Day 5 Friday 28 August

S. A. Zulu Choir performing at St. Michael’s Anglican Photo: Jonathan Harrison

A relaxing evening last night turned into a night on the town for those choir members who were still awake, which just happened to be most of the boys. Chapel St. was the location, an excellent presentation of Melbourne’s youthful and vibrant night life, and a great way for our Durban brothers to unwind. Their African rhythms showed as they demonstrated to locals what dancing really is: crumping, the Zulu robot and synchronised manoeuvres - all to house / dance beats.

Today offered a much more relaxed start, a sleep-in until lunchtime before moving straight to St. Michael’s Anglican Church in Nth. Carlton in preparation fo the evening’s worship service. The worship service itself was a true representation of the choir’s faith, though music. The congregation heard testimony from SA Zulu Choir drummer Freddy Whales, uplifting the congregation and warming their hearts. The gospel songs to which the congregation worshiped were familiar to regular Austalian church-goers, and are also common to churches in South Africa. Yet another example of how similar our two cultures are, and yet why is it that their acceptance into Australian culture has been such a shock to them?