Imagine The Language

"Imagine The Language"


by

Giselle Baillie

Compiled by Njabulo Ngobese

The second day of Women's month continues as we give further acknowledgement to the female form for its contributions to the em-betterment of society on a humanitarian level.

Dwelling deep into the journeyful ventures of the !Xun culture of Platfontein, Northern Cape, Giselle Baillie an MFA graduate who spent her 4 years in Rhodes University studying Printmaking, has expressed her fascination with concern on the battle between democracy and traditional practices and the effects it has had on this particular community more especially the children.

According to her published article on the AFH (Art for Humanity) publication ''Look At Me'' - Women Artists And Poets Advocate Children's Rights, Giselle Baillie expresses her concerns on the effects the state of politics has had on the children of this noted community as far as them finding a sense of identity when it comes to language. Having been forced to cross three political borders over the past twenty years from Angola to Namibia all the way to the Northern Cape due to political campaigns, the !Xun culture's children are the biggest victims to this social ill.

"Imagine their language and then...imagine the Rights of the Child within their form of life", are the highly noted sentiments of Giselle Baillie when it comes to the past, present & future of the children of the !Xun culture and their endangered relationship with their source of identity,..language.

"Die Kind "
by Magasina Majundo

Vertel aan Wejoenke Kambungu deur Magasina Majundo in !Xun. Vertaling in Afrikaans deur Wejoenke Kambungu.

Lang, lang gelede, het die Boesman kind allenig in vrye wildernis van die veld gewoon.

Hy het van streek tot streek beweeg en so deur het hy gebied bestudeer en kennis gemaak.

Hy het ook so kennis gemaak met riviere, heuwels en wilddiere.

Hy het hulle by hulle name geken, van klein tot groot.

Soms as hy gaan jag het, het hy’n kleiner pyl en boog gebruik en somstyds wanneer omstandighede hom toegelaat het, het hy ‘n groter pyl en boog gebruik.

‘n Klein pyl en boog was gebruik om die prooi onmiddelik af te bring omdat gif aan die punt van die pyl gesmeer was.

Die pyle was dikwels gemaak in twee dele. Daar was ‘n voorpunt wat geskei was van die lang deel wat dan aan die voorpunt geskik gestel om in die prooi te bly wanner dit geskiet was.

Hy het alles geken wat jag betref.

Wanneer hy verdwaal in die nag, het die sterretjies met hom gepraat deur rigtings te gee en die maan het hom geantwoord deur helder bo te skyn in die nag.

Hy het die ideale om ‘n kind te wees geken in veld, alhoewel hy ‘n swerwer was en van een gebied tot ‘n ander gebied rondbeweeg het.

Hy was meestal aanpasbaar en het gou aan alles deel geword.

Die kind van ‘n Boesman het meer ondervinding baat gevind om ‘n swerwer te wees.

Polities het dit vir hom sterker gemaak.

En niemand sal hom van die reg wegbaan en isoleer nie.

"The Child"


English translation: Marí Peté

Long, long ago the Bushman child lived alone in the free wilderness of the veld.

He moved from region to region and in this way he got introduced to, and became familiar with, the environment.

In this way he also got to meet rivers, hills and wild animals.

He knew them by their names, big and small.

Sometimes when he went hunting, he used a smaller bow and arrow. And sometimes, when circumstances allowed him, he used a bigger bow and arrow.

A small bow and arrow was used to bring down the prey immediately, since there was poison smeared at the end of the arrow.

The arrows were often made of two parts. There was a front end that could separate from the longer part. This enabled the tip to stay in the prey after it was shot.

He knew everything about hunting.

When he got lost at night, the stars spoke to him by giving him direction, and the moon answered him by shining brightly above.

He knew the ideals of a child through the veld, although he was a nomad and moved from one region to another.

He was mostly adaptable and quickly became part of everything.

The child of a Bushman gained more experience by being a nomad.

Politically it made him stronger.

And nobody would take him off the right course or isolate him.

About Magasina Majundo

A brief biography of Magasina Majundo according to the AFH (Art For Humanity) publication "Look at Me" - Women Artists and Poets Advocate Children's Rights :

Magasina Majundo was born in 1934 in Angola. In the 1980s, she moved together with the !Xun people to Namibia, and then again, moved in the 1990s to the Northern Cape. Magasina has seven children, Wejoenke being one of them. She is the storyteller within the !Xun community of Platfontein.