An Eventful Weekend After All

First, if you're interested in a different perspective of life in Guguletu, check out the blog Leaning on the Windowsill by Zach Schaeffer. Zach is on a 10-week internship of sorts at JL Zwane. He's pursuing a Masters of Divinity at Princeton Seminary and is in Guguletu to gain experience. Zach's blog is at http://leaningonthewindowsill.blogspot.com.

I wrote on Saturday afternoon that I had an uneventful week. Well, that changed on Saturday afternoon. I was at the Centre waiting to go with Siyaya to a performance at Stellenbosch University. Things didn't exactly go as planned:

1. On Friday afternoon, Siyaya's drummer, Mkhululi, was hit by a mini-van not far from the Centre. He was hurt pretty bad, with head, neck and hip injuries. Zach said he heard that Mkhululi was dragged the van for a short distance, as well. He was taken to the trauma unit at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, the biggest hospital in town. Bongani, Siyaya's director, and I went to see his mother that afternoon to see how he was. She said he could hear her talk but wasn't able to respond. She was very hopeful that things would improve.

Today, Zach and Bongani went to see Mkhululi. He's now in ICU, unconscious and on a ventilator. Zach said his head is quite swollen and is totally non-responsive (although it's possible that he's in an induced coma to help with the brain injury). That doesn't bode well for his recovery. Even if he does regain consciousness I have to believe he'll have some residual brain damage. In Guguletu, where support for brain-injured people is non-existent, this means a major burden on his family for many years. I can only hope he does well and is able to resume some normality with his life.

2. On Saturday, one of the Siyaya members didn't show up because he was in the shabeen (tavern). Apparently, he hadn't heard that there was a show on Saturday and decided to go out drinking. Bongani went to him at noon and told him to go home and sober up. But, he still didn't show. One of the other performers covered his role, and no one in the audience was the wiser.

With both of these events, I was concerned about the show and asked Bongani if we should cancel. He was adamant that the show must go on, that the troupe needed to know that one person could not and would not stop them from performing. And, he was right. All of Siyaya's members were concerned for Mkhululi, but they stuck together and put on a great show. Bongani explained what happened to the audience after the show, and publicly thanked Siyaya for performing. The audience also showed their thanks with a healthy round of applause.

Update: As I was typing the above message, I got a call from Rev. Spiwo. Mkhululi died this evening. He was a young man with lots of potential, and he will be missed greatly.