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Lobola: cultural clashes exposed  

Theatre is one of the powerful ways of teaching, entertaining and informing audiences about various issues affecting and happening in our society.

One of the issues that have been a bone of contention is marriage between people of different cultural backgrounds and traditions.

This is what inspired Young Travellers Theatre to come up with a play titled Lobola which exposes the challenges that people in love, their parents and wards face when they want to intermarry.

Performed during the just-ended Easter Theatre Festival, which took place at Jacaranda Cultural Centre in Blantyre at the weekend, Lobola was one of the highlights of the event.

The two families during the lobola negotiations

Set in the two districts of Chitipa and Mangochi, the two Tumbuka and Yao families struggle to find common ground to allow their two children Anafi Sipoko and Annie Chawinga to marry.

The play takes the Sipoko family to Chitipa to ask for Annie’s hand in marriage, negotiate for lobola and possibly agree on wedding dates. But when the Sipoko family arrive in Chitipa, they are in for a rude awakening as they find the lobola demands too much.

Led by their outspoken uncle Che Chiwisa, the Sipoko family clash with the Chawinga family over the lobola demands of five cows and damages for pregnancy after it transpires that Annie is pregnant.

After failing to find common ground, the Sipoko family leaves in frustration and continues with life, hoping that the issue will solve itself.

As time passes and Annie’s pregnancy progresses, the Chawinga family decides to go to Mangochi and discuss the marriage of the two children as in Tumbuka culture, having a child out of wedlock is considered a taboo.

While there, another fight ensues as the two sides cultural differences once again come to the fore with the Sipoko family now trying to take advantage of the Chawingas’ desperation.

After bickering and back and forth fights, the two sides finally agrees to let their children marry without any objections and conditions.

The play’s strength lies in the proper use of both Yao and Tumbuka languages as well as the mannerism of the funny but provocative Uncle Che Chiwisa.

The play also exposes how language barrier can bring conflict as highlighted by the Chawinga family’s reaction after discovering that Annie is pregnant.

Uli na mthumbo? [Are you pregnant?],” asks Chawinga while Uncle Che Saidi gets irritated thinking Chawinga has unleashed profanities against them.

Another cultural conflict comes out clearly when the Sipoko family challenges the lobola demands by the Chawinga family, saying in their culture, they do not ‘buy’ women, especially an average looking woman like Annie.

The play offers a glimpse into the realities of cultural misunderstandings and conflicts.

Written by Imraan Shabaan, Lobola was one of the highlights of this year’s Easter Theatre Festival.

In a separate interview, Shabaan said he wrote the play to celebrate both Tumbuka and Yao cultures.

“We also wanted to use the play to educate people about the importance of learning other people’s cultures and respecting them,” he said.

He said after writing the script, the actors were tasked with the responsibility of learning other people’s cultures while at the same time, find ways of respecting them.

“Malawians and other people who fail to understand other cultures end up with stereotypes. This play was meant to highlight how these challenges stand in the way of love,” said Shabaan.

The play has a cast of 17 with some entertaining sikili dancers as part of the cast. They include Godfrey Light, Kenneth Adbulmajid, Shaib Mustafa, Zasokosa Jalil, Twaib Omar and Alick Greciom. Others are Hawa Mambo, Ken Kananji, Major Anafi, Allie Kainga, John Adbullah and Iddrissa Said.

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