All That Matters Is That We Do Love

Each Sunday the brothers and some people from the village go out and play football (soccer). I joined them this past Sunday which was fun. I haven’t played soccer since the third grade so I don’t think I was much help, but my team did end up winning so there is that.

Sugar cane. The left side is peeled and ready to eat.
You suck on the juice (sugar water) and then spit out
the remaining piece

With always being surrounded by so many people who speak Swahili it is common for them to ask me a lot of questions in Swahili. I can practically feel the gears turning in my head when I try to figure out and answer one of the questions asked. It’s this feeling of wanting something, but not being allowed to have it. Like many who have learned or tried to learn another language, you may identify the main vocab word in the sentence, but nothing else. You miss out on the connecting words like “is, was, have, of, or, and, but, then, like, etc.” This causes you to end up guessing and only adds to the confusion. Little by little, though.

A wonderful and relevant Instagram post

However, the easiest part of Swahili is the pronunciation. I may not know what the word means, but I can pronounce it. This is because in Swahili each vowel has one sound. In English, each vowel has three or four. This is one reason why English is such a hard language to learn.

I told you how I would be helping assist Mr. Barack at teaching English at the Vocational school. Yeah, it’s simply full-on teaching. I don’t mind at all, but I thought it was funny. He either leaves to go into town (when I thought he would stick around for class) or he comes into class and acts as a student wanting to learn. However, the latter part is okay with me. I can tell he really wants to learn. He participates more than the students.

My big lesson that I continuously drill into their heads is the pronunciation of vowels. In Swahili, the pronunciation of the vowel ‘e’ is ‘ay’. So, when they try to pronounce the word ‘bear’ it comes out ‘bayar’. It sounds like they’re trying to rap like Flo Rida. “I put my hands in the ayer, ay, ayer, ayer, ay, ayer!” Am I right? 

So, this is problematic for two reasons. One: the last person you want any English speaker to sound like is Flo Rida. Two: If they say something in English with a Swahili pronunciation it most likely won’t make much sense and their message will be lost.

So, this leads me to drill the importance of pronunciation and the sounds of the vowels every class period. I will give them examples like “the boy received a present from his grandmother for Christmas,” followed by “My father has to present his ideas at the meeting.” Both sentences contain the same word which is ‘present’. However, even though they are spelt the same they are pronounced differently and this is important because if you say pr ‘eh’ sent you are referring to a gift. When you say pr ‘ee’ sent you are referring to the showing or displaying of something. We have the same vowel, but different pronunciation and, therefore, different meaning.

I think they will begin to understand; slowly, but surely.

I also just have simple conversation with them. I make them write down a question and then I answer. This gets them to speak as well as hear the language. The questions can be about anything such as “who was the first president of the United States;” to “what should I keep in mind for a face-to-face interview?” I think this is a positive lesson. It touches on multiple areas.

An interesting question arose the other day while teaching. It was the typical ‘are you married’ question, but it grew into a question about marriage equality and legalization; an interesting topic for both the students and me. I explained to them that in the U.S. it is legal for a man to marry a man and a woman to marry a woman just as it is legal for a man to marry and woman. Like most African countries, marriage between people of the same-sex is still very much taboo. The students were surprised. The conversation was a positive one, though.

The conversation made me think about the laws that deal with same-sex intimacy in places like Tanzania. After researching the topic I learned that same-sex sexual activity in Tanzania has been illegal since the 1800’s. Males can be sentenced to a term of 30 years to life in prison for taking part in same-sex sexual activity. Females can be sentenced to 5 years or fined 500,000 schillings. Not only is this terrible, but it makes me wonder why there is a difference in sentencing between males and females.

The banana man!
And yes, my hair is out of control!

Laws like this are present in surrounding countries too. Things such as corrective rape (the saddest thing I have ever heard of) make these areas very dangerous for people who are attracted to the same sex.

I made sure to end the conversation on this topic with “Who am I to judge?” You don’t tell me who I can love so I won’t tell you who to love. All that matters is that we do love.

However, even though I aim to teach my students as much as possible some days it just doesn’t work. Sometimes I find it is just better to play a game or to speak to them more as a friend rather than a teacher. One game my students at Saint Benedict secondary school have come to love is hangman; a simple, yet fun game where I can incorporate English. Additionally, when we play Frisbee I make sure that it’s just a fun and relaxed time. I have learned that sometimes the best lesson is just to put a smile on their face.

The other day when I finished teaching all of the students except one had run out of class to get ready for the next activity. Like most teenagers, they are focused on what is going on in their world. I don’t mind, though. However, there was one girl who stayed after.

She said “Mr. Joseph, I just want to thank you for teaching us.” Then she hugged me and ran off.

Heart overload. Feelings, what? Is this how it feels to feel?

This is what makes it all worth it.

Thanks for reading!