I love foreign words. I love how they sound, what they look like, how they evoke a sense of adventure. They always make me want to go out and experience what they bring to mind. Ng'ambo, however, is not one of these foreign words. Ng'ambo is a word I grew up hearing and feeling, it literally means "overseas" or "abroad".
I grew up in Tanzania, East Africa and Swahili, the local language, became the language of my heart. Ng'ambo represents the feelings I've experienced my entire life. This sense of home in the foreign. Adding to my confusion is the reality that it goes both ways: I'm American, but I grew up in Africa, I'm African but I live in America.
To further explain this: when I'm in Africa, I'm seen as an American, a foreigner, and when I'm in America, I see myself as an African, a foreigner. Basically, I can't really win. But, luckily for me, there is a whole slew of people like me, or who have at least experienced part of this confusion of ng'ambo. And, even better for me is that I found a whole slew of them here at Cornerstone's campus.
Together we make up the "International Crowd". Missionary kids, military brats, international students. . . we bond together in our ng’ambo-ness. Similar experiences bring people together and so here we are. Living life ng'ambo. Doing school ng'ambo. Learning new cultures ng'ambo.
Sometimes it can be confusing and difficult for us, but just like any time you're thrust into a new culture, you have to remember that there are so many amazing things to learn and experience. And we can experience them together as a group of comrades ng’ambo. If any of you have stories of your own experience of living life ng’ambo or maybe just about an international student you know, I’d love to hear them!
(P.S. In Swahili all of the letters sound just like they look, so in Ng'ambo, you pronounce the 'ng' just like you would pronounce the end of the word 'sing'. And then if you've ever heard the word 'jambo' (which is by the way another Swahili word meaning 'hi') the rest of Ng'ambo sounds just like it, but without the 'j'.)
