Dumisaa
Storyboard Text
- This is Dumisa, the first-born son of his Xhosa father and Sotho mother.
- Malo igama lam ngu, Dumisa.
- isiXhosa *Hello, my name is Dumisa.*
- Dumisa needs to stay with his grandmother in the country during the week, as his parents both work in a nearby town.
- Sithandwa sam, Dumisa.
- isiXhosa *My darling, Dumisa.*
- His grandmother is caring and cooks a mean mieliepap with sugar beans. When she has time, she tells isiXhosa folklore stories to Dumisa, his sisters and cousins all minded by Gogo.
- Makhe ndikuxelele malunga ..
- isiXhosa *Let me tell you about...*
- isiZulu *Please play with me.*
- On week-ends, Dumisa is with his parents in their township home. His mother speaks SeSotho to him, but the neighbour children chats to him in isiZulu when they play.
- Sicela udlale nami.
- Dumisa o tla mona!
- SeSotho *Dumisa Come here !*
- Dumisa’s father knows that his son has a keen mind and he already makes plans to send him to the best school possible. That’s why he works a double-shift and saves the money for Dumisa’s education.
- Ndikulangazelela unyana wam
- isiXhosa *I long for my son.*
- isiXhosa *My boy starts school today.*
- A proud father and mother enrol their little boy in the English school in town.They believe that it is the best opportunity for Dumisa to learn... one day, he will be the first from his family to go to university!
- Inkwenkwe yam iqala isikolo namhlanje
- Ke motlotlo haholo.
- SeSotho *I 'm very proud.*
- Dumisa’s first day at school is frightening! He battles to understand what everyone is saying – they speak much faster than the TV presenters do in English. The teacher is friendly, but she can’t translate anything to the language he knows.
- Andiqondi nto
- isiXhosa *I do not understand anything.*
- Every school day is filled with too much sound and noise. He mostly follows his classmates around and copies what they do to stay out of trouble. Dumisa slowly learns more and more words in English as he tries to keep up with school life.
- isiXhosa *Are they talking about me?*
- Ngaba bayathetha ngam?
- Dumisa is a keen learner and by the end of the year he is more comfortable where English is spoken. But he still battles to match the sounds with the pictures of the letters he needs to read and write... His teacher advises his mom and dad to rather have him repeat the year in the same grade.
- Ndahluleka.
- isiXhosa *I failed.*
- The repeated year helps Dumisa catch up with reading and writing skills enough to enable him to get by in English. Some words he still does not understand, but there is no time to ask in class, and mom can’t really help him in the evenings either. And those tenses! He never seems to get it right, no matter how hard he learns the rules.
- Dumisa becomes a serious boy because he has to study very hard to keep up in school. It takes him many hours to learn for tests. Not always sure what the content means, he just learns it off by heart to at least get by with a pass mark. The books he has to read for English exams are hard to understand. It takes him long to work through and he doesn’t enjoy any of the stories at all. There never seems to be enough time for much else...
- I WILL DO THIS!
- The secondary school most affordable to Dumisa’s parents is an hour’s taxi trip away from home. Sometimes he is able to do some studying during the trip, but it is hard not to be distracted by the colourful conversations of other commuters – all the different languages, dialects and mixed use! No English, though.
- With hard work, Dumisa’s marks qualify him for a Teacher Training bursary. His dad is the proudest, his mom cries when she sees him off. He is well aware of the weight of his responsibility to be successful.
- Dumisa meets his roommate, Patrick on their first day at varsity.
- Hello, my name is Dumisa.
- Dumisa just politely smiles every time Patrick invites him to go out for a drink. He knows he cannot afford to miss out on one evening of studies... the work is complicated and the language still a mystery sometimes. The assignments are especially challenging, and he needs to repeat a few subjects.
- Dumisa graduates after five years to become an English teacher. He is determined to change the way Language Transferees need to access good education...
- I'm a teacher!
- #determineddumisa STOP and think
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