Botswana: Kgotla, English
When I was growing up, in the magnificent village of Kanye, at the Mafhikana Primary School, we were encouraged to speak in English. Sometimes, there would be days when we were supposed to speak between each other only in English. Of course, it didn’t work out, even with the thupa (wooden stick) punishment of those not switching to English (almost everyone). I vividly remember, in 2007, when I was a waiter at the Loch Long Hotel, in Scotland: I was privileged to work with 4 other Batswana. Amongst us were Slovaks; Thai; Hungarian; Polish; South Africans (Afrikaans, Pedi) as well as Scottish. Of course, understandably so, we were, encouraged to converse in English when at work. However, you can only imagine the “ijaaakg!” “Waitse!” “O a phapha!” among us, the Batswana. It was not only we, as all the other groups; naturally, spoke their language when with each other.
Just yesterday, in the Foundations of International Development class, the Lecturer asked if there was anybody who could pronounce kgotla in a class full of different nationalities. In that class, there was only one young man from Botswana. The son of Rre Lekgoanyana Kgasa, who, in a white (English) space, was ’’required’’ to speak in his mother tongue, his language, and his identity.
Image: mylifeinbotswana.wordpress.com
Blessing Kgosi e tsile Kgasa 