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BLOG: STUDY UNIT 6

I come from the Zulu ethnic group and in my culture, we have many teachings and beliefs that I was taught since I was child and these beliefs and teachings made me to be who I am today but the most important beliefs and teachings that have shaped my worldview is Respect and Ancestors.

since I was a child, I was told that ancestors are very important in our lives, we believe they are our protection, and they bring light in our lives. We even make sacrifices for our ancestors we slaughter a goat, cow and even chickens and not believing in ancestors if you are a Zulu in my culture they see it as something abnormal and has I grow and being exposed more to the world I realize that the ancestors they do exist and they do make a difference in my life I do believe they are protecting me  and I believe I am connected to my ancestors spiritually and it has made me view the world in terms of when a person dies it does not mean they are gone forever but they live spiritually and they are people who can actually communicate with our loved ones in my culture we call them Sangoma.

Respect is very important in my Zulu ethnic group we are taught to respect elders and not only to respect your family members but also to respect everyone and to take every elder has your mother and father and no matter how wrong the elder is in some situations just because you are a child an elder will always be right and we were taught when an elder is addressing you must not look at them or even respond by doing that you are showing respect and it shows that you come from a good home and you are well trained and not doing things that show respect in my culture they assume your parents or family as failed to raise you properly even though that's not always the case because there are people who come from really good homes and they were raised  well but when they are not at home they behave differently and when they are around their families they behave the way they are expected to behave I can say respect has shaped my worldview in terms of I can see that respect is very important especially if you want to survive in this world we are living in, respecting another person is very important no matter what's the persons age or status respect can get you really far in life there are many things you can achieve.

I believe respect is something that should be taught to everyone regardless of where you come from, even though there are cultures who teach their children respect, but different ethnic groups have different way of teaching, what is important is doing the important things that we were taught because elders have reasons of teaching us these things and they are helpful.