DOUBLE ACTION

 “SETSHWARWA KE NTSA-PEDI GA SE THATA”.

SE TSWHWARWA= what is held/grabbed/done

KE NTSA-PEDI= by two dogs

GA SE THATA= is not hard

Direct: what is held by two dogs is not hard

Meaning: the work that is done by two, is easily accomplished.

If there ever was an important number, I’d like to believe it to be “2”. The number two is so imperative that even our very being is designed around it. That is why I am able to type this post using my two hands, with two eyes on my face, a nose with two nostrils and two ears attached to my head. Humans even have two feet to give them balance when they stand or walk. And so, that is why two is such a significant powerful number. There are also two genders in this world, and also nature made it so that the best working relationships are between only two.

Have you ever tried chopping vegetables using one hand? Well, it’s not impossible, but I must say it’s not very easy. It also takes time. That is why the ancient Setswana proverb “setshwarwa ke ntsa-pedi ga se thata” makes sense even today, for the reason that when two share a task, the easier it gets. That is why back in the day before cutting boards, two girls would sit by the fire to cut meat into the pot. One holding the other end of the steak and one holding the other end, cutting.

As I ponder upon this proverb “setshwarwa ke ntsa-pedi”, I am compelled to think back on my primary school days. It was a time when my sister and I were desperately in need of new school bags, as the school term was beginning on a new year. Mother had said we didn’t need them and so she could not afford to get them for us. And so we knew we had to devise a plan to raise funds to buy the school bags by our own means. In her desperateness, my sister suggested that I sold some of the chickens my grandmother had given me. I didn’t mind, but the problem was, “who is going to buy the chickens?” It was already Sunday noon, we were under the pressure of time because shops would soon close and school was on the next day. Being the kids that we were, we very much dreaded the idea of showing up at school with our old school bags on a new year when other kids had something new. At that moment, our ideas had reached a dead end. That is when I suggested we pray about it. For the first time ever, my sister and I held hands to pray alone together. To our surprise, that very same day, actually, only a few hours after our fervent prayer sessions, a bunch of Indian men driving in expensive cars showed up at our house, looking for chickens to buy. They needed live chickens for a ceremony at the Mosque, and honestly, that was the most miraculous day of our lives.  From then on, I knew that united prayer works. From brainstorming, strategizing to raise funds and finally praying for a miracle together, I shall forever remember the power of two. Perhaps if anyone of us had tried to do it on their own, it wouldn’t have been easier or likely impossible. But because of us TWO, we proudly carried our new bags to school the next day.

So couple up, pair up to get the work at hand done, a twosome just might be the easy way out of a difficult task. Remember, “SETSHWARWA KE NTSA-PEDI GA SE THATA”.