The altering of the traditional domestic space was also of paramount importance to the missionaries. The removal of a cyclical and communal way of living, with traditional round houses to the small rectangular shape with doors, dividing rooms and ‘privacy’ altered how people lived within their homes.
Holy Crusades are still held across South Africa. The leader of the Evangelical ministry came from five generations of missionaries originating in Germany. She preached to the crowd in English with an interpreter. She claimed to heal paralysis, cancer and aids. At the end of the five days, there was on-sight baptism.
A tool used by missionaries was the removal of objects that relate to Ancestral worship and using them to raise funds of the missionary cause. This object was sold to Bristol museum in the U.K in 1898 and now sits in the British Empire Collection. They were used as 'proof of savagery' and the 'urgent' need to Westernise.
This site is often called the resting place of the Ancestors. Those who live in these mountains bury the dead in the entrance to the hills. After five years they are excavated and taken deep into the mountains to their final resting place. The water here is sacred.
After I took this image, my camera fell into the water.
I was told by my Uncle “The ancestors don’t want you to photograph too much. They are talking to you. That’s enough”.