The title is misleading, because seldom does anyone in this culture get really mad and disagreeable. There are times, however, when the nationals get pretty frustrated with our lack of Swahili language skills. We get frustrated also. One area that frustrates us is that students will change their names almost on a whim. Headquarters and the Registrar will have one name on their records and the teachers another. The student may put one or the other name, or different spellings of the names, on his or her test papers. We enter the scores of examinations into the reports prepared at Headquarters; maybe you can imagine the result as we sort through hundreds of names. Here is a humorous story to illustrate where both frustrations came together in a head-on collision.
One day a student’s mama came to our door asking about a uniform for her daughter. She spoke no English, but we could tell that she wanted her student, Pendo Mwampashe, to have a black skirt, shirt, scarves and socks. We listed the items on a piece of paper with their corresponding prices and explained that the student must come with the money to be measured. The mama talked on and on, indicating that they had come and already had the scarf, or scarves, but needed the shirt, skirt and socks. We went through the drill again and got nowhere. She finally left, saying she would talk to a (Tanzanian) teacher.
A few moments later, Mama was back with Sarah, our new Second Headmistress. Sarah explained that during exam week in March she had brought this woman to Bibi (Joanne) with Pendo Mwampashe, that Bibi had measured her and that they had paid the money for the uniform. We went through the order book repeatedly without finding any reference to Pendo Mwampashe.
Finally, I thought to look at just last names, and found a Loveness Mwampashe. I asked Sarah if the student might now be using the name Loveness, instead of Pendo. She answered rather matter-of-factly, “Well, yes; Loveness is English for Pendo.” (We know pendo means love, but had never heard of a student interchanging those two particular names.) We pulled the skirt from storage and delivered it to a now very happy mama.
As Paul Harvey would say, “Here’s the rest of the story.” We had been sending notes to the Teacher-On-Duty for weeks that Loveness’ skirt was finished and ready to be picked up. Could it be that the student failed to come because she wasn’t hearing her name . . . or the name she was currently using?
Serving our Lord with a smile in the midst of it all,
Gary and Joanne Grenell
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