Initiation Indaba

To help facilitate the introduction to the initiation community and to establish connections between the team and relevant stakeholders, during the first week in Cape Town, three team members were allowed to attend an indaba. The indaba, or community meeting, is used to discuss the changes and challenges of the initiation process, and is attended only by initiated males. While there, team members were allowed to sit in on the minutes from the previous indaba (spoken in Xhosa), and meet City of Cape Town employee and Khayelitsha site coordinator Lungelo Nokwaza, traditional surgeon Sikelela Zokufa, City of Cape Town Department of Health manager Andile Zimba.  Introductions were also made with the Khayelitsha Initiation Site Task Team Manager Zolisa Pakade, and Freddie Simphiwe. There, the team discovered that the individuals present at the indaba had, at a previous meeting, decided to develop the informal Good Hope College Initiation Site, using the initiation site in Langa as a model.