CHAPTER 4

4.1. INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents and analyses the empirical data collected through in-depth interviews.
The primary main aim of usingemploying the in-depth interviews as a method of data
collection for this study was to conduct gather data with each participant to gain a detailed
data and gain the insights and understanding of their experiences. In-depth interviews
allowed each participant to share their and knowledge regarding about the challenges of spirit
ancestral spiritual awakening calling in schools in the area under study.

This study has been guided by descriptive phenomenological viewpoint whereby participants
were expected to express their perceptions or feelings about the challenges of ancestral
calling in schools. The exploratory research design has been utilised to conduct this study
because this study explored the effect of ancestral calling in schools with a purpose of
explaining why ancestral calling is regarded as a condition that disturbs the process of
teaching and learning in schools.

The Pparticipants has beenwere recruited from King Cetshwayo district, Ongoye Circuit. The
researcher visited six secondary schools in Ongoye circuitthe Ongoye circuit, namely:
Ezakheleni High School, Mtunzini High School, Zinqobele High School, Mgitshwa High
School, Bhekeshowe High School as well as Hlakaniphani High School. The participants
have been recruited by means of going out to the field, using purposive and snowball
samplingwere recruited by means of going out to the field, using purposive and snowball
sampling, which are non-probability sampling techniques. Teachers and parents were
purposively recruited because they are regarded as people who have experienced the
incidents of learners or children awakening ancestral spirits in the school premises, or at
home, parents asked to refer the researcher to the traditional healers or cultural experts who
are well knownon the school premises or at home; parents asked to refer the researcher to the
traditional healers or cultural experts who are well-known and recognized in matters
pertaining to the ancestral spirits. The data collection instrument (interview questions) was in
English and isiZulu. Individual interviews have been used to collect data. After the written
consent has been granted by the respondent/participants the researcher used a digital tape
recorder for recordingrecording participants had been granted by the respondent/participants;
the researcher used a digital tape recorder to record interviews. The researcher recorded data,
transcribed it, and later analysed it. The method of data Data has been analysedanalysis this
study employed is through Narrative Aanalysis. because it is aligned with the qualitative
phenomenological approach and data has been collected using individual in-depth interviews
whereby participants were telling stories of the incidents they have witnessed about the issue
of ancestral calling condition in learners, the impact it holds in the school as a whole and
what should be practicedit is aligned with the qualitative phenomenological approach. Data
has been collected using individual in-depth interviews whereby participants were telling
stories of the incidents they have witnessed about the issue of ancestral calling condition in
learners, the impact it holds in the school as a whole and what should be practised resolving
this issue.

4.2. QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Table:4.2.1. Division of sub-themes developed from data collection

Research Objectives Sub-themes from data analysis

1. How teachers’ perception on  Teachers’ perception of ancestral
ancestral calling affects their calling in learners.
disposition to affected learners  Social issues reflecting as an
ancestral calling in learners.
 Isolation strategy as a measure to
control and calms down the ancestral
calling in learners
2. To develop strategies that can be  Wicked spirits in confusion with
utilized to address the disruption ancestral calling a
caused by ancestral calling.  Therapeutic measures of satanism
possession in learners.
 Management of ancestral calling in
learners.
3. To explore the effects of ancestral  Interruption of ancestral calling in
calling on learners’ attention and the teaching and learning process.
concentration  The psychological abuse of ancestral
calling in learners
 The consequences of ancestral
calling in learners’ progress.
4.3. DISCUSSION OF THE STUDY RESULTS

The discussion of three themes with a division of nine sub-themes developed from the semi-
organised interviews is presented below. The division of nine sub-themes are presented along
with results from each sub-theme presented and interpreted along with the arguments from
the literature reviewed in chapter two. This study consists of three categories of participants,
namely: Teachers, Parents and Traditional healers. To ensure the anonymity of participants
they are represented using sudo names to protect their identity. Teachers are represented with
letter “T”, Parents as “P” and Traditional healers as “T.H”.

THEME1: PERCEPTGION OF TEACHERS ON ANCESTRAL CALLING AND HOW

IT AFFECT THEIR DISPOSITION TO AFFECTED LEARNERS.

Sub-theme 1.1: Teachers’ perception of ancestral calling in learners.

