07 Dec 2021

 Many must have been surprised to see a Chinese boy confidently expressing himself in Setswana on social media.

Some probably believed the clips were manipulated to make it seem like Ming Chong Huang speaks Setswana. The four year-old boy has now become a brand and features in entertainment ad shows.

One may wonder how he  got to be proficient in Setswana when some Batswana children his age prefer English over their mother tongue? It all began when the family moved to Palapye from Serowe.

Chong Chong as he is affectionately known quickly grasped the language when the family moved in the same homestead as Ernest Keolebogile.

Keolebogile, who has been his Setswana coach told BOPA that they had been inseparable since Ming then aged two, and his family moved in. 

He said the bond resulted in Ming’s family entrusting him with their son.

“His parents are fond of his Setswana speaking and have allowed me to teach him. You would think he is my son when we are together,” Keolebogile stated.

He said when Ming’s parents realised how comfortable they were with each other, they asked him to leave his job at Hetal Gas Distributors and hired him at their shop so that the two could spend more time together.

Ming has gained fame on Tik Tok and Facebook where he has a following of more than 139 000. He has had a gig advertising Makhadzi’s show in Maun and he did it in Setswana.

Now that Ming is well known on social media, his parents’ store in Palapye is never short of people who want to witness him speaking Setswana.

“People from across the country visit our store just to see him, recently we had guests from Kasane and Gaborone who came to see him,” Keolebogile said.

Even though Ming speaks Chinese and Setswana fluently, it seems he has been sold to everything Setswana and he enjoys eating magwinya, dinawa, and mogodu. His father, Xiu Ming Huang said Ming was born December 2017, in Botswana.

He said he only realised that his son was famous a couple of months ago when his friend showed him his clip on Tik Tok.

He was happy that Ming was embracing Setswana culture and said they allowed him to play with other children in the neighborhood.

The family has been resident in Botswana for 10 years and sees nothing wrong with Ming speaking Setswana because he was born here. 

ENDS