Traditional dancing keeps hospital colleagues together

Colleagues at the Tshilidzini Hospital have come together and formed a cultural group, which is fast making a name for itself.

Started out of boredom and love of the Venda culture, the Tshilidzini Cultural Project is fast endearing itself to the hearts of cultural fanatics, so that no function at Tshilidzini is complete without their performing. They sing and dance malende and other Venda traditional dances.

During a recent summit at the hospital, the group was called to perform several times as people could not get enough of them. Dressed in their colourful Venda traditional dress, called minwenda, and accompanied by traditional drums and traditional baskets (mifaro), they were a spectacle to watch.

The leader of the group, Josephine Ndou, said the group was started out of boredom during lunch time. "We would eat and after eating it would be gossip time, as you know women. This was creating animosity among ourselves. We came out with the idea of killing time by singing and dancing and the rest is now history. We are nearly 40 and we perform during functions here at the hospital and sometimes outside."

She added that the group also met during weekends. "It is not only a cultural group anymore; we are a closely knit group of sisters who are handy to help each other at any given time," said Ndou.

Entertainment - Date: 13 November 2014

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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