Teachers perceive ancestral calling as a confusing measure phenomenon in schools because

they often experience the cases associated with it during the examination periods in school
times. It is very hard for them to believe whether a learner has an ancestral calling, falsifying
to have an ancestral calling in order to escape the examination and or depression to face
examsination. Following are responses from teachers who have experienced the ancestral
calling cases during exam times in schools: The teachers gave an account of how they have
experienced this phenomenon in their schools, For instance, the first participant who is
teaching in of the schools had this to say:

T1: “I have experienced this for the past five years, especially in times of writing
exams it happens. It happens during March, June, and September as well as final
exams. And it always gets worse from September to November. Yet if it is like this it is
confusing because we fail to understand if it’s ancestral calling or pressure.”

This participant emphasizes that the events associated with ancestral calling or learners’
screaming and hallucinating are evident during the examination period. The participant T2
concurs with T1 in that these events are common during the examination period: He/she had
this to say:

T2: “You know, last year we had the worst case! in these years I have served hereIn
these years I have served here, it was worst. We were at the assembly then all pupils
hallucinated, almost all , and then all the pupils hallucinated; almost all the girls
affected each other. Then, we tried to calm down the situation. They were about to
start a trial exam then they all hallucinated”

While T2 and T2 agree with each other, T3 believes that this is a complex phenponmen
because you cannot really tell if it real or learners are faking in order to escape the
examinations. He/she pointed out that:

T3: “It is trick and problematic to find if somebody really has a calling because it
happened that a person falsified to have a calling.”

T4 narrated a story of a girl who, durin the examination faced a serious challenge and even
fainted. According to this participant, it was for the first time that this particular learner had
this problem.

T4: “You know what? it is a school that we are attending, it is very difficult. If I can
tell you, one of matric girls hallucinated and fainted while she was writing a final
exam on Life Sciences paper 2, and it was her first time hallucinating, we I can tell
you that one of the matric girls hallucinated and fainted while she was writing a final
exam on Life Sciences paper 2. it was her first time hallucinating; we had never seen
it from her. Mind you it was her last exam paper, and it was a very difficult paper. She
fainted and lied down for a long time in such a way that she woke up while the exam
was about to finish. She was then given ten minutes to give it a try.”

Teachers declared that during exams learners panic as they sometimes might be less prepared
to seat for exams, learners panic as they sometimes might be less prepared to sit for exams,
and learners panic as they sometimes might be less prepared to sit for exams, and this might
be the cause of their hallucinations if they find the examination question paper in a hard
setting. Therefore, the hallucination is suspected to be the strategy to escape the exams
without clear judgements that they were not well prepared to face the exam. In this case
teachers disclose ancestral calling as a shield to hide behind. Below, the participants
presented their opinions:
 T1: “One who was in the 12th grade has had a few problems at the beginning of the
year, so when the exam is written, she already does not know much, and when she
arrives at the paper and sees that she does not know the content, she is often confused
and become hysteric. So, I can say that it was no longer that she's sick, it's this stress
that she no longer knows the content that hasshe was sick; it was this stress that she
no longer knew the content that had been set out on the exam paper, and she knew
that she was intelligent, and she was a smart child. she knows that she's capable, but
she's disturbed. Instead of saying I'm unable to catch up because Grade 12 comes in
on weekends and holidays. All of this wasted time has become too much for her to
catch. So, it was no longer that she cried that she was sick, she cried that she did not
know what came out in; she cried that she did not know what came out of the exam.
And it was more than enough to squeeze it at one time. They even decide to suspend
her until she gets off to a good start the following year.

T4: “Ssometimes they find a challenge that question paper is very difficult, and they
find means of hiding behind the ancestral calling.. I am not saying it was not rea,l but
the way it happened left us suspicious, and some of them really do fake it.”

Ancestral calling revealed as a confusing measure which cannot be easily predictable and
confirmed intois revealed as a confusing measure which cannot be easily predicted and
confirmed in possessed individuals. As it confusing as it is, ancestral calling is understood by
teachers to be a real measure to other learners as they often hallucinate, not only during
exams and some of them has been reported by their parents as learners struggling with
ancestral calling case in schools. Teachers express their thoughts in a the following manner:

T1: “You see, in case of this schoolthe case of this school, it is confusing, yet we
happen to have cases of pupils with ancestral calling, of which it usually happens, not
only in times of writing exams.

P2: “When we spoke with their parents we found out that they already know about
this, and they do understand it.”

