WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009 - (Page 35)
a g/ui (San) boy in new Xade. development of tourist lodges and a diamond mine. As the ambulance neared the village a heated discussion erupted amongst the patients, probably regarding a recent speech made by a local government official detailing the latest plan for generating income in the village and lifting the San out of poverty. As I listened to the patients arguing, I felt moved by the passionate fluctuations of their tonal dialect and the intensity of the clicks that crackled over their lips. At the same time, I was saddened by the reality that this fascinating language may not be around much longer. According to a report in the International Journal of Educational Development, G/ui and G//ana are among the most endangered languages in the world. Indeed, most of the remaining Khoisan languages are at risk of dying out in the next generation. In the past, the San were enslaved and sometimes even hunted by the more powerful Bantu and Caucasian groups who encroached on their territory in southern Africa. Today, the cultural destruction of the San continues in subtler, though no less treacherous, ways. For example, San children are not allowed to speak their dialects at school. Shortly after Botswana’s independence, Setswana was enforced as the “national” language, especially in education, with English as the official language. This had the effect of further marginalization of the San, whose mother tongues are as different from Setswana as English is from Mandarin. All of the teachers in New Xade are Setswana-speaking Bantu people transferred from other parts of the country. Though San children in New Xade start school knowing little or no Setswana, they are forced on day one to follow the instructions of their Setswanaspeaking teacher. Understandably, the San children often struggle through the first few years of school and are often beaten by their teachers for being “slow” and “stupid.” Many San students drop out before reaching secondary school. Those who do reach secondary school are often bullied and harassed by their Bantu peers. As a result, many San children grow to disown their language and cultural heritage. Some San parents today refuse to teach their children their mother tongue in hopes that they might not have to encounter the same discrimination. There are, however, efforts to preserve Khosian languages. Hessel and Coby Visser, a Dutch missionary couple who have lived and worked with the San for over 15 years, have transcribed Naro into a user-friendly orthography. They have founded the Naro Language Project, which works with the government and San communities to improve literacy and education. They are also in the process of encouraging the government to provide mothertongue education in the first three years of school and to hire San-speaking assistant teachers. When primary school classes begin, Hessel and Coby visit the schools in Ghanzi District and show the teachers how to write and pronounce San names. They also work with Botswana’s Nonformal Education Department to teach adults to read and write their native tongue. In 2007, I worked with Coby and another PCV in the Naro-speaking village of D’Kar to develop a coloring book in both Setswana and Naro that could be used to teach basic concepts about the prevention of HIV/AIDS. I also WorldView Ed Pettitt
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009
WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009
Contents
More Peace Corps Campaign: Better and Bolder!
Africa Rural Connect
Readers Write
You Too Can Be Bill Gates
Taking Peace Corps Back into the Field
Come for the Information, Stay for the Dancing
A “Green” Community Rising
Microfinance Pioneer Receives 2009 Shriver Award
The Colombia Project
A Voice for the Unheard
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Microfinance Podcasts
Selected Microfinance Resources
Bicycle! Bamenda! Orange!
Luck and Fame
A Step in the Right Direction
Bringing What She Loves
Letter from Botswana: First Tongues of the Kalahari
Letter from Tanzania: Homo Sapien in Africa
In the Beginning (There Was John)
The Peace Corps Community Making a Difference
Community News
Advertiser Index
WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009
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