More Old Hwange Photos

The story of this mother hippo's audacious adventure can be found at Old Hwange Photos.

Who's Your Grandmother?

While beginning to learn chiShona, my family and another family also studying chiShona went to get language practice at Sesame in Gokwe Province where a clinic and school were being rebuilt after the war for independence. We were young, late 20's early 30's, with small children. The wives were struggling to get a cooking fire going so they could cook supper on a steel drum lid when one of the workers came by and greeted them, "Masikati* vambuya."

The young women were a bit upset. "We're not that old," they responded. "We don't have grandchildren. These are our children."

The worker tried to explain that he hadn't called them grandmothers, he had used a term of respect. And so a new insight into Shona language and culture was learned.

The mothers of both your mother and your father are addressed as ambuya. Your grandmother is ambuya. She addresses you as muzukuru, just as your sekuru does.

When my wife and our friend heard vambuya in the greeting, they understood it to be the plural of ambuya. For words referring to people the plural is represented by va-. They understood the worker to be calling them grandmothers.

However, there is another relationship for which vambuya is used. It is the title bestowed upon one's mother-in-law by a man. By extension, it is also applied to the wives of his wife's brothers.

In the story above, the greeting was intended to welcome the young women by showing them the respect reserved for sisters-in-law. They were not being called old. They were being accepted into the community.

*Masikati is the standard afternoon greeting.

(Part of the confusion in hearing the difference between ambuya and vambuya is due to the sound of the Shona v. It is not explosive like the English v. It is much softer and slightly implosive. The explosive v sound is written vh in Shona. There is also a subtle tonal distinction between the two words. Ambuya is low-high-low whereas vambuya is high-low-low. Some dialects essentially drop the soft v in vambuya. For the ear unacquainted with these subtleties, these distinctions are virtually undetectable.)

Tsumo - Shumo

Ane mombe yake
anoziva makumiro ayo

The owner of an ox knows how it bellows.

Long acquaintance with a difficult character will make his peculiarities known.

-- Shona Proverb
From Tsumo - Shumo by Mordikai A. Hamutyinei and Albert B. Plangger

vaFundisi ne vaTungamiri ve maKereki

Local pastors (vafundisi) and graduates of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe visiting after attending a graduation ceremony.

Church leaders (vatungamiri ve makereki) visiting and congratulating a new BTSZ graduate (right) after the ceremony for a new graduating class.

Who's Your Grandfather?

You address your father's father as sekuru. You also address your mother's father as sekuru. So, your grandfather is sekuru. He addresses you as muzukuru, which must mean grandchild.

However, as is to be expected, there are some differences in Shona culture. Sons of your maternal grandfather, sekuru, are also addressed as sekuru and call you muzukuru. Sons of these sons of your maternal grandfather are also addressed as sekuru and also call you muzukuru.

So, you are not limited to two "grandfathers," vasekuru (plural of sekuru), in Shona culture. Also, it is very likely that you will have vasekuru younger than you are (sons of your mother's brothers).

Tsumo - Shumo

Musi muvi ndiwo muuya.

An evil day (can become) good luck.

Mavi ndiwo mauya.

Something bad (is also) something good.

-- Shona Proverb
From Tsumo - Shumo by Mordikai A. Hamutyinei and Albert B. Plangger

For example: When someone dies, people feel compassion for one another and forget the hatred they had for one another.

An English equivalent is "Every cloud has a silver lining."

Deadly cobra missing from Bronx Zoo

Deadly cobra missing from Bronx Zoo

20 inch? We usually had 48 - 60 inch ones in Gweru and they were always slithering free. (The big ones didn't pay house calls, that's why none over 60 inches.)

Not to discount the danger of their venom, but to all this hype over a tiny tot in a zoo, I'll give a Bronx Cheer.

BTSZ Exams

Exam time at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe

Gweru, Zimbabwe

Who's Your Brother? Your Sister?

In English we differentiate between male and female siblings. Male siblings are brothers and female siblings are sisters. Whether the speaker shares the sex of the brothers or of the sisters is of no importance in defining the relationship.

Shona differentiates between siblings of the same sex and siblings of the opposite sex. An elder sibling of the same sex as the speaker is called mukoma. A younger sibling of the same sex is called munin'ina. All siblings of the opposite sex are called hanzvadzi. In other words, a boy calls his older male siblings mukoma and his younger male siblings munin'ina. His female siblings are all hanzvadzi. Likewise, a girl calls her older female siblings mukoma and her younger female siblings munin'ina. All of her male siblings are hanzvadzi. Those a boy addresses as mukoma or munin'ina are addressed as hanzvadzi by a girl. Those a girl addresses as mukoma or munin'ina are addressed as hanzvadzi by a boy.

Since all brothers of one's biological father are baba, all of their children are either mukoma, munin'ina or hanzvadzi, depending upon the sex and relative age of the speaker. Because all sisters of one's biological mother are amai, the same relationships apply to their children.

To summarize, sons and daughters of one's parents, the father's brothers and mother's sisters are related as one's brothers and sisters. Children of the father's sisters and mother's brothers are not related as one's brothers and sisters. We will discover how they are related later.

Tsumo - Shumo

Meso asangana
hwava ukama

Eyes which have met have (established) a relationship.

(Mombe) Dzafura churu chimwe
dzave zivani.

Those (cattle) that have grazed the same ant-hill know each other.

-- Shona Proverb
From Tsumo - Shumo by Mordikai A. Hamutyinei and Albert B. Plangger

Experience once shared unites people ever after.