A time to be silent

Ecclesiastes 3:7

American Standard Version (ASV)

⁷  A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

Elinihaki Tuvako and I taught science and mathematics at Ikizu Secondary School in Tanzania. In those days Tanzania had a three tier school system. The first two years of pre-primary school are taught in the language of the locality the school is in. There are some 130 distinct languages. The primary grades 1 through 7 are taught in Swahili. All children must attend primary school.

In some ways Swahili is like English. English is based on the Germanic Anglo-Saxon language supplemented by a huge vocabulary from French. Swahili is based on a Bantu language that is indigenous to East and South Africa. It has absorbed a huge vocabulary from Arabic over a number of centuries of trade, especially during the time of the slave trade.  It is one official language of Tanzania.

The high school grades are taught in the other official language, English. Less than 5% of the high school age children get to attend high school. So everyone speaks Swahili, but only a small number of people speak much English.

This week I was speaking with Elinihaki’s daughter Linda, who lives in the United States. She told me of a friend of hers who immigrated to the States recently. They sent their school age daughter, whom I’ll call Neema, to first grade.

When Neema got home that first day she told her mother that her teacher was very ignorant and must not be very educated. Very surprised the mother asked her how she knew that.

“Kwa sababu mwalimu wangu hawezi kusema Kiswahili!” she exclaimed. (Swahili for: “Because my teacher can’t speak Swahili!”) Neema had wanted to show her teacher that she already was educated enough to speak Swahili. Since her teacher couldn’t speak Swahili she deduced that the teacher must be uneducated.

Lord help me show by what I say and by what I leave unsaid that I love and trust You.

In Swahili Elinihaki means “God is my righteousness,” and Neema means “Grace.”