Umupfumu

Kigali Rain

Another really laid-back day in the office. Léon managed to get the keys back, and Bob was in. Set up our new all-singing, all-dancing printer. Had an Evangelist preacher come in to offer his services. He’d heard there was a Deaf organisation, and wanted to meet with some of our flock to see if he could offer spiritual guidance and support. I've sent him to the Deaf Church on Sunday, and arranged for Betty to meet him there. Said he’d probably better ask them :op

Chatted to Léon a bit. I told him about my washing and he was really surprised I knew how to hand-wash clothes. He just assumed we put everything in a machine in Britain. I said we do with most things, but not everything - I still know how to do it. We were also talking about paganism some more. Apparently, there are pagans here who worship the old gods in secret. I was flicking through the Kinya dictionary today and found the word for Witchdoctor, which is Umupfumu. I flicked some more. I need to ask Alexis about this, but uru-mupf seems to mean ‘death’ and ‘umu’ = ‘in/into/out of/from (inside)’.... ho hum, thinks I. That’s interesting.

I also found the word for a harmful ancestral spirit: igi-sigo (ibi = plural); evil = ikibi; sacrifice: igi-tambo (ibi for plural); to dream = ku/se-rota; breath/spirit/steam = umwuka (interestingly the same word for each); mystery = urojijo and Witchdoctor: uburozi (also synonymous with ‘poison’).

Additionally, some nature-based words: sun – izuba, moon – ukwezi, star – inyenyeri, rain – imvura, sky – ikirere or ijuru, tree – igi-ti (ibi for plural), wind storm – ishuheri.

Just as we were leaving the office, the heavens absolutely opened. Haven’t seen such a heavy downpour since I got here. The road was literally a river. Léon and I sheltered in the recording studio next door, where we met a couple of Canadians who are friends of one of the guys there. My washing was still on the line back home – I thought it had probably blown into next door’s garden by that point :op Water came flooding in the back door of the office. Léon had the foresight to put the computer wires up on chairs. It was an impressive deluge. The Rastas gave us a lift home in their jeep – really kind of them.

There are two wet and two dry seasons here. According to the dictionary (which isn’t overly reliable), they are called:

Rainy
September – November: Umuhindo
March – May: Itumba

Dry
June – September: Icyi
December – January: Urugari