Oshindonga Syllabus Grade 10-11 ✦ Essential & Original

Ndapanda was quiet. She looked at Section B of the syllabus: Oshilalwamwiko – “Write a 600-word argumentative essay on the role of oshitambi (traditional wedding) in modern society.”

“Palm trees.”

In the dry, red dust of northern Namibia’s Owamboland, 17-year-old Ndapanda sat under a moringa tree, staring at a piece of paper that had just arrived from the regional education office. It read: oshindonga syllabus grade 10-11

“Speaking it is easy, Meme. But writing it according to the syllabus? We have to know the seven classes of nouns. The omwa-, ova- prefixes. The e-, oma- plurals. The way okakwana becomes aakwana when they grow up. And the proverbs… Ondjiva yomunhu kayi na omukonda – ‘a person’s leg has no elbow.’ What does that even mean?” Ndapanda was quiet