Dancing is in my blood: Granny (80)

clapping and ululating as she does what she knows best – dancing.

The feat she achieves bewilders everyone who is lucky to see her perform as she rolls on the ground with hands clutched to her toes while other women sing in praise. The notes seem to be a repetition of the words – tambai Mbuya Karigande (Dance Mbuya Karigande).
Born Jestina Bhokisi in 1931, she dominates the dance floor with the aplomb of a 10-year-old while off it, she wears several other hats including a transgenerational knowledge of herbs and performing midwifery duties.

“Today I was not at my best because the ground was not even and conducive. There is grass on the ground which makes it slippery otherwise this (dancing) is what I do best,” she said with the enthusiasm of a juvenile.
Initially, onlookers think that she would soon run out of steam while others are deceived by the small stature into believing that she was a teenager.

However, as the singing party continues with their song, seconds turn to minutes before the master of ceremonies sates their curiosity with an assurance that what they were seeing was real.
The setting is a function organised by the Environmental Management Agency to mark the start of the fire season at Maunga Farm in the Nyama Resettlement area under headman Chambati in Karoi.

Speeches are delivered and in-between the MC announces that entertainment would be provided by women from the surrounding villages, the seemingly opulent urbanite crowd does not know what to expect.

But there is an enthusiastic aura of expectation that engulfs the modest villagers who do not mind sitting on the ground in the event that chairs are not provided for them.
Like a magnetic force that draws anything metallic towards it, people soon move closer to the semi-circle that has been created to catch a glimpse of this rare sight.
It is Mbuya Karigande who has caught the attention of everyone with her dancing and energy, juxtaposed against her age.

“Aah aah vakomana chii chirikuitika apa?” says one man frantically trying to get closer to the action.
The MC asks her age and she immediately calls for her parcel where she draws out an identity disc before giving it to him to announce the age.
He announces that she was born in 1931.

“I don’t know how old I am, but just check on the identity card. I think I should be older than that because during the old days they would give you less years for reasons that we do not know to this date,” she said.
In that parcel are also some herbs, which she does not hesitate to advertise.

After seeing her dance you get the impression that there is probably nothing else she can do better but she also takes the role of aunt and herbalist in her strides.
But what is the source of the energy and agility, which belies her advanced age?
“Takadyiswa mudzi weMuchinga nePfuta dzaikwatiswa tichikura ende ndizvo zvinoita kuti tirambe takasimba kudai. Takanwa mafuta ainzi Castrol Oil asi ndofunga mazuva ano haachawanikwa mafuta acho,” she said referring to an oil that used to exist long ago. I have been dancing since I was 15 and this has now become part of me. A combination of the herbs and practice has now made me a

master in the karigande dance,” she said.
Mbuya Karigande said the plant is found along rivers in the Nyamhunga area of Hurungwe adding that the plant is administered to children during their early days.
It is common in various cultural groups to have children given herbs and other concoctions including the tails of some snakes as a way of identity and keeping them strong.

They have a specific diet, which could probably explain why some cultural groups live longer than others while others are less susceptible to diseases.
Mbuya Karigande’s parents trekked from Mozambique several years ago before settling at Feremenga Farm in Banket where they worked as farm labourers.
It is at this farm that her late aunt and mother taught her to dance.

The karigande dance, she said is steeped in the traditional training of girls in preparation of womanhood where they are covertly taught the art of satisfying their husbands when they are married.
“The dances are meant to strengthen the women’s backs. Vasaite kunge matanda mudzimba,” she said.
Mbuya Karigande wriggles her back while gyrating rhythmically to the beat of the drum. She does this with a lot of ease that young women often look with envy. Once she sleeps on the ground takes hold off her toes and roll of the ground to the beat of the drum. Some of her dances resemble the kwaito popular dance – chicken dance.

For a woman of her age and living in the rural areas where medical attention is not that good, the dances are rigorous as the majority of people of that age are tired, bed-ridden or weak.
She is now taking girls in the Nyama resettlement area of Karoi on two-day dance lessons and also usher them into womanhood and subsequent marriage. And for the women too, she claimed to know herbs that would stop miscarriages while also helping them deliver in a role commonly known as Nyamukuta.

“There are about four women that were always losing their pregnancies midstream but are now happy mothers after I gave them some of my herbs,” she claimed.
She said her knowledge of herbs did not derive from any spiritual connection or undertaking but information gathered from her late mother and aunt.

Although she holds a midwifery certificate attained sometime in the 80s, she said the certificate validates her work but said herbs cure people and not certificates.
“Papers are not the most important thing, but drugs. You simply have to know your drug and prescription to achieve the best out of these herbs.”

It seems longevity runs in the family as her husband who is now in his late 80s and a participant in the Second World War is still going strong.
“He is seven years older than me but he still walks on his own to this date without the need for assistance from anyone.

“He does not use a walking stick and does most of the chores at home perfectly,” she said.
Apart from problems with his eyesight there is nothing that is troubling Sekuru Bhokisi at the moment, she said.

She took the opportunity to blast people who start veld fires saying it was increasingly making her trade difficult. During the period July to October fires destroy vast swaths of land to the detriment of flora and fauna.

“I now have to walk long distances to get some of the herbs after they are destroyed by fires. More needs to be done to ensure that fires are not just allowed to destroy our vegetation. We cannot keep on having the same problem every year,” she said.

The battle to extinguish the urge by some of our people in the communities to start fires still rages on while Mbuya Karigande can still dance because it is something that is in her blood and something that her body allows her to partake without looking up to anyone.

Maybe someone to start the tune to get her grooving.
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