our study material, ‘how can I have a good day if I know that you did not rest well?’ comes
to mind. When I am able to donate warm clothing and blankets to people here in the cold
southern Freestate winters because I am blessed with ample is living Ubuntu.There are
many opportunities for sharing in the rural area where I live, - not only material things but
also sharing knowledge eg. reading- and writing skills. Volunteering to read at the recently
upgraded, local library have multi-dimensional benefits. In the rural township community I
am surrounded by, children are going to school with no experience or knowledge of a
language they are instructed in and often have parents who are products of a previous
political system which left some people behind. Sharing what one can and have to equalize
the playing-field for those who still have to enter the game tomorrow is to my mind, the
spirit of Ubuntu.

I will and have donated to strangers on the streets. However, if I sense or know that this has
become a way of life for them, I don’t donate. Since we live in a system of earning our keep,
I ask the recipient to render a small service. At times the boundary-lines are very thin,
especially when drugs are involved and one would like to show compassion and
understanding.

To be completely frank, I have learnt about the benefits of volunteering and donating in
twelve step groups. The core of these programs are that they cannot function without
voluntary contributions of time or money and certainly not without the people attending
them!

If there is one place where the Ubuntu philosophy is working in this Western system, it is in
the twelve steps groups of AA right across the board. Although the people attending these
groups are in trouble, it brought them to the insight that everyone helps another when they
are alone on the ocean on a boat. Personally, I find, adopting Ubuntu as a way of life would
benefit all citizens of the world. Ubuntu is a way out of this materialistic, selfish and greedy
capitalist societies we came to accept and live (die) in.

Currently, I am donating all my surplus clothes and living-materials to my staff-members. I

am also sourcing corrugated iron to assist them with housing and shelter. Job-creation here
in the rural areas have been the first step to changing this poverty-stricken landscape and
secondly assisting the inner circle of staff who often come from dire living conditions. These
are all in the sphere of my contributions.

Creating a support base for victims of gender-based violence in conjunction with the local
police is next on the 2024- agenda here in Smithfield.

Being able to facilitate lightening the load for someone is always a heart-warming
experience. Sensing the gratitude from people is also rewarding but, giving comes with
responsibility. For me it is about building sustainable relationships of trust on both sides.
This takes time considering the damage we inherited from the past. Today, I may be in the
position to assist someone from my inherited privilege. Tomorrow, we will need a
foundation of trust for this cycle to have gained momentum.

Task 2: Final reflection

This module has been nothing less than a healing and affirmative journey for me. For most
of my near-six decade life, I have wanted to throw out the baby with the bathwater! As may
have become clear throughout my assignment, I seemed to have suffered from a collective
guilt for the ills of the Afrikaans speaking apartheid regime and so wanted to deny my
mother-tongue which is Afrikaans. Through this course and being honest, I have
rediscovered the gems of language and idioms, in the said language as well as Zulu, Sotho
and the other official ones. I have revisited the stories which can only be told in a certain
language with all its animations and cultural secrets and shares to go with it. As I dusted off
these treasures, I am able to appreciate the African rich tapestry all the more.

Because of my very different views from a young age, being an‘Afrikaanse meisie’ in a
conservative environment with all the holy cows of volk-en-vaderland, Broederbond and
AWB in tact at the time, I felt mostly marginilised. I resonated with the people who were
living in the shadows of the apartheid regime and blamed the language of my education for
it. Somehow, this module have acknowledged, put words to the things I felt in my gut was
wrong, things like xenophobia and fear of the ‘other.’ Little did I understand that ‘the other’
is always a fabrication of either the mind or a mindset imposed on us. Ubuntu and its ways
teach that we are all one, that there is/should be space for us all when we welcome
differences instead of feeding off fear. Stereotypical thought and its default driven reactions
no longer serve any of us: we may keep open minds and hearts.

Lastly, when my mind wanders and wonders about who I am, I replay ex-president Mbeki’s
words over and over: ‘...I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the
glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing
seasons that define the face of our native land...’

Until I am hushed like the Sotho-lullabyes sung to me when I was a small child growing up
on a farm. It’s ok, I am an African too.

REFERENCE LIST:

1. myheritage.com Naudé Accessed: 13 November 2023

2.Geni.com. Fullard Accessed 14 November 2023

3. Nene, J.O. 2016. Study Guide for AFL 1501. Published at Unisa. Available online.

4. Academia.edu. Totems in African Society. Accessed 13 November 2023

5. Google.com Sotho clans. Accessed 12 November 2023

6. Sahistory.org.za. Sotho (South Sotho or Basotho) Accessed 12 November 2023

7. Interview with Makhaleme Tsoeunyane, 12 November 2023 at Smithfield, Freestate.

8.Coetzee, J.M. 1978. In the heart of the country. Ravan Press (Pty) Ltd. Johannesburg.

Plagiarism declaration:

• • I know that plagiarism means taking and using the ideas, writings, works
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Full name &

Student no.
Surname: Donvé-
69388288
Anne Fullard