T4: “I perceive them in various ways because some of them, when the time goes on it
shows that it is real, and it shows that it is something that they are growing up with.”
Teachers emphasized by giving practical examples that ancestral calling is a real measure to
other learners, and it has been confirmed in school. Teachers indicated their evidence in daily
experiences and observation of learners in schools as follows:

P1: “You see, in case of this school it is confusing. We happen to have cases of pupils
with ancestral calling, of which it usually happens, not only in times of writing exams.
We find that a learner hallucinates in school, and parents showed up and confirm that
the pupil has a problem offound that a learner hallucinates in school. Parents showed
up and confirmed that the pupil has a problem with ancestral spirits. “As you see the
pupil behaving like this in school, can we please take him or her for a particular
period to get him or her healed, and returned and return and return after”. Then, if
the pupil returns to school, we see the difference.

P3: “For example, we once had a case where there was a boy who tried to propose a
girl. He said, “youto a girl. He said, “You know what? I love this girl”, then the girl
responded with a man’s voice, like an old man, said,” how do you love me
becauseand said,” How do you love me? Because I am an old man, you can never
love a man like you”. Do you understand?”.

Sub-theme 1.2. Social issues reflecting as an ancestral calling in learners.

Teachers perceive ancestral calling as the term that might be boundedly used to describe a
learner who is hallucinating in school without probing and confirming whether it is an
ancestral calling or other cases that are sharing symptoms with the ancestral calling
(culturalshare symptoms with the ancestral calling (culturally bound diseases). It came to
light that ancestral calling has similar symptoms with other diseases, especially those that are
recognised to affect the emotional and mental capacity of the human-being. Therefore,
according to the participant’s experience, learners are facing serious challenges that has have
been neglected: Below, teachers are presenting their views:

T1: “According to my view, some of them do not have an ancestral calling but they
only need attention by being hysteric and you might find that there is another problem
besides the “calling” that they fear talking about. Therefore, we take these cases into
consideration to find the core of the problem. We do not dwell on the belief of the
“calling” only, because we will keep believing it’s a “calling” whereas pupils are
 depressed and having other problems. We believe that some of them they haul to get
an attention to reach that special person they can vent to.”

The participant stressed that neglected cases like sexual abuse are also the cause of
hallucination and hysteria in learners while when they reach the adolescent stage:

T1: “Even the rape cases that happened at home and never reported and get
attention with immediate effect, you find that if a pupil reaches a high school level
cannot cope and fear rises at the adolescent. If they reach the stage of adolescent that
is whereadolescence, that is when they become hysteric. “

It is highlighted that childhood traumas are also the main reason for hallucinations and
hysteria in learners. Then, the talk sessions are confirmed to be the biggest tools of for
probing the truth in learners:

T1: “Then, we do a follow -up, conduct a talk session with them, and familiarize them
with venting while they are sober, especially those who are regularly hysteric. We then
ask, “what happened before you become hysteric, are you able to feel it before it
happens, what do you feel?” Then some say, “I overthink first of anything”. You will
find the other saying, “I have seen my father:, he suddenly showed up in the class.
Then when you do a follow up on how her father passed on, you find that it is a
trauma of how her father died, she never gets a , when you do a follow-up on how her
father passed on, you find that it is a trauma of how her father died, and she never
gets counselling. So, it all come together in the times of concentration, theycomes
together in times of concentration; they fail to concentrate because it brings the
hallucination. I can just say some of them are having a childhood trauma.”

This study discovered that beside ancestral calling there are other social causes of the
hallucination and hysteria in learners in schools and itbesides ancestral calling, there are other
social causes of hallucination and hysteria in learners in schools, and this is confirmed by
teachers. Love charms are considered to be the other reason that brings hallucination and
hysteria in schools. This strongly highlights an ancestral calling to be a cultural culturally
bound syndrome as it shares symptoms with various social syndromes:
 T2: “However, there are two courses of on what is happening in schools. The first
cause is just a naughtiness of people [traditionally], referring to the African science I
talked about. A naughty African guy can find a love charm [isikhafulo] from an
herbalist if ever he targeteda herbalist if he ever targets a girl to love him. Then the
girl hallucinates, most of the time; most of the time, they are easily caught because
while the girl is crying, she calls the guy’s name and runs in his direction. Then when
we contact her family we find that they know the guy, them families meet and
negotiate with a, we find that they know the guy, them, when we contact her family,
we find that they know the guy their families meet and negotiate with the guy to stop
his doings because these love charms disturb the girl at school.”

