Trust in Translation

Robin wants to learn more Swahili so despite my time in Kenya getting very short we’ve been learning a little together in the evenings. We normally go to the kitchen to help Lispa finish off the evening meal and then she can correct our grammar and teach us more useful words while we’re there.

The one thing I really neglected to do before leaving the UK was learn any Swahili (apart from some words my Dad taught me just before I flew). I’d chosen to go to Kenya because people speak English here and somewhere in my brain a door shut on me thinking any further about it. With the exception of small children all Kenyans speak English to some degree, the staff here all speak it fluently but they don’t always choose to. Several times I’ve sat in meetings where the language has changed mid-sentence – perhaps a particular concept is better expressed in one language than another – and I’ve lost the thread of the conversation. I’ve felt myself getting angry at the rudeness of people choosing not to speak a language they’re perfectly capable of using and therefore excluding people. I’m also aware that it’s a judgement I can’t make: I don’t know what it’s like to be bilingual and to have to cope with people who aren’t; and perhaps if they had the choice the staff here would only speak Swahili, maybe I should be grateful that they speak to me in English at all, it is after all not a language they have to use anymore.

It requires a certain level of trust to live in a community where you can’t always understand what’s being said although the western volunteers aren’t the only ones in that position. There are actually several languages at Mwamba, Lispa, as a Kikuyu from the central highlands has had to accept that most of the staff will speak to each other in the local language, Giriama when they can and she won’t understand them.

I’ve been getting to know Lispa gradually since spending so much time with Keziah and Chiko at Christmas. I think she felt some affinity with the volunteers as she also had to work over the holidays while the rest of the staff were away. Also as a single woman perhaps it’s easier to talk to her about some things and despite having been here for years she has some understanding of what it’s like to be far from home among people speaking a different language. She’s seen volunteers come and go however, and is quite honest about the fact that she gets close to people, is sad to see them leave but rarely misses them when they’re gone. She’s a friendly person but not someone who trusts easily but the more time I spend with her the more I get to like her. She has a qualification in ornithology and came here 4 years ago to study birds. Then someone discovered she could also cook extremely well and she’s never left. She lives on site and I sometimes wonder if she feels a little isolated, she’s certainly frustrated at not being in the job she wants to be in. I sympathise with her but I can’t help feeling that I’m just another volunteer who will soon disappear and I’m not sure how much my sympathy is really worth. She’s due to take some holiday around the same time as I leave Mwamba and planning to be in Nairobi when I’m there so maybe we’ll get together again then…