Busy Bees explore collaborations

by: Zongezile Matshoba

The meeting that took place at Hill Street library on Wednesday afternoon opened numerous doors for the Busy Bees. In attendance were several representatives of the Makana Municipality’s funded projects, which are part of the Project 200 Years.

Interest and excitement showed immediately after the Busy Bees team has been introduced by Councilor Julia Wells from the municipality. Taking the stand on behalf of the team were Sinethemba Yame and Dumisani Budaza. They informed the meeting that the project aims to gather everyone’s experience and stories of living in Grahamstown that have never been recorded before, preserve it, and publish it online.

Several interesting projects promised to accelerate as Project 200 Years reaches halfway mark in June. These projects covered various aspects ranging from dance, theatre, book publishing, to career guidance, exhibitions and street festivals, based on the 12 themes that have been identified by the municipality.

Organizations that have been identified by the municipality to receive financial support include Amaphiko Dance Project, Upstart Youth Development Project, DSG and St Andrew’s Schools, Fingo Festival, Grahamstown NGOs coalition and Gadra.

One speaker even challenged the Busy Bees to rewrite the South African history that resulted in the June 1976 uprisings, claiming that it all started in Grahamstown in 1975 when Phila Nkayi, now an African National Congress member of parliament, led students to boycott Afrikaans as medium of instruction.      

Elron Kleinhans, another Busy Bees member then extended the invitation to all leaders of the funded projects to work closer with the Busy Bees so as to share information for the benefit of Grahamstown community. The success of the Busy Bees relies on stories like these, the missing links in the local and national history.  

Beside the 12 themes, Busy Bees are also interested in assisting local communities in writing their own histories. They are not focussing on people only, but at anything, event or place of interest such as the Recreation Hall, the beer hall, or the donkeys, for example that have become part of the history of this area. Anyone with a personal, family or group story to share must contact the Busy Bees team for an interview at Albany Natural Science Museum  (Somerset Street), or via the email: busybees200@gmail.com

The Journey has Began

The journey of collecting untold stories has taken off since the start of May. We are engaging with the public to participate in revealing their historical stories, experiences and life in Grahamstown.
The themes that have been identified  are:

1. Sport and Recreation
2. Migration and Movement
3. Human Rights
4. Wars and Conflict
5. Labour and Trade
6. Education and Youth
7. Arts and Culture
8. Women and Health
9. Heritage and Media
10. Environmental Awareness
11. Cultural Identity
12. Faith and Reconciliation   

We have identified and approached some individuals concerning the various themes. The areas that we have visited include Fingo Village, Scott's farm and the Albany Road area. We have also spoken to some Schools including George Dickerson and St Mary's Catholic School, we interviewed religious leaders from the Anglican denomination as well as other Faith Leaders. 

We urge the public to come forward and comment or provide their own histories. The Busy Bees team can be contacted at (046) 622 2312 ext 231.     

These are pictures of some Historical sites we have visited. 

The old bakery in Albany road. one of the family we
 interviewed has been living in this house since 1958

St Phillip's Church in E-Street (Kwa Mnqayi), the structure was
  built from 1862 - 67 it is one of the oldest structures in Grahamstown.

Busy Bees taking off!

Oral history plan takes offYoung Grahamstown-born academics to collect untold stories

BY DAVID MACGREGOR
Port Alfred Bureau


AN AMBITIOUS plan to send four Grahamstown university graduates into local townships
to painstakingly collect the almost forgotten history of people of colour in the City of
Saints is creating a buzz. Even though they are earning a small stipend
for their groundbreaking research, the excited young academics yesterday told the Dispatch
working on the Busy Bee project, started by Makana Municipality and the Albany Museum to
celebrate the establishment of Grahamstown 200 years ago, is still a dream come true.
After years of doing temporary work in diverse fields like IT, human resources and advertising,
27-year-old Rhodes University anthropology honours graduate Elron Kleinhans is counting the
days until he hits the dusty streets of Joza next month to start collecting the black oral history of
a town that was built on suspicion and conflict. “I am finally working in my field and I can’t wait
to start interviewing people and hearing their stories, ” Kleinhans said.

“It is important we get these untold stories out before they disappear forever.”
The energetic, four-person research team which is busy identifying themes to investigate
is a diverse mix of young Grahamstown-born academics keen to collect the untold stories of their
home town.

The rest of the team comprises social science graduates Dumisani Budaza, 25, and Sinethemba
Yame, 22, and fine arts graduate Jongikhaya Mene, 35. Themes that will be investigated include a
warts-and-all history of the people of Fingo Village who were given land rights in Grahamstown by
the British Empire as a reward for helping fight in the Frontier Wars – and the origins of their neighbours
in the nearby Hottentot settlement. Forced removals, the Black Consciousness
movement, black rugby, township schools, churches and liberation activists from King Makana to
Siphiwo Mazwayi will also be researched. According to Budaza and Yame a key component
of the research is to reconcile and unite Grahamstown.

“It is not about the money – we want to do something we love and give something back to the
community, ” Budaza said. Albany Museum manager Bongani Mgijima
yesterday said the Busy Bee project was designed to get communities involved in collecting their
own histories. “History is not only important for today it is important for future generations.”
Makana councillor and history professor Julie Wells, who has been driving the project, said Busy
Bees started after it became clear a good deal of Grahamstown’s history had never been recorded.

“The project is designed to help share technological skills as mini-histories can be very cheaply
produced in electronic formatting, combining old photos, text, voices and music.
“People can feel a sense of pride in telling the stories of their achievements, whether it be
schools, churches, sports groups, neighbourhood associations, stokvels or groups of workers.”
She said an aim of the project was to help achieve a greater balance and fuller picture of the
area’s rich and diverse history. “Part of the concept is to generate an interest in
‘social history’ which includes much of what we might call the ordinary stuff of everyday life,
looking at things like eating habits, recreation, rites of passage, cultural expressions and customs.
“Such stories can be told by anyone and everyone. “It is not about being rich or famous, just about
how we lived in days gone by. “Everyone from any walk of life can make a contribution.”