Rituals are part of our daily lives. My morning begins with a loud beep of the alar, piercing through the cocoon of sleep. I reached for my phone, its cool, smooth surface a contrast to the warm, rumpled sheets. The room is dim, the early morning sunshine shines through the curtains, casting soft shadows on the wall. I stretch, feeling the pull of muscles easing into wakefulness and take a deep breath.

I pad to the kitchen, the cool tile under my foot sending a shiver up my body. I decided to make some coffee as the smell of it filled my nose and the space. Some toasted slices of bread always gets me in a very good mood to start my day. After breakfast, I toke a long deserving hot bath and I felt my muscles relaxing.

I then made my way to campus, and along the way there was some noise of cars passing by going up and down, everyone aiming to start their day. This is when I could feel very well that I was now separated from my space. I could feel the cool morning breeze making contact with my skin, sending chills to my spine. The smell of street food fills the air, a tempting mix of spices and some meat. The birds also chipping, giving me some faith that today will be a great day. There was noise of stressed students preparing for their morning classes, I made my way to the Social Anthropology class and suddenly I could hear the loud deep voice of the lecturer ready to begin the class. I took out my book that instantly stared back at me, I then toke the notes. After the morning class I made sure that I attend all the remaining classes. 

After all my classes I made my way back home as I felt that today was a really long day. I could even feel the hard and long day through my itching feet. I toke a warm bath to relax and decrease the tiredness that begins to over power my body. I went through all my notes to make sure that I understand today's concept. After that I made sure that I excite my stomach with some home divine home cooked meal, suddenly I could feel my day becoming better. I was now in the liminal phase where I was now back in my space that was peaceful and relaxing. I threw my head in my soft pillow and that is when the deep slumber attacked me.

The teachings we are exposed to as children contribute to the beliefs we have and the shape how we view the world. The teachings we obtain from our elders are very important because they contribute to the kind of people we tend to become (our personality), and how we interact with others.

As a girl from the Basotho clan, there are many teachings that I believe to be endogenous to my ethnic group, that I got from my elders, but I am only going to discuss two of them. It has seemed to be very disrespectful when you raise your voice to a person that is older than you, even if you are called and there is distance between you and the person that is calling you, to show respect you have to close the distance and make contact with the person calling you. Ather people find it strange because you can just raise your voice a little bit to say what you need. You cannot raise your voice to an alder nor make an eye contact with them. When you speak with elders you have to bow your head as a sign of showing respect but one would argue that when one does not make an eye contact, it shows that they are hiding something. This was just to show the reader the structure of what I was referring to the teachings from Basotho.

Basotho believes in Ubuntu, that is referred as Botho. This belief underscores the importance of community, collective responsibility, and respect. Basotho teaches that one's identity and fulfillment are obtained through relationships and contributions to the welfare of others. It promotes values such as empathy, kindness, and support. Growing up with this belief have shaped how I interact with others. It has invented in me a deep respect for human dignity and a commitment to communal well-being. In my personal, I make by all means to practice empathy, recognize the interconnectedness of our actions, and contribute in a positive way to society. The spirit of Botho encourage me to value collaboration over competition and to seek harmonious relationship in all areas of life.

Another cornerstone of Basotho culture is the "lekgotla", the traditional council system. The lekgotla serves as a platform for communal decision making, conflict resolutions, and the preservation of cultural practices. This council is composed of village elders and leaders, plays an important role in maintaining social order and upholding justice. The lekgotla operates on principles of fairness, transparency and consensus. It provides a space where every voice can be heard, ensuring that decisions reflect the collective will of the community. This system fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility among community members, as they are actively involved in governance and problem solving.

The teachings of the lekgotla have taught me the value of inclusive decision making and the importance of considering diverse perspectives. It has influenced my belief in the power of dialogue and the importance of listening to other people, more especially in times of conflict. In both personal and professional settings, I advocate for working together and seek to build consensus, drawing from wisdom and experience of people around me.

Networks of kinship refers to people that one has a close and strong relationship with, in simple terms, networks of kinship refers to family. In the space of household we have different relationships with different family members. The relationship one might have with their siblings, will not be the same to their parents. This is the kind of kinship that is lineal.

Household is formed by family and the different roles they play in insuring that the home or household is stable. My father as the head of family, he ensure that we are safe at all times, so we mostly relay on him with security. We always know that with him around we are always safe. When we are facing financial break down, we trust him on that as we know that he always try to make a plan so that everything works out for us. Every decision we want to take, we have ask permission from him first. Although there are other things we don not trust him with, like cleaning the house or doing laundry. Even we coming to having conversation, it's unique and different from other family members. For example, when I'm having conversation with my father, I use more formal language than I do with my siblings to show respect. We cannot fix any broken things around the house, so we also trust him on fixing almost anything that is broken and hard labour at home. 

In this household we have a mother, the person that ensures that the home is always filled with warmth. By warmth I mean that, she makes sure that the house is always clean and everyone does not go to sleep without eating. The mother always knows everyone's needs and that makes her the most important person in the household, when we are emotionally drained, she is the right person to go to. She has the kind of support that no one has. Relationship I have with my mother is one of the best, I tell her almost everything about anything because she is a good listener and a good adviser, I always want to be around her space. With her teaches, she ensures that we are always on the right track, so that we could grow with respect and discipline. The mother is more of a bestfriend, she is more to be trusted. She has moral support and she is most trusted on domestic work, the whole family revolves around her.

I also have siblings in this network of kinship. My relationship with my siblings differs from the relationship that I have with anyone else, because we are not just sibling but we are also friends. I know I am safe at the street when I am with them. My conversation I have with then can never be formal like the conversation I have with my parents.

The networks of kinship are formed by our family members. We might have big families, but everyone has a unique relationship with everyone. A good household is maintained by everyone playing their respective roles in the family.

Stereotypes have long existed and will still exist. I believe they can be good and bad at the same time. 

"When writing about Africa you must use the words 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' as the heading" concluded by Wainana,B,2005,Granta,How to write about Africa.According to Wainana people in Africa die because of starvation,she also think when writing about Africa things like rice,beef and wheat should not be included, because apparently they eat things that other humans don't eat . This is more related to the TEDT talks presented by Ngozi which is the danger of a single story. People focus more on one side of the story. Like it is believed that African people are not educated or they starve.

Many people miss important information because of being stereotypes. As Vico visualise, he noticed that men make their own history then make it geography (Said,W.E,1975:13). "The West defined the Orient as an idea that has history and tradition of thought imagery and vocabulary that have given it reality,so therefore it would be wrong to conclude that the Orient was an idea of creation with no corresponding reality" concluded by Said,W.E,1975:13.

In this essay I conclude that it is important to know all sides of relevant story. Being stereotypes doesn't only mislead,but also makes one to be distorted. Missing important information cause one to conclude on irrelevant statements with no empirical evidence.