Project 10 - The Meaning of the Buffalo

A wildlife filmmaker is sent on assignment to a remote village in South Africa to make a documentary about the meaning of the buffalo. One hot day, at the tail-end of summer, she arrives in the arid village of Lekgophung, home to the Balete – the People of the Buffalo. She is told by a wary stranger to visit the local chief for answers, as he is the only one who is allowed to talk about their culture. However, the chief is ill and is not available for some time, so the filmmaker goes to the local shop. Here, she meets Mr Matshediso, the owner, who is willing to talk. He ets on that it is only the old people of the village who really know the stories behind why the buffalo is the totem animal of the Balete people. He introduces the filmmaker to his 85-year-old mother, who knows the buffalo praise poem but has never seen this totem animal that she worships. The filmmaker also meets Mr Matshediso’s daughter, Madikoti, who dreams of becoming a game ranger in a nearby nature reserve that has a big herd of buffalo. Although, she admits, she doesn’t really believe in the buffalo totem idea. // MY YEOVILLE: One of Johannesburg’s oldest suburbs and long-time home to Orthodox and Hasidic Jews, Yeoville became a bastion of apartheid defiance in the late 1980?s and a melting pot where creative and eclectic people of all races, backgrounds, lifestyles, classes and creeds cross pollinated. It became the ‘model democratic city of South Africa.’ With a history as rich and unique as this, it is understandable that both those who experienced it’s hey-day magic and moved on, and those who have chosen to remain there, speak of their Yeoville with vivid nostalgia and undying love. It once had the colourful bohemian energy and eclecticism similar to that of New York City’s East Village, Amsterdam, and London’s Camden Town. Its allure as a celebrated model of non-racial co-existence attracted some of South Africa’s most acclaimed musicians, artists and the new political elite. Even though many would say that Yeoville has slipped into a rapid and ungraceful old age, marred by urban decay and crime, its once bustling streets and now dilapidated buildings still silently whisper of the rich culture, creativity and vibrancy it once exuded.