Next weekend we will be going to church in nearby village
called Kasibi. As guests of the church we are expected to come prepared with
one Tongan song and one English song. Tongan is the native language in the
Southern region of Zambia. One of our wonderful night guards, Webster, has been
teaching us our Tongan song. Not only is he completely serious about it but
he’s also got a mean vocal range, he can sing a higher soprano than I can!
Webster told us that the song is about the coming of God’s Kingdom and that the
Kingdom can be found within you. The song goes a little something like this….
Wabota munzi waba jesu
Ooh la selooka
Wabota munzi waba jesu
Munzi wan gwoalie day
We aren’t sure if that’s how the lyrics are spelled in
Tongan but that’s what they sound like to us.
I’ve also picked up a few useful Tongan phrases during our
time here. The greeting conversation for morning to mid-afternoon goes like
this:
Mwabokaboti – Hi, how are you?
Kabo Tu, Mwabokaboti – I’m fine, how are you?
Some other useful phrases are:
Twallumba – Thank you
Tullabonanajunzi – See you tomorrow
Dainka – Goodbye
Chupa – Ornery baby
Out of all these, Chupa
has proven to be the most useful because although those Haven babies are the
most precious things in the world, they sure can be little chupas sometimes.
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