T3: “You know, as we are here in school, there are still growing boys. What we found
some other time is that a boy can use a love charm [umuthi] to get a targeted girl.
And it reaches a girl during the class. While they are talking they interpret this as
ancestral calling, yet it is something far away from ancestral calling. You won’t
believe me if I can tell you that in this school we had a severe case whereby almost all
girls becometell you that in this school, we had a severe case whereby almost all the
girls became hysteric. Guess what! The following day, one of our male teachers was
walking behind classrooms and he saw two short bottles placed on top of the fence
pole with muthi inside. The meeting was held with SGB members;, they were shown
these bottles, and they concluded that it is a love charm inside (isikhafulo).

Despite confusions and misunderstandings teachers understood ancestral calling as a crucial

measure that existed long ago that has been positively practiced in the African continent for
many centuries. Ancestral calling is also discovered to be a prominent structure of traditional
science that was granted to the African people by God. It is also perceived by teachers to be
one of the African pride cultures that are highly preserved nowadays:

T1: “I do understand ancestral calling a bit, because sometimes it differs. My father

is a traditional healer, so I know most of the things pertaining to ancestors, ancestral
calling and ancestral spirits.”

T2: “As an African, I do understand ancestral calling, because it is a science God

gave us. It is something that existed in ancient times. People were possessed by
ancestors; they had the capacity to speak directly to them when problems ariose at
home.
 T3: “I can say that I understand it a bit because there is someone possessed at home.
It’s just that it shows up in diverse ways. My nephew has been called in a way that he
received everything via dreams. You see, he never went to any training process, yet he
received everything through dreams. In dreams it is where he informed of what will
happen or he gets the description of how past events happened. According to my
understanding I can say that this is the way ancestors called him. “

T4: “Yes I do understand it because I am an African and I believe that it is rooted in

our culture.”

As disturbing and confusing as it is teachers do understand and accept learners with ancestral
calling in school:

T3: “However, this disturbs the classes, yet, I am not against them, I accept them as
they are. It’s just that if it happens during the classes it disturbs us!”

Sub-theme 3: Isolation strategy as a measure to control and calms down the ancestral
calling in learners.

Teachers are not equipped on how to deal with learners when the spirits attack in the school,
however, they provide the first aid before they call parents. Teachers highlighted that noisy
and crowdy places crowded places were recognised to worsen the situation in times of spirits
attack in school. Through this study, it has been discovered that a quite place is the a vital
strategy to control the situation if spirits possessions arise:

T1: “We isolate them from the other pupils, put them away from the other pupils,
wait for them to calm down, and then call the parent. It's better if they are out of the
crowd because even being picked on by other pupils it worsens the situation, and
some of them end up fleeing. We've then advised that if someone attacked by spirit
possessions don't rush to catch her, call the adults, call the teachers, take her to the
isolation room, so that she can get better, and then wait for the parent. Besides being
treated or done anything to her, she immediately gets better off alone.”

T3: “as soon as the spirits wake up we isolate the pupil from the crowd and put her in
her room alone, unfortunately we do not have a sick bay in this school, but we use the
hall because they do not study in it.”
 T4: “In our school we have a sick bay, usually when they are hallucinating and
become hysterical, we removed them from the class to a sick bay. Then we call their
parents because we are not equipped on how to deal with spiritual possessions in
learners”

Teachers revealed that praying for learners is another strategy that helps a lot in calming
down the spirits in of learners, however. However, they are against the idea due to some
severe reasons they have mentioned below, yet if the situation forces them to do it they just
do it:

T2: “Fortunately, we had those gifted pupils in this school every year, for the first
time this year, we don't have such pupils with us. When there were hallucinations in
the schools, we would call these pupils to come and lay their hands on the hysteric
ones, and they would really calm down. Then contact their families to let them know
that their children have been awakened by spirits at school.”

T3: “As soon as the spirits wake up we isolate the pupil from the crowd and put her
in her room alone, unfortunately we do not have a sick bay in this school, but we use
the hall because they do not study in it. Although I may disagree, I ask those who can
pray to place their hands on the pupil and pray for her. In some cases, the pupil gets
better, and in others, the parent is called to pick them up. If the spirits get up and the
pupil becomes violent and tries to escape, she is locked up until the situation
improves. However, it depends on the situation.”

