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Examples
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Note 59: In colonial ethnographic materials the kungwi is fittingly described as an "old wise woman."
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It was important that the kungwi was capable of instructing the girl, but other women could also be called in to do the instructing. 61
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Her primary mentor was known as a * - kungwi. 58 This term preserves a proto-Mashariki noun meaning "an initiation leader."
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Zigua kungwi, ma - "one who has had a certain illness previously"; Bondei (Seuta) kungwi, plus same term in Swahili and Ruvu, as well as in Nyanja namkungwi; Proto-Kaskazi * mkunga "midwife/birth attendant"; also in Lambya and Mabia; Gogo munkunga "circumciser," "sponsor of girl initiates."
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A description of Zalamo * - kungwi and * mnandi assistants states:
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Two guardians were chosen for the girl, the kungwi and the nandi.
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If the girl was engaged, nandi was always the sister of the bridegroom; kungwi could be the grandmother on the mother's side.
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If the girl was not engaged, the kungwi could be chosen from the mother's side and the nandi from the father's family or vice versa.
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