Her granddaughter, language activist Claudia Snyman, has joined Esau’s campaign to bring back N|uu. They had worked together to open a school to teach the language but it was vandalized during the pandemic, which greatly hurt their progress. “The language isn’t where it’s supposed to be yet. If Ouma [grandmother] dies, then everything dies,” said Snyman in 2023. Her dream is to protect her grandmother’s legacy. “I’ll do anything in my power to help her to prevent this language from dying.”
The History of N|uu
N|uu is a click language dating back to the ǂKhomani people from the southern Kalahari who lived in Southern Africa before the arrival of European colonizers. They are a part of the San people who were one of the earliest known hunter-gatherers in that area. During the British occupation in the 19th century, the people were stripped of their ethnic and cultural identity, including their language. In fact, people were mocked, beaten, and even murdered for using N|uu. This endangered the language, almost erasing it completely.
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