W&N watercolour on Visual 200gsm
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
- Nelson Mandela
The Xhosa number approximately 7,1 million people, the majority of whom live in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. They are descendant from the Nguni, who migrated from central and northern Africa. They comprise a number of clans such as Gcaleka, Ngika, Ndlambe, Dushane, Qayi and the Gqunkhwebe of Khoisan origin.
In Xhosa culture the women are easily recognised by their heavy dress, matching turban and coloured dots decorating their faces. If she has children, whom she has raised to be adults, then it is usual to find her seated among her peers smoking a long-handled pipe. It is also tradition that the women tend to the fields, carry water and tend to the household in general.
