Turning Six | Ses Word

the poet's soup kitchen | die digter se sopkombuis

I believe we are celebrating Africa Month – so I heard, when the International Office of the Durban University of Technology where I work, invited me to share a poem in my mothertongue, Afrikaans.

I’m going to use a poem that I wrote first in English sixteen years ago – for my daughter – it is called Turning Six. This year I tried my hand at translating it into Afrikaans -- and I like the way it turned out. Before I do the poem, just a little bit about Afrikaans –

It is one of South Africa’s eleven official languages, and was shaped in a melting pot at the Southern-most tip of Africa -- it is considered a creole language. Its strongest roots are Dutch, but also from Western Europe, the likes of Portuguese, French and English. Arabic is one of its lesser-known influences. And of course, local Nguni languages, and the clicks of the Khoi-San also dance in the cadences of Afrikaans.

Here is the poem – I will do it in English first so you can get the meaning, and thereafter in Afrikaans.