Wot's up?!

A rose by any other name …
People’s names here usually have a specific meaning. When a baby is born, they are given a name in their language, a name with significance (e.g. Born in the morning, Rejoice, Let us give thanks, I am finished, etc). Then, after 6 days, the mother and baby officially leave the birth room and the baby is welcomed with another name, usually these days one of European origin. So Hilma is also Panduleni (we give thanks), and Pandu (thanks) is also Priskilla, etc.
People ask what Caris and Étienne’s names mean. Étienne means ‘crown’ and Caris is Greek for ‘grace’. But ‘grace’, using the Oshiwambo word found in the Bible, is a hard concept to explain so we say her name means Ndapewa Oshali; I am given for free.
There is no word in Owambo for ‘borrow’ or ‘lend’. People use a phrase that means, loosely translated, ‘please help my need by giving me’.
There is no word for ‘please’ either. Culturally, it is very difficult to have people coming to our gate saying, in English, ‘Give me water.’, ‘I want bread.’ (etc), and often not even saying ‘thank you’ (a common occurrence in Oshiwambo but often hard for me to adjust to and to respond to graciously).
Knock, Knock. Who’s there?
Well, it could be anyone. Boys come regularly to our gate asking for food. They do a little job in the garden and we give them breakfast.
Every single day there are children upon children, coming in dribs and drabs (which means I have to KEEP going out to the gate), wanting to play. It can be very exhausting and we have to draw limits. But it is amazing to watch them as they discover the delights of draughts, battleships, uno, ludo, snakes and ladders, dominoes, etc for the first time. Some of the children hear Étienne practising his recorder and THEY want to learn. (Today for Bible Club they are watching an Odyssey video as it is exam week and I thought they could do with some light input. I have 17 children here but one is so keen to practise the recorder he is foregoing the movie to play some music. Wish Étienne was that keen!)
Another knock. This time it is someone needing help with their homework. The other day a class were told to take in books to do a book review. But most of them did not have a book of their own so came to borrow one (I have started a mini lending library). Yesterday a girl, who has just started uni this year, came for help with her computer exam for the following day. She wanted to know the difference between hardware and software. (All these things we just take for granted in our own cultural setting, hey!)
Knock, knock. It’s someone wanting to enrol in the NETS programme or coming to write an exam.
Knock! Knock! Ah, people have arrived for Bible study or for Bible club.
Hey, we’ve been there!
David has got us DSTV this month so he can watch the cricket and we can tape some fresh movies to watch. Many days this month I have scheduled a programme from Animal Planet or Nat Geog into the curriculum and we are learning heaps about all sorts of animals (ever heard of the Pink Fairy Armadillo or the Star-nosed Mole?!). Yesterday we learnt in geography about the early Portuguese explorers rounding the Cape and which one erected the cross at Cape Cross on the Namibian Coast. I reminded the children that that was the cross we saw when we went there to see the seal colony. Then David Attenborough came on TV to show us the seals at that very spot. A coincidence, but exciting for the children who could identify so closely with it.
I shall upload some pictures of the children, with and without animals! The parying mantis is on Caris’ hand. The frog we found in the garden. They are SO camouflaged. If you want to know why she is coming out of a Weaver’s nest, you need to read the next issue of Ongaipi!