Zulu Lesson Because

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Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941. America and Canada declared citizens of 
Japanese descent enemy aliens. This book is a story of one family.

How many times do you say because, in a day? Come to think of it, life is because of it. Yes. I eat because I’m hungry.  We take bathroom breaks because. We stop to fill up the car or charge it because fuel or electricity is low. The new mother feeds the infant because it is hungry. Need I go on? 

Because is ngo-ba in Zulu. It’s very easy for you to pronounce because it’s like lingo and oba, which means aunt in Japanese (I stand corrected). We never think about counting the number of ‘because’ we use in a day because it is a given, it is life itself. Every breath you take is because, of because. Ngoba explains night and day, leaving the house for school, office, workshop or harvesting. History is ‘because’ especially because, it is written by conquerors.

1. What happened to Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland: ngo-ba.

2. How Africans were stolen from the continent: ngo-ba.

3. Queen Camilla is on the throne with King Charles: ngo-ba.

4. Some foreigners want to marry South African women: ngo-ba.

5. Weekly headlines. Young people 19-30 die without any illness: ngo-ba.

6. British Columbia fires happen every summer: ngo-ba.

7. Quebec Province, Ireland and Italy used to have big families sometimes up to nine children: ngo-ba.

8. Canadians and American can be obese: ngo-ba.

9. Rural communities around the world are not obese: ngo-ba.

10. Donald Trump has four indictments to his name: ngo-ba.

Exercise

Review your life. How many ‘because’ does it have?

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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