The teachers insist that it is very dangerous to pray for learners if they are not in the sober
state of their minds because they might say whatever that can threaten and harm somebody’s
emotional being. So, to protect the dignity of any individual that might assist through prayers
it is advisable to pray norwho might assist through prayers, it is advisable to pray for learners
in school. Below, the teacher exposes the disadvantage of praying for learners in a poor state
of mind:

T1: “We avoid praying for the pupils because years ago there was a case in which
one of the school's staff, a priest, tried to help pupils awaken by spirits in the school,
after which one of them said that she was possessed by him. So, we're just avoiding
 anyone helping with the prayer, We wait for the parents because they know how to
deal with their children because no one is equipped how to deal with the child who is
hallucinating.”

THEME 2: To develop strategies that can be utilized to address the disruption caused
by ancestral calling.

This theme is covered by parents and traditional healers. Parents are coded with letter “P” and
traditional healers are coded with letters “T.H”. Parents covered sub-theme one and two, and
traditional healers covered sub-theme three.

Sub-theme 2.1: Wicked spirits in confusion with ancestral calling and its therapeutic
measures.

Parents revealed that there is a huge misunderstanding between ancestral calling and other
surviving wicked spirits in the air. However, they are both manifesting in the same way until
the victim confess which spirit he or she is serving for. Symptoms such as such as prophecies
are mostly shown in ancestral calling, yet they are revealed to indicate the wicked spirits also:

P2: “I don't know because some people have believed that it's ancestral calling, but
now that I've seen it, I've come to believe it's not. Another thing confusing about this
thing, it prophesies, just say is that it prophesies and just says everything. She even
has dreams, if you do not think quickly you can see that it is really an ancestral
calling, and when you look closely you find that it is not. hey! The demon sees
everything that happens because she even said that, “the Voice told me that, I will kill
you because you are a whistle-blower, you talk about our secrets in the space.”

Parents claimed that it is very hard to detect if the person is struggling with ancestral calling
because the symptoms that are recognised in the person who is struggling with ancestral
calling are appeared to be shared with symptoms that are symbolisesan ancestral calling
appear to be shared with symptoms that symbolise wicked spirits. For example, quietness,
loneliness, always sleepy, uncomfortable, weight loss, violence and psychosis remarked
problematic in detecting whether the person is possessed with ancestral calling or were noted
as problematic in detecting whether the person is possessed by an ancestral calling or a
wicked spirit. However, it easier to diagnose if the spirit can burst out and claim which
domain it is from:
 P1: I was so surprised when I called from home, and they said the school principal
said I must appear in school with immediate effect. I found my granddaughter locked
up solely, told she is hysterical, violent, and unable to catch her;was hysterical,
violent, and unable to catch her until the boys were asked to help catch her. But that's
not the ancestral calling that's bothering my granddaughter, hey! My granddaughter
is possessed by the atmospheric spirit! Satanism itself! I'm sure my granddaughter
possessed with Satanism because she claimed to have Satan's codes, and to work for
him!

P2: “I mean, let me explain that at home, at first, we were unable to detect her
problem. She was just a quiet person, a very quiet person, if you ask her if she's sick,
she says,” no, grandma” so what is paining you, she says, “I am not paining”. When
she returns from school, she locks herself in her room, and you will find her asleep.
She became uncomfortable yet we were failing to find the reason. This is what I can
say. After that she showed herself to be a quiet person, and she then told us about her
dreams. We were shocked by her strange dreams! We used to see her healthier
however it showed something bothering her, even lost her weight, but said that she
was not paining anywhere. Sometimes I have noticed that her brain is not working
well, but now I can't tell what's wrong because she says she doesn’t feel any pain".

Parents are thankful that their children hallucinated at school because they would end up not
knowing what bothering their children. Bursting out of the spirits brought a huge chance for
their children to be cures as the spirit affects them revealed itself which kingdom it is serving
for. Below parents are confirming that their children are not possessed by ancestral calling
spiritsancestral calling spirits do not possess their children:

P1: “That's not the ancestral calling that's bothering my granddaughter, hey! My
granddaughter is possessed by the atmospheric spiritThe atmospheric spirit possesses
my granddaughter! Satanism itself! I'm sure my granddaughter possessed with
Satanism because she claimed to have Satan's codes, and to work for him.”

P2: “I can say that I reported to the principal while the condition confused me in the
child, while it revealed to be a Satanism, not ancestral. I let him know that it is
confirmed that the child has been possessed by the was confirmed that the child had
been possessed by satanism. She explained everything to the priest who would pray
 for her, and she even has had barcodes. There was nothing he could do, and he
couldn't expel the child from school. “

Sub-theme 2.2: Therapeutic measures of satanism possession in learners.

