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Monday, May 7, 2012

Hasha ira mbadiko



What that means is ... 'better than nothing' in
the Thimbukushu language.

The village is majority San (Khwe) but there
are also quite a few Mbukushu people and
of course, Thimbukushu is their language.
I used the Thimbukushu language because
I know how to say ... better than nothing ... in
that language. The Khwe language (Khwedam)
I am not too sure of. I asked and they told me,
I have forgotten but if I use my word for word
translating English to Khwedam then it would
come out something like hasha (the Khwe use
the same word as the Mbukushu) ghambe hru.
The hru (don't know if it's spelled right) is
pronounced like who but with a small rolling 'r'.
But to translate it direct hasha ghambe hru then
it means better nothing thing.

Ok, all that jive about language but the real point
is in the picture above, a one-third
finished traditional San/Bushman hut.
David the cultural group leader and his brother
Paulus whose real last name is 'Rambo' (really),
worked hard to just get it to that point with the
limited time they had.

So here's how I see the construction:
First, they dig holes around a predetermined
circle to anchor the poles in the ground. Also,
it gives a foundation as later they will have to
bend the poles and they need the resisting force
to keep it from moving.
Then they tie two poles together from opposite
sides after they have been bent to the desired
shape and height.
Then, they tie thinner more flexible poles around
like you see on the outside but also on the
inside so when they put the grass on it won't
fall in.
Then they add a few more layers and the top
is grass that is centered then bent over where
the ends are on either side so the water won't
leak in.
David also said that at night they make a little
fire in the center and with the heat that the
house retains, the people can sleep inside even
on the cold nights, without a blanket.

Despite the fact that the hut wasn't finished by the
time I left, I am totally happy to be able to see even
that. I have to thank my time in the Peace Corps
for teaching me to accept things the way they are
much better. It taught me to not stress about those
little things and not to get attached to the idea
that the hut had to be finished .

As you can see the blogging has been a bit fast and
furious the last few days and that's only because
all these things are happening all at once. But it
should slow down as the last few days are just going
to be reflecting and preparing to depart.

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