Peaceful Pathway☮

So, the majority of Batswana understand and can speak English very well.   I have to say that this has contributed to my overall success within the country because even though I am learning the local language (Setswana), it’s assuring to be able to express myself in my native tongue when Setswana just isn’t working for me that day. Teaching sexual reproductive health to a group of junior secondary students That being said, the English that is spoken here is very much a conglomeration from around the world: from England to South Africa.   Many of the “isms” are infinitely disparate from the English I am familiar with and on days where I feel that I need to make my speech ingenuous, I am taken back when a youth in my PACT club utilizes a word like, “ameliorate” or “discordant”.   Often it seems that the smallest words are the ones that cause the most confusion; such as “bathroom” literally means the room in which you bathe, and not where the toilet is located. Livingstone, Zamb

The other day, as I raked my large yard of dirt, a woman walking by paused, shifted her weight to one hip, and smiled from ear to ear.   I felt her presence on the other side of the gate, wiped the sweat from my brow, and looked up with a friendly greeting “Dumela Mma!” (At this point, I’m used to being a splendorous attraction). She shook her head and smiled even bigger.   “Kitso!” She exclaimed, her voice gaining an octave with each word, “You are working like a Motswana!”   I couldn’t help but chuckle and nod it off.   I affirmed her statement by saying, “Eeh Mma!” She continued on her journey, her face still creased into a smile.   Watering the garden (that has since died due to no water in the village) A couple days later, as I rode my newly-bought bicycle to the junior secondary school, children ran alongside me screaming with excitement.   Talk began circulating around the village that I knew how to ride a bicycle and people came to my house simply to ask me to rid