Communication in English

English is the language spoken at the school. All classes and prayers and books are in English. This means that I am able to speak a little with the brothers and priests and teachers. The students greet me occasionally. The English that they speak is quite difficult to understand because they are not proficient in our vowel variations. In Swahili all of the vowels have the same sound. This makes it simple to pronounce Swahili and very difficult for them to pronounce English words. It also makes it very difficult to hear the English words that they attempt to say. If I have enough time and patience to speak with someone, we can eventually come to an understanding but it takes time.

The workers, and anyone who has not been to private schools, do not speak English. As a farmer and as a carpenter, I am interested in what the workers and gardeners and cooks are doing. There are masonry workers and people tending the animals and many cooks and gardeners and even people digging a septic system. One day I saw someone with a pulley system and a bucket full of rocks. He dumped the bucket on a pile and lowered it into a hole. Thankfully I walked over to the hole slowly because I could not see the bottom. Once my eyes adjusted I spotted a man with a pickaxe at least 30 feet down. The hole was 4 x 10 feet and he was still digging. I think that it was a septic system since it was behind the new bathrooms.

With the difficulty in communication, it takes me some time to learn what is happening. For example, I thought that they had an underground well and that they also received water from the river. Brother Adolf corrected me yesterday. Apparently they only get river water. During the dry season it comes underground through pipes and during the rainy season it travels each day through a system of canals. I have not seen the river yet. It is at least ½ mile from here. I was also told that they attempted to dig a well and went down 150 meters. At first I thought that he said that they didn’t find water. Then he said that they found water but it was too expensive to get the water to the surface. I still am not sure which is correct.

I have spent a lot of time this week at meals and in social settings with people speaking Swahili. It is difficult to be present with people that cannot speak easily in a common language. I wish that more people would have this experience because it brings a change of perspective. I find myself paying more attention to facial expressions and personalities. I think that it is also very tiring and even lonely at times.