Language Barriers

Learners come by our house every day. It's part of life when you live at a school. Whether it's to borrow books, ask a question about homework, or just to drop by for a visit, it seems that these days we have an endless stream of kids coming through our doors.

So it was no surprise on Sunday when two small boys peeked their heads inside our kitchen window. What they asked for however, was.

"Miss, we're asking Tampax for the matron," one said.

Adults usually send kids to do their errands in Khorixas--to their homes, the shops or even to the bank. But hearing the word "Tampax" come out of a small boy's mouth still came as a bit of a shock. Partly because feminine hygiene is so taboo here, but also because the only place tampons exist is in the big city.

People assume that, being white, we have access to things others don't. A lot of the times that's not true. But in this case, it was. So I walked to my room and came back to the window, where I passed a handful of tampons to the learners who were waiting.

They looked at me with confusion. "What's this Miss?" they asked.

"Tampax," I said. "Isn't that what the matrons needed?"

Nope. Turns out it wasn't. The boys were looking for Type-Ex--the Namibian equivalent of Whiteout.

No wonder they seemed so confused.