Bend in Zulu

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Pic: From personal archive.

Bend is goba in Zulu. It is also a common surname.

Go-ba. You say the first part like got and the second like baba.

Tokyo Olympics in progress despite the pandemic. Track and field, 100 meters, runners bend on the start line, hands on the ground, then they burst out. Grandparents don’t walk straight. They bend a bit. Welders apply heat to bend steel.

Beautiful landscapes are breath taking because of bends, twist and turns. Politicians bend their demands all the time, for the interest of the party or in return for favors, like being an ambassador in a country where the sun shines 24/7.

ZULU

ENGLISH

Goba uma ungena iTipi.

You bend when entering a tipi.

Goba uma ungena indlu yesi-Zulu

You bend when entering a Zulu hut.

Goba uma ubingelela inkosi.

Bend when you greet the kid.

Ubaba ugoba insimbi ngomlilo.

Father bends steel with fire.

Lomuthi usemanzi uzogoba kalula.

This branch is still wet. It will be easy to bend.

Umuthi ugotshwa usemanzi.

You teach a child when it’s still young, pliant.

Goba ngikwenze izinwele.

Bend let me do your hair.


This is another ‘written podcast’ by Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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