Parents highlighted that besides ancestral calling, there is a wicked spirit roaminga wicked
spirit roamed around in schools in the name of ancestral calling. Satanism, namely appointed
to attack learners in schools and lately confirmed to appear as an ancestral calling to some of
the learners, however. However, horrific signs (bar codes) that are symbolic in of Satanism
remains the key to conclude that wicked spirits exist in schools:

P1: “But that's not the ancestral calling that's bothering my granddaughter, hey! My
granddaughter is possessed by the atmospheric spiritThe atmospheric spirit possesses
my granddaughter! Satanism itself! I'm sure my granddaughter is possessed with
Satanism because she claimed to have Satan's codes, and to work for him!”

P2: “One day, he came home from school and went to sleep, waking up and
exclaiming, "Oh! Here is the tattoo on my arm. I came closer to look, I was shocked
because it was a sign of the devil, I asked how did you get it?”. She said, “Grandma,
I do not know; I was shocked because it was a sign of the devil; I asked how did you
get it?”. She said, “Grandma, I do not know. I wake up with my arm traced like this.
And this drawing sucks the blood. Then the child said, “Grandma, they just say I must
lick this blood”, we were now shocked in the house. If you can see thatAs you can see,
the drawing has been traced using a sharp object because it is indeed a bloodstain,
but it is also incomplete. Then, when sunset, this drawing disappeared.”

Satanism claimed by parents to be a dangerous and powerful but a Parents claim Satanism to
be a dangerous and powerful but curable possession. In this case prayers are recommended
by parents to be a crucial measure in curing and getting rid of satanism. However, it is not an
easy task to fight against, it; it needs patience and faith to defeat it:

P1: “On the grounds that the child was infected with Satanism, I asked the Preacher
of Nazareth Baptist Church to give me a prayer, and it calmed down after she often
put into prayers. Then it burst again, and now it's completely out of control. She cried
until she fainteds, and she took time to wake up. Hay!! I went out into the churches
that were recommended to provide help for people possessed with demons: Zion,
 Gospel, Nazareth, and the faith healers. But I don't know who I helped out of all those
I've listed, but the last pastor I went to said that the demon of working for the devil
have goneI don't know who I helped out of all those I've listed, but the last pastor I
went to said that the demon of working for the devil has gone, but the demon of
fornication will take place. No, my granddaughter is healthier now, and the demon
rarely attacks her, but it's like the words of the pastor, : she is deeply in fornication.”

P2: “But when I saw the barcodes on the child's body, I called the priest. He came for
the first and prayed for her, the demon could not come out,; the demon could not
come out; he came back again, and nothing was different. The third time he brought
three other priests, and that is when he prayed the , he brought three other priests,
and that is when he prayed for this child from about 6:00 pm until about 11:00 p.m.
Then the demon came out and left her at that time. After the demon left, she didn't
hallucinate any more in school, and she didn't faint, because she had just faint
because she had just fainted.”

Sub-theme 2.3: Management of ancestral calling in learners. ????

THEME 3: To explore the effects of ancestral calling on learners’ attention and

concentration

Sub-theme 3.1: Interruption of ancestral calling in the teaching and learning process.

Awakening of ancestral calling in schools takes a huge step in disturbing the smooth and
effective process of teaching and learning due to the reason that hallucination of one learner
triggers other learners to hallucinate, then the entire school become a and then the entire
school become chaos. It is also scary to fellow learners as they sometimes experience the
situation for the first time:

T1: “It's very disturbing because the other pupils are freaked out, seeing something
they don't know, the way someone screaming in the class. You find out that it's going
toit will infect someone else, and you find out that all the classes are listening to it.
Classes are disrupted, and the others rush to catch the escapees.”
T2: “Haaaaaw!, It's 100% disrupted, it's never got stable anymore. It takes two to
three days to get back to normal. You see, if it can severely happen, no classes will
behold with these children be held if these children are not calmed down. You find
yourself waiting for a parent from far away, without a car to arrive with immediate
effect, and we, to arrive with immediate effect, and you keep standing still, doing
nothing academically yet trying to control the situation. And pupils get afraid of
others and some Pupils get afraid of others, and some are saddened by the whole
situation. Then, the school dismissed maybe around 12:00 or 13:00, so how can we
continue with academic activities.”

