Clan Indaba

On Sunday, I attended the first clan indaba of my life. There might have been twenty family members present, of three generations. It was adults only, so that a fourth generation was excluded. I spoke with the “chairman” before hand. He said: “We speak straight to the point in our meetings. Even sensitive issues.” The issues were quite important: how the clan should deal with the inheritance of a house, and how they should bear funeral costs. OBSERVATION: What stood out for me especially was the strong assumptions which were brought to the meeting, above all that this was a clan with mutual responsibilities -- also that one's status in the clan counted for something. My own sole input was to ask at the end of the meeting whether consensus had been reached. The answer was a resounding yes. The meeting included women, where more traditional indabas would exclude them.