Parents who are intending to take their children to the mountain during the summer season must think wisely. They need to balance between the money they will spend on the welcoming ceremony (umgidi) and buying clothes for ikrwala.
Parents sometimes have a tendency of thinking that umgidi is about them or demonstrating their financial muscle to the community. They forget that it is just a ceremony and nothing else.
The reality is it is not a must to make or have umgidi. I’ve seen families spending a lot of money on making umgidi and forgetting to buy clothes for ikrwala. People would drink expensive alcohol and slaughter a cow, sheep, including pig but yet the main man doesn’t have enough clothes to wear.
You’ll find that ikrwala only has three trousers, two shirts, a jersey, a jacket and work suit only. Looking at the food and alcohol that was eaten during the ceremony to feed the people is way too much.
I’m appealing to you now, to first think about the child before you think of your stomach. It is sad to see ikrwala wearing plastic shoes whereas in his ceremony everyone was drunk.
Let’s learn to balance the two. Never mind your friends and the people who are attending or what they are going to say. Let’s be cautious, the rand is low.
Feeding people who care less about you, while you are trying to impress them.
Put the needs of your child first before the community. Make sure your child has enough clothes before you splash the money on buying alcohol for people who don’t care about you.
