Soon after arriving in Manyana I met my first host family:
Bo-Ipotseng. Mme Ruth, my host mother, Temogo her fourteen year old son and
Ayanda her five year old granddaughter were at the preschool to greet me after
arriving in Manyana. There is also a father and another brother, Jacob who is
my age, both work in Gabz . Kefilwe, my twenty-seven year old sister and mother
on Ayanda is in her final year at
UB studying chemistry. I was very nervous and I was unsure of what was going to
happen when we got into Manyana, all I had was a small piece of paper telling
me who my “family” was and all the things Cameron (my brother who did this trip
two years ago) had told me about his stay in Manyana. Much of which was
worrying. So like typical Zina fashion I went into “let me help” mode. I served
drinks and snack and help sort our food care packages, which might have been my
way of avoiding the awkward small talk that was taking place. Setswana is not
coming easily to me but go siame.
Once everything got settled Mme Ruth told me that my Setswana name would be
“Boitumelo” meaning Joy, which I think is ironic and I very pleased with. I
often hear people calling me as I walk to school or to the store. Manyana is a
small place and I stand out without trying. Yet, its nice that everyone says
hello to each other and knows your name or is eager to ask “O bidiwa mang?”
I
ended up expanding this blog post into my first full paper and I’ll attach it
if anyone is interested in checking it out.
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