Kiswahili School

“Habari za asubuhi?”
“Nzuri sana.”

“Umelalaje?”
“Salama.”

“Ulifanya nini jana?”
“Nilikwenda sokoni na nilinunua nanasi na maembe.”

For those not yet savvy in Swahili…. How are you this morning? Very well. How did you sleep? Peacefully. What did you do yesterday? I went to the market and bought a pineapple and mangos (Really, I did!).

This is a typical start to my day at Swahili School. We recap yesterday’s events over breakfast, then head to our first of eight hours of class. Grammar lessons, new vocabulary, lots of conversation, memory games, and a little singing – that is how we fill our time here! Sometimes we go on fieldtrips, such as our trip to the market yesterday to practice bargaining in Swahili. For less than two dollars I was able to buy about 10 mangoes, a pineapple, a pile of okra, a pile of garlic (yes, they really do sell things by the pile), 3 green peppers, a cucumber, and a bunch of sweet bananas. Others came back with all kinds of things – six feet of sugarcane, avocados the size of footballs.... you name it.

I have 9 classmates in this intensive three-week course. The students are a fascinating bunch, hailing from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, New Zealand, France, and the US. What they are doing in Tanzania is equally interesting. They work for orphanages, embassies, and NGOs. A few teach, some work for the church, and others are engineers working with local organizations. The one thing we share in common is a strong desire to learn the language.

I came to language school because of a recognition during my first few days in Tanzania of how vital Kiswahili is to understanding Tanzanian culture. When I return to the hospital my goal is to speak only Kiswahili – the key to talking to patients and hearing their stories. After nearly two weeks of class, I am well on my way to being able to do exactly that. What I did not realize before I arrived is that I would learn just as much from my classmates and their experiences as I’m learning about Kiswahili. It has been a wonderful way to learn the language!

The day before our trip to the market, we practiced bargaining with some of the people who work at the school. Clearly it was a very serious endeavor!

My teacher, Mama Frida, and I after successfully
bargaining for the scarf.