Windsor Mountain: Bridge Southern Africa 2008: ALL HERE AND ALL CLEAR!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

ALL HERE AND ALL CLEAR!

Bridge Southern Africa Families and Friends,

I just received a phone call from Thatcher at Shoestrings Airport Lodge in Johannesburg, and the news is:

ALL HERE AND ALL CLEAR!

Which means the whole group is safe and sound in South Africa, and the trip is underway. It is just after 8 pm there now; the plan is to eat dinner, have all the students call home, then have the first group evening meeting, then go to bed.

Within a couple of hours, all of you should receive a quick "I'm here and I'm safe" call.

No comments:

Post a Comment

MEET YOUR LEADERS

James Evans
Since Graduating from college in 2005 with degrees in Outdoor Education and Psychology, James has been working his way around the world trying to gain a little more perspective on our wonderful planet. He currently writes this bio from his rain forest (no rain though) home in Australia, where he works as an outdoor education instructor. Last summer (2007) worked for Clowns Without Borders, traveling as their Logistics Coordinator for performances throughout South Africa and Lesotho, visiting some of the same places the Bridge Southern Africa group visited then and will visit this year. Since 2001 he has been working for WMI. His first travel program in 04' was Random Acts of Kindness in New England, followed by Alaska Odyssey in '05, ’06 with Leaders in Action, Teach Caribbean, and last year with Bridge Southern Africa ’07. While he is an Australian his accent lacks in authenticity but it is still audible when imitating Steve Irwin's Legacy. He loves the work that he does in traveling the world showing it to teenagers, and he looks forward to another year of experiences with Windsor Mountain International.

Susannah Malarkey
Susannah lives and works in Jackson, Wyoming, where she is a youth counselor and mentor at the Van Vleck Group Home for Teenagers. She grew up in a tiny town called Aurora, Oregon, and went to grade school on a farm. After graduating from high school, she attended Seattle University, and fell in love with traveling during a semester abroad in Sevilla, Spain. Intrigued, she signed up for service trips to Mexico, Belize, Belgium, and Poland. After earning degrees in Economics and International Studies, she decided to put her education to the test and joined the Peace Corps. After two years in Ghana, West Africa, she is hungry for more! Susannah is incredibly excited to be on board as a leader with Bridge Southern Africa this season, and cannot wait to share her knowledge of Africa with a motivated group of Windsor Mountain adventurers. In addition to world travel, Susannah loves skiing, hiking, horseback riding, and hanging out with her incredibly awesome extended family.

Thatcher Glode
Thatcher currently lives in Jackson, Wyoming where he is a youth counselor in a group home for high school students. After growing up in the beautiful mountains of Colorado Thatcher attended the Colorado College in Colorado Springs. During his junior year he had the amazing opportunity to study abroad on Semester at Sea, visiting 16 different countries (including South Africa) over a span of 8 months. It was on this program that Thatcher fell in love with travel and education. He had the chance to hear Castro speak in Cuba, go on a safari in Tanzania, visit the Taj Mahal in India, and climb Mt. Fuji in Japan. This program has forever impacted Thatcher's life and greatly opened his eyes to the vast world around him. When not traveling or working, Thatcher can be found fly-fishing the Snake River under the Tetons in Jackson, or skiing in the backcountry on Teton Pass. Thatcher has led the Bridge Hawaii programs for Summers 2006 and 2007 and is eagerly anticipating a terrific and fulfilling program in South Africa for Summer 2008.

Bridge South Africa Language Primer

Even though you can get by most places with English, you’ll warm peoples’ hearts left and right in Southern Africa if you make an effort to speak their language. But there are eleven official languages spoken in South Africa, and you probably won’t learn some of all of them! We’ll focus on three: Zulu, or isiZulu, because is the most common of the many languages spoken in Soweto; siSwati, the main language of Swaziland; and Sesotho (the main language of Lesotho).

Zulu
Notes taken from:Teach Yourself Zulu. Arnett Wilkes and Nicholias Nkosi. 2003.

