by Nahlah Abdur-Rahman
June 30, 2025
A Howard College professor continues his custom of bringing HBCU college students to his dwelling nation of South Africa for an immersive tour.
Yearly throughout the summer season semester, Dr. Sipho Sithole takes college students to South Africa for a six-week tour, the place they additional interact within the examine of Zulu tradition, heritage, and language. The lecturer teaches Zulu and Zulu tradition on the Washington, D.C.-based HBCU.
Sithole spoke with Newzroom Afrika’s Masechaba Mposwa to debate the experiences college students achieve via this summer season session. Alongside two Howard college students, they highlighted the cultural immersion expertise provided throughout the six-week tour.
For Sithole, the initiative stemmed from his welcoming expertise educating at Howard College, which he claims boasts the most important division of world languages and cultures.
“Howard College has obtained the largest enrollment of isiZulu college students exterior of South Africa,” defined Sithole. “We educate about 150 college students from Zulu 1 to Zulu 4. So this program has at all times been round…As you understand, I’ve at all times been a cultural practitioner and traditionalist rooted in our tradition, so I assume Howard College noticed that I used to be the very best particular person to come back and educate. I used to be prepared, and I’m there, and I couldn’t agree extra.”
Via this system, college students journey to battlefields and go to the graves of the Zulu Kings, whereas additionally growing a deeper understanding of conventional huts and prayers. Additionally they meet with fellow college students inside the college and different grade ranges, connecting with their era regardless of hailing from completely different continents.
College students come able to embrace the distinctive tradition of the Zulu individuals in South Africa. Many have continued to matriculate via the programs provided at Howard, recognizing the cultural shifts not as current again dwelling.
“I must say group,” shared scholar Ryen Reed, about how Zulu tradition appeals to her most. “In the USA, we’re actually frightened about our personal private well-being and our personal doings and our personal alternatives, that we don’t take lots into filling into the alternatives that others have round us in our group. Being right here, I’ve discovered that regardless if I do know you or not, you’re my household and that I’ve to look out for you.”
With a jam-packed schedule of museum journeys and courses, college students additionally achieve a religious understanding of the Zulu custom. Praying and paying homage to at least one’s ancestors stays integral to this group, leaving some students emotional about lastly being on the lands the place their great-great-grandparents as soon as lived.
This system goals to bridge the hole for Black American students and people within the Zulu tradition, providing a once-in-a-lifetime alternative to attach with this lineage of individuals.
RELATED CONTENT: Brooklyn Teen Denies Hazing, Faces ‘P-Diddy’ Bullying After Expenses Dropped
