Month: December 2019

2019 … a year full

On By blessingsonahillIn All postsLeave a comment

This year saw me crying a lot! The year started with hopes that my husband would be in Australia but it was only a year and a day from the day he left that I would be seeing him again … a total of 21 months of visa processing and 2 years and 2 months of a long distance marriage.

This year brought with it one of the greatest loses we have experienced, a child gone with no real answers or explanations, and a whole number of “what if”s. We lost family, one of whom we just found 3 years ago.

This year was anything but easy. Finances were tight, work was stressful … sometimes and there were times where I wondered where God was. We saw dear friends split up … some friendships were lost and other’s still gained. There were a few trips to the ED and deadlines that had to be put on hold …

Through it all though, God was faithful and we experienced His undeniable mercy and love. He has provided through work, through, family and through friends. He has inspired, He has fulfilled His promises in regards to our daughter and given life to dreams I never thought possible.

Yes 2019 was full of experience. It came with warning of impending sorrow, but even with the sorrow, God added joy and peace and He fulfilled Habakkuk 2:2-4 in many ways. Yes there is more healing to receive but my God has been too too good to me.

2020 hear we come

Letters of the Bemba language

On By blessingsonahillIn All posts, Family life, ici Bemba, The best of AfricaLeave a comment

A little background to this, I feel this is more in line with what Blessings on a hill is all about and I decided that I would do a short lesson on the sounds and the letters that represent them. I am Bemba and Nsenga because my my mum is a Bemba woman and my dad is Nsenga but I am more accustomed to my Bemba roots and constantly learning on both fronts.

So the letters present are A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, S T, U, W and Y. We do not have J, Q, R, X and Z. To get the best understanding of what the sounds are like, please view the video below.

A makes the same sound as in Apple

B has a special sound usually mistaken for the V or W sound. Most non-Bemba speakers struggle with this. B is only a hard “b” as in Baby when preceded by the letter “M”

C makes a “ch” sound all the time. It never makes a “k” sound ever! The intonation changes if accompanied by the letter H or not. E.g. iciBemba vs ChiBemba. The pronunciation will be different and the two mean two different things. The first refers the language and the second to the language

D  and G only exist if preceded by N.

G has two possible sounds. If followed by an apostrophe it makes the same sound as in morning. If not, makes a hard “g”. eg. Ng’anda vs Nga

E makes the same sound as it does in egg

F same sound as in Fish

H is only seen accompanying c and changes the intonation of the “ch” sound

I makes the same sound as in India

K makes a ‘k’ sound

L makes the same sound as in Lama

M makes a ‘m’ sound as in Monk

N makes the same sound as Nancy

O makes the same sound as in Orange

P always makes a p sound

S makes the same sound as in snake

T makes the same ‘t’ sound

U  makes the same sound as in Snooze

W makes the same sound as in went

Y makes the same sound as in yellow

J, Q, R, V, X and Z are not present and for hardcore Bemba speakers they will often replace these with the sounds of Y, K, L, B/F, “es” and S.

I do not consider myself an expert so I am happy to year people’s thoughts.