It is not customary to make lots of eye contact when speaking with Zulu speakers. Do not be offended if you are not looked in the eye.

Sawubona – Good day (lit. I see you)
sah woo BONE ah
Yebo – Yes. (Say this in answer to “Sawubona”)
YEH bo
Unjani - How are you?
oon JAH nee
Wena Unjani – You, how are you?
WHEY nah oon JAH nee
Ngiknona – I’m fine.
ngee KHONE ah (the “ng” sound is with the middle of the tongue against the back roof of the mouth)
Usaphila na? – A different way of saying “How are you?”
Oo sa PEE la NAH
Ngubani igama lakho? -- What is your name?
ngoo BAH nee ee GAH mah LAH ko
Igami lami nguSam -- My name is (Sam)
ee GAH mee LAH mee NGOO
Hamba kahle – Go well (good-bye to someone who is leaving)
HAHM bah GAHSH lay (the “hl” sound is made by saying “sh” around the sides of your tongue, with your tonge on the roof of your mouth).
Sala kahle – Stay well (good-bye to someone who is staying)
SAH la GAHSH lay
Lala kahle – Sleep well
LA la GAHSH lay
Nkosikazi – Madam
(tip of tongue on roof of mouth) nkho see KHA zee
Baba – Sir
BAH bah
Mfowethu – My brother
m (closed mouth) FWHEY too
Dadawethu – My sister
dah dah WHEY too

SiSwati
SiSwati is closely related to Zulu, both being Nguni languages, but there has been effort over the past 20-30 years to enforce the differences, both for the purposes of standardizing siSwati, and for political reasons. When I spent a month is Swaziland, however, I didn’t find any differences between siSwati and Zulu in the basic vocabulary I learned, besides a slight difference in pronunciation of one of the click sounds. When we get to Swaziland we’ll have to ask people what the differences are. Or maybe you’ll find some in your pre-trip research … For now, see the Zulu vocab above.

Sesotho (SE SOO TOO)
Notes taken from www.sesotho.web.za, and from Jamie Lachman of Clowns Without Borders South Africa.

There are different dialects of Sesotho spoken in Lesotho and South Africa. The words below are from Lesotho Sesotho.

Lumela – Hello/ good day
DOO meh la
U kae? – How are you? (lit. “Where are you”)
oo KAI
Ke teng – I’m fine (lit. “I’m here.”)
kuh (soft K) TENG
Wena o kae? – And how are you?
WHEY na oh KAI
Kea leboha – Thank you.
KEY ah leh BO hah
Ka kopo – Please.
kah KHO po
Lebitso la hau u mang? – What is your name?
leh BIT sow LA HOW oo MANG
Lebitso la ka ke Edna – My name is (Edna)
leh BIT sow LA KA KAY (name)
E – Yes.
AY
E-e – No.
AY uh
Sala hantle – Stay well (good-bye to someone who is staying)
SAH lah HAHNHSH (pronounced like Zulu “hl” sound) lay
Tsamaea hantle – Go well (good-bye (to someone who is leaving)
tsuh MAI ah HAHNHSH lay
Ntate – Father
(Tongue to the top of your mouth) nTAH tay
‘Me – Mother
MAY
Aubuti – Older brother
ah BOO tee
Ausi – Older sister
ah OO see

Ntatemoholo – Grandfather
ntah tay mo HO lo

Nkgono – Grandmother
NKO (slightly aspirated “K”) no

(It is polite to call an older male person ntate (father) and an older female person 'me (mother). For a person of a similar age as you, use aubuti (older brother) for males and ausi (older sister) for females. For very old people, use ntatemoholo (grandfather) and nkgono (grandmother).)

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

ALL HERE AND ALL CLEAR!

No comments:

CLICK the photo to see more Bridge Southern Africa 2008 photos!

MEET YOUR LEADERS

INTERNATIONAL SUMMER CAMP

Bridge South Africa Language Primer

Blog Archive

Take a look at other Windsor Mountain Bridge Trips