Pule Walkers Clan (Lesotho 2)

It was early morning I was outside having a cup of coffee and thinking about what I was going to do that day. I heard a noise carried to me by the wind. I looked across at the path and I saw the village children on their way to school. They moved as if they were joined together. The group of children looked like some gigantic snake the way it wound itself along the path. I could hear them laughing and playfully taunting each other. Then suddenly the snake stopped . . . then I heard one voice carried to me and it was as if I was standing close by the group I could hear everything that he said.

I am Maphuphe
My clan is Pule (rain) walkers
I walk this path every day
I am here to see that my brothers and sisters
Arrive safely at school

I am a shepherd
Sometimes sheep,
sometimes children
I am happy with my children
In the morning.

We sing to our ancestors
And rejoice in their name
Everyday we take turns to lead the singing
This is our tribal tradition
Everyone must learn

Stories, poems and songs
Begin and end each journey
to and from school
In so doing the children know
They are leaving and once again
Entering our tribal ground
It is our tradition

I am Maphuphe
Let us start.

There seemed to be a brief silence as if people were collecting themselves and then I heard a lovely young girls voice begin to sing.

We ride the clouds
We stay with the stars
We are closer to the sun and the moon
We are the ‘Pule’ walkers clan

And then the whole group burst into song:

We rise above the earth
Not for us the lowlands
The mountains are our friends
We walk in the clouds
We are the ‘Pule’ walkers clan


And then it was that same solitary voice again –

The boulders and rocks
Watch us come and go
A generation to us
Is but a day to them
We are the ‘Pule’ walkers clan

Once again the whole group joined in:

We rise above the earth
Not for us the lowlands
The mountains are our friends
We walk in the clouds
We are the ‘Pule’ walkers clan

Back to the solitary voice:

We soar with the Bald Ibis
They are our Spirits
We their body
They watch over us
We are the ‘Pule’ walkers clan

And again the whole group

We rise above the earth
Not for us the lowlands
The mountains are our friends
We walk in the clouds
We are the ‘Pule’ walkers clan

I strained my ears but I could no longer hear the words. They were still singing but all I could hear was a distant chant of the group and then silence until the chant was taken up again. I could no longer make it out. I could still see them though. Each person had their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. This only strengthened my impression of them moving as if they were one person. And in a way they were, as they gave up their individuality and immersed themselves in the clan.