It's taken me a while to adjust to the different speech patterns
unique to English in Namibia. One of them being asking where someone
"stays" when you want to know where they "live." This idea of where
you stay seems like a much more practical way, given the impermanence
of home here. Floods, draughts, HIV/AIDS, moving due to work,
rebuilding temporary huts, leaving kids to stay with other relatives
all contribute to a fluid community in the village. So too, I find it
easier these days to answer the question of where I'm staying than
where I live. Where I live changes, but I know how to answer the
question of where I'm staying. Your home shifts throughout your life,
leaving you with many places you consider home. Instead of picking
between homes I have shared, I prefer to consider them all homes, that
way I'm never far from home. So when you ask where I stay, I can
answer unequivocally that I stay at the Sabuta village in Mubiza. Just
ask where the makua lady that runs on the road towards Ngoma lives and
anyone will be able to help you find my house.
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