They left as boys and came back as men

Boys who left their homes a few weeks ago as ordinary boys returned at the weekend as men who are ready to face life’s challenges.

The boys from Vyeboom 2 outside Vuwani spent three weeks in the bush at a circumcision school after the close of school for the winter break.

They were warmly welcomed and received a hero’s treatment by their families at local Chief Noel Mashudu Mashavhela's royal residence on Saturday.

The school, under the supervision one of the country's leading circumcision surgeons, Maine Mashudu Tshikororo, closed on Friday evening.

Speaking during the occasion to officially hand over the boys to their parents, Chief Mashavhela, who had been with the boys in the bush for the duration of their stay, thanked the parents for entrusting their children to the care of the school. He heaped praises on master circumcision school owner Mashudu Tshikororo for a well-run and incident-free school.

"We are very excited that there were no bad incidents and that all the boys came back alive and very healthy. Our urge is that we continue upholding our culture if we still want to see good citizenry in our communities," he said.

Mashavhela further emphasized the importance of the circumcision schools, saying they played a big role in moulding boys to be responsible, men who would be able to take care of their families. He said the boys had undergone rigorous training and they had been taught the ropes on what made a good father who would take care of his family.

Ms Magdeline Rambau (49), whose three boys came back very healthy and bubbling, said she was very excited to receive the boys back home. "In other parts of the country, especially in the Eastern Cape, we always hear of deaths during circumcision, but we are just happy it is not happening in our area. We will stick to our culture and we urge others to follow this culture, so that it does not fade away. No matter how well-educated people are, they should not forget their culture as it is the only yardstick measuring the future of the nation," she said.

Kgoshi Malesela Digale, Limpopo’s leader of the House of Traditional Leaders, was equally excited that they had no reported deaths like in other provinces. He said they stopped at nothing to ensure successful schools.

"We had more than 400 schools with thousands of initiates in the province and no deaths were reported at any of the schools This is all because we have control, and this was made possible by the cooperation from different stakeholders, " said Dikgale.

News - Date: 19 July 2018

Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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