T3: “We really get disrupted because if I should go to the class I must have the lesson
plan for the day and I arrange time for everything, I must have the lesson plan for the
day, and I arrange time for everything, maybe five minutes to introduce the lesson,
fifteen for discussing the lesson, give class activity, marking and do corrections. You
find that maybe in the middle of the lesson the learner is awaken, the learner is
awakened by spirits. Now, what happens if others try to help her in the class? The
class surely stops! Then, you must get others to escorts her from the class to a quiet
place. At that time, there should be somebody to keep an eye on her because we won’t
just drop her in quiet place and leave her like that. So, my work for the day is already
disrupted. This means that I have to reschedule the class, and reteach what I have
started, which makes me end up arranging extra classes on weekends or afternoon
and reteach what I have started, which makes me end up arranging extra classes on
weekends or afternoons, trying to cover the lost work.”

T4: “It is greatly disturbing because fellow learners attempt to help. So, this causes a
chaos and the period waistedchaos and the period waits like that while the whole
focus is on one who is hallucinating. And some of them take the advantage that they
are recognised to be the victims of ancestral spirits, they show up and ask to offer
some help and I couldn’t deny because I too just wishing for the one who is
hallucinating a speedy recovery,Some of them take the advantage that they are
recognised to be the victims of ancestral spirits; they show up and ask to offer some
help, and I couldn’t deny this because I, too, just wish for the one who is hallucinating
a speedy recovery so that the class should proceed.”
Sub-theme 3.2: The psychological abuse of ancestral calling in learners

The awakening of ancestral calling at school abuses the mental state of learners after they
have been seen by fellow learners on a terrible situation and being in a terrible situation and
told what happened to them while they were hallucinating. Learners’ self-esteem after all
drops due to how fellow learners perceive them and react towards them:

T1: ”And their self-esteem is affected because they end up isolating themselves from
the crowd, because they have this feelingfeel that they have seen dirty, or the spirits
will probably awake. Especially those who are awaken by their spirits unexpectedly.
There are those who saySome say they do not know what is going on. They keep
themselves isolated even in asocial activities; they end up not socializing with fellow
learners.”

T2: “Certainly, when they are awoken by their spirits possessionsspirit possessions,
they even forget who they are, school shirts torn with their skirts up. Then, if they are
reminded that they were on such statein such a state, their self-esteem drops. They
even get afraid to come back to school their parents as well as us, teachers. Their
parents, as well as us teachers, forced them to come back.”

Other teacher claimed that awakening of ancestral calling in schools certainly affect not only
the victims of the situation, but the entire school get affected as ancestral calling appeared to
be a condition that make learners to teachers claimed that the awakening of ancestral calling
in schools certainly affects not only the victims of the situation but the entire school get
affected as ancestral calling appears to be a condition that make learners behave oddly. Scary
behaviour of the learners attacked by the ancestral calling forces the high rate of learners’
absenteeism in school:

T2: “Tomorrow when they come back some of them will be absent, some would be
scared that there are spirits in the school, and some, especially those who are the
victims of hysteria would be still, when they come back, some of them will be absent,
some will be scared that there are spirits in the school, and some, especially those
who are the victims of hysteria, will still be treated. They perhaps being absent for the
entire week, being scared to come back to school”
The teacher further said alluded that there is a need for each and every school to have a
permanent social worker to take responsibility after the terrible incidents of ancestral calling
the schools experienced daily:

T2: “If a child has experienced this condition, professional help can be sought at
home if there are people whopeople understand this situation. They must get
specialists, such as Psychologists. Unfortunately for us as we work in rural areas, as
we work in rural areas, it ends up being just an overlooked thing because we don't
have permanent social workers as the government reported the financial strains. We
just had a social worker here at school, a very good one at working with pupils, she
was very helpful, it was that the department has ; she was very helpful; it was that the
department has a financial crisis.”

The teacher also emphasized the need for the awareness of ancestral calling in learners so that
that can understand themselves and each other in school:

T2: “We anyway talk about this in assembly advising pupils not to make fun of others
and make them aware that this can happen to anybody. Some of them well aware of
this, are told at home what causes someone to become hysteric.”

Sub-theme 3.3: The consequences of ancestral calling in learners’ progress.

