Nisreen Faraj

HIST 134
8 August 2019
Bantu People
Hello, my name is Maya and I am a nineteen year old female living here in Africa. I just
woke up and I am getting ready for the day that I have planned ahead of me. Part of my daily
routine consists of pottery making. I tend to do this with the other women in my family. In my
culture, family is very important. My relatives and I have very close-knit relationships. Respect
is always shown whether it is typical conversation, working together, or just have a gathering.
Pottery-making is the best and most developed skill that my family possesses, however we also
spend our time developing and improving our weaving strategies. Today I am going to sit with
my mom and we are going to weave and see how much we have improved over the last few
weeks.
After my mother and I complete our weaving and analyzation for the day, I am going to
go spend time with all my family members. We are all very family oriented; growing up, my
parents always made it a point to demonstrate how family is supposed to be a priority whenever
making important decisions.
Later, my family will go out to communicate with the other Bantu people in our area.
Community values are also important to us, so we all make it a point to get to know one another
and support each others talents.
As my family sits together and talks, we discuss the ancestors that we have unfortunately
lost. The dead are very influential to those of us who are still alive, and they all still are very well
respected. We get ready to eat together as a family, and in spirit we welcome the ancestors of our
family in order to ensure that they are feeling happy in this afterlife.
My family decides to end the night with our community is my favorite way possible, with
a lot of music! The best and the rhythm of the drums is so wonderful to hear and it is almost
impossible for me to be sad when we have nights like this. My neighbors are especially talented
at playing the instruments and so they bring out their drums to fill the area with music. My
neighbors and my family all dance together in order to demonstrate our appreciation of the
music as well as have a great time. Other members of the audience clap in order to feel the
music.
 Finally, after a very long day or weaving and a night full of dancing, I return back to my
house. I get ready for bed now and think about my day. I enjoyed every aspect of it, and hope
that there are many great days ahead of my family and me.