Go Lamatlhatso Rico o ya kwa toropong mmogo le mmaagwe. O rata go ya toropong. Toropo e a tlhagafatsa! Go na le dilo tse dintsi tse o tla di bonang.
It’s Saturday and Rico is going to town with his mother. He likes going to town. Town is exciting! There are lots of things to see.
Rico o tshwere seatla sa ga mmaagwe thata. Batho ba le bantsi ba a feta.
Rico holds his mother’s hand very tightly. Streams of people are passing by.
Go na le mafelo a a rekisang dilo tse dintle tse di dirilweng ka diatla.
There are stalls selling beautiful handmade crafts.
Go na le dithutlwa tse di nnye tse di dirilweng go tswa mo logong, malobu le dikgatwe tse di dirilweng ka terata le dibaga tse di mebalabala, le dibaga tse di dirilweng ka mae a ntshe.
There are small giraffes carved out of wood, chameleons and lizards made out of wire and coloured beads, and jewellery made from ostrich egg shell.
Jaanong o a o utlwa! Mongwe o letsa molodi o monate wa sefela sa ‘Amazing Grace.’A khutla go reetsa. Molodi o o tswa kae?
Then he hears it! Someone is whistling the sweet melody of ‘Amazing Grace.’ He stops to listen. Where is it coming from?
“Ga se ke tsamae ka utlwa mongwe a letsa molodi o monate jana,” a ikakanyetsa.
“I’ve never heard anyone whistle so beautifully before,” he thinks to himself.
A tsamaya fa gare ga batho. Mme a bona monna yo o letsang molodi. Batho ba tsenya madi mo tosing e nyenyane e e fa pele ga gagwe. Mme…sengwe ga se a siama …
He makes his way through the people. Then he sees the man who is whistling. People are putting coins into a small tin in front of him. But … something is wrong …
Monna wa molodi ga a leba kwa bathong. Ga a leba madi. Ga a leba sepe. O batla disente mo tosing le go a tsenya mo kgetseng ya gagwe.
The whistling man is not looking at the people. He is not looking at the money. He is not looking at anything. He’s searching for the coins in the tin and putting them into his pocket.
Rico a akgamalela monna le go akanya. “Gongwe ke sefofu.” Rico ga se ke a tsamae a bone motho wa sefofu pele. O tsenngwa ke boboi. A phamola mmaagwe ka mosese a mo boletsa kwa tlase. Mma, a monna yole ke sefofu?”
Rico stares at the whistling man and thinks, “Maybe he’s blind.” Rico has never seen a blind person before. He feels scared. He grabs his mother’s dress and asks softly, “Mommy, is that man blind?”
A mo tshwara ka seatla. “Ee,” a araba, ” ee, ke sefofu. Bona, o na le logong le le tshweu. Difofu di le dintsi ba tshola logong lo lo tshweu. O dirsa logong le apaapa mahuti le tse dingwe tse di ka mo utlwisang botlhoko.”
She takes his hand. “Yes,” she answers, “yes, he’s blind. Look, he has a white stick. Many blind people carry a white stick. He uses this stick to feel for holes and other obstacles.”
“Mme o tlile jang kwa toropong? O fetile jang fa gare ga batho ba botlhe?” Rico a botsa.
“But how did he come to town? How did he find his way through all the people?” Rico asks.
Mmaagwe a mo bolelela, “Gongwe go nele le mongwe yo o mo thusitseng go tla kwano. Re bitsa motho yoo mokaedi.”
His mother tells him, “Maybe he has someone who helps him to find his way around. We call that person a guide.”
Ba ya kwa parakeng ya diphologolo. Dipone tsa pharakano di na ditala, dikoloi di a ema mme batsamai ka dinao ba kgabaganya mmila.
They walk to the zoopark. The traffic lights change to green, the cars stop and the pedestrians cross the street.
“Leba lobone lo lo tala. Fa go le tala re kgona go bona ke gore re sireletsegile re ka kgabaganya tsela. Mo mafatsheng a mangwe go na le molodi,” ga bua mmaagwe Rico. “Fa difofu di utlwa modumo wa molodi, ba itse gore go sireletsegile go ka kgabaganya tsela.”
“Look at the green light. When it is green we can see it is safe to cross the road. In some countries there is also a beeping sound,” Rico’s mother says. “When blind people hear the beeping, they know it is safe to cross the road.”
Ba dutse mo bojanyeng jo botala kwa parakeng ya diphologolo mme ba lebile jaaka batho ba feta. “Batho bangwe ba difofu ba na le ntswa e e ba kaelang,” ga bua mmaagwe. “Dintswa tse di katisitswe go ka kaela mong wa jone, mme dintswa tseo di a tura. Dintswa tse dikaelang di mmalwa fela mo Namibia.”
They sit on the green grass of the zoopark and watch the people walking by. “Some blind people have a guide dog,” his mother says. “These dogs are trained to guide their owner, but they are very expensive. There are very few guide dogs in Namibia.”
“Monna wa sefofu ga a kgone go leba TV,” ga bua Rico. “Mme o kgona go utlwa TV le seromamoya,” Mmaagwe Rico a mo bolelela. “Batho ba difofu ba kgona go utlwa sentle go le batho ba ba bonang.
“The blind man can’t watch TV,” Rico says. “He can hear the TV and radio,” Rico’s mother tells him. “Blind people can often hear things much better than people who can see.”
“Mme ga a kgone go buisa dikwalo kgotsa pampiri ya dikgang,” ga bua Rico. “Go na le dikwalo tse di kwaletsweng fela difofu. Mo boemong jwa go kwala ka ditlhaka ka pen, go na le dikhutlo - khutlo tse di dirang ditlhaka. Di tshwana jaaka khoute.
“But he can’t read books or newspapers,” says Rico. “There are books written in Braille. Instead of words printed with ink, there are raised dots which make letters. It’s like a code.”
“O kgona go buisa jang fa a sa bone?” ” O buisa ka diatla tsa gagwe. O apaapa dikhutlo -khutlo ka menwana ya gagwe, fela jaaka o bona ditlhaka ka matlho a gago.”
“How can he read if he can’t see?” “He reads with his hands. He feels the raised dots with his fingers, just like you see the letters with your eyes.”
Rico a hakgamala go akanya gore batho ba ba sa boneng ba kgona go dira sengwe letsatsi le letsatsi; sengwe jaaka go tsamaya mo toropong, go opela ka molodi difela le go buisa.
Rico is amazed to think that people who are blind can do everyday things; things like walking around in town, like whistling songs, like reading.
Mmaagwe a mo bolelela, ” Pharologanyo fa gare ga gago le motho wa sefofu ke gore o a bona ene ga a bone. ” Ke kgona go bona, mme ga ke kgone go letsa molodi o monate jaaka monna wa sefofu.” Rico a nyenya. * License: CC BY-NC-SA * Text: Magda Swartz * Illustration: Petrus Amuthenu * Translation: Antonia Madi * Language: tn-na
His mother tells him, “The only difference between you and a blind person is that you can see and a blind person can’t see.” “I can see, but I can’t whistle as beautifully as that blind man,” Rico smiles.
Written by: Magda Swartz
Illustrated by: Petrus Amuthenu
Translated by: Antonia Madi
Language: Setswana
Level: Level 4
Source: The whistling man from African Storybook
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.