The ancestral calling affects the focus and concentration of the affected learners, and this
leads to the situation whereby their performance becomes poor. The disturbance of learners
through the awakening of ancestral calling in schools add to the percentage of failures and in
schools as they sometimes being absentadds to the percentage of failures in schools, as they
sometimes are absent, whereas the syllabus continues without them. Then, while the exam
comes they come across the content they are not familiarunfamiliar with, surely the results
become poor at the end of the day. The situation of dropping down from being a good
performer to a struggling learner sometimes stimulates the feeling of dropping out to in the
affected learners:

T1: “They are disturbed because most of the time they miss the class while we are
dealingdeal with their spiritual possessions as it happens during the class. Of course,
if she becomes hysterical in the classroom, she will not be allowed to be in the
classroom while hysteric. It is a must to removed them from the classroom, and the
teacher will never start afresh and teach one pupil who has missed the lesson..remove
them from the classroom, and the teacher will never start afresh and teach one pupil
who has missed the lesson. It's up to her how to catch up on the lost lesson. So, it
disturbs them, shame!. Some even end up dropping out of school too, failing to
perform as expected.”

T2: “The child's concentration is disturbed as well as her performance just because it
happens that the child you knew to be right finds her performance is no longer good
in her studies this. This is the same as a mentally ill person, it takes time to recover,;
it takes time to recover because these pupils do not receive the psychological
counselling service. This damages the child's mind because she ends up
wonderingwonders how they perceive her at school. Even other children just
laughing, if she missed what the joke is aboutare just laughing; if she missed what the
joke is about, obviously she is being laughed at.”

T3: ““Yes! It's hard because it's like an episode, a momentary condition, and then the
pupil becomes normal again. It's like they are out of their bodies and possessed by
someone else for the moment. But most of the time they are struggling; it's the writing
problem, and then there's the language barrier that they sometimes have because
English just bears heavy on them, they are struggling; it's the writing problem, and
then there's the language barrier that they sometimes have because English just bears
heavily on them, and math becomes a problem. I also think that it is because of the
work they do in [Ekuthwaseni], they don't get enough time to study, because some of
them don't stay at home anymore, they go to school from Ekuthwaseni. Their
performance then becomes increasingly lacking. But then unlike others you find that
some of them are naturally intelligent, they just pass, their gift does not disturb them
at all, but they do not get enough time to study, and this makes them to , unlike others,
you find that some of them are naturally intelligent; they just pass, their gift does not
disturb them at all, but they do not get enough time to study, and this makes them do
not pass as they are expected.”

T4: “of course, it disturbs because sometimes you can see that some of them are not
coping because they need to focus on both spirit possession and school. Even their
performance drops because sometimes as the school, as the school, we take a
 resolution that a parent can take a child for therapeutic processes until she recovers.
Then, this is a gap to a child because she missed some of the lessons.

Indeed, ancestral calling affect learners’ performance due to the fact that they end up
focussing on both their subject and the duties they are commanded to perform as the diviners
in affects learners’ performance due to the fact that because they end up focusing on both
their subject and the duties they are commanded to perform as the diviners in the process
(amathwasa) after school. Learners are mostly experiencing barriers with the language of
instruction of which is the problem because almost all of the subjects are taught in English
except the Nguni languages only. The development of the English language barrier surely
limits the performance of affected learners:

T3: “Yes! It's hard because it's like an episode, a momentary condition, and then the
pupil becomes normal again. It's like they are out of their bodies and possessed by
someone else for the moment. But most of the time they are struggling; it's the writing
problem, and then there's the language barrier that they sometimes have because
English just bears heavy on them, they are struggling; it's the writing problem, and
then there's the language barrier that they sometimes have because English just bears
heavily on them, and math becomes a problem. I also think that it is because of the
work they do in [Ekuthwaseni], they don't get enough time to study, because some of
them don't stay at home anymore, they go to school from Ekuthwaseni. Their
performance then becomes increasingly lacking.”

In addition, the teacher said ancestral calling is not the case to for other affected learners it. It
does not affect their performance at all:

T3: “But then unlike others you find that some of them are naturally intelligent, they
just pass, their gift does not disturb them at all, but they do not get enough time to
study, and this makes them to do , unlike others, you find that some of them are
naturally intelligent; they just pass. Their gift does not disturb them, but they do not
get enough time to study, which makes them not pass as they are expected.”

Just but one comment: PA

Please engage my comments and try to address them to strengthen this piece; it’s a good
start. After one or two revisions, it will take good shape.