Cultural differences video link

The following is a link to a video clip of an interview where a Tanzanian explains his first impressions of Canada. He had been invited to visit Canada when one of my colleagues went on furlough, and had been experiencing life as Canadians are used to living. His surprise at things that we take perfectly for granted made me think about just how much I take for granted. The clip is called 'Mwasembe highlights'

http://vimeo.com/6945700

Cultural differences

It occurred to me the other day that although I write a lot about my impressions and experiences here in Tanzania, I rarely say much about Tanzanians’ impressions of our lives and cultures, or how I understand their views based on questions that have been asked. Here are a few comments and questions that I have heard to give you some insight into the misperceptions/Tanzanian cultural perceptions of life in the West.

Question 1: I have heard that you (Westerners) have a form of marriage where both parties agree to be married for a time of about 3 years and then are free to leave each other with no legal implications for either party. Is this true?
Notes: I think this might have arisen from someone hearing about pre-nuptial agreements being made. Two people separately asked us about this on the same day during a village visit, so it seems to be a widespread idea that this is what we do!

Question 2: I hear that you do not look after your elderly people like we do, but send them away to be looked after by other people rather than letting them live in your house. Is this true?
Notes: While this was essentially true, they do appear to look unfavourably on the way that we send our parents off to nursing homes and retirement homes rather than looking after them ourselves. While I know the reasons from my cultures perspective for sending elderly people to nursing homes (and having worked in one myself), explaining these reasons to someone from a culture where elderly people are highly respected, I felt my reasons were rather feeble in his eyes! (no offense to anyone with parents/grandparents in nursing homes c:)

Comment/observation 1: I want to live in England/America because everyone there has a good job, and a good salary.
Notes: The grass is always greener on the other side!

Comment/observation 2: there isn’t any crime in America (made to an American friend of mine)

Question 3: Why do you people pretend to come over here doing the work of God when you are only doing it in order to exploit us?
Notes: When I asked further about this, he told me that he was referring to people who come over and pretend to be helping the community and instead are only interested in the gold or precious stones that can be mined in the country and the good work in the community is just a front. I don't know whether he knew any missionaries who did this, but he was convinced that all missionaries have ulterior motives! I was quick to assure him that I didn't have time or energy for a gold mine on the side, even if that was what I came for, and it certainly wasn't!

Question 4: What do you eat in Canada/England if you don’t eat chapattis or ugali?
Notes: The person asking couldn’t believe that we don’t have ugali in England or Canada since it is such a staple food here. People often don’t feel fully satisfied unless they have a meal of ugali once a day.

Here are a few other things that people don’t believe/understand when they hear us talk about our own countries:

That we don’t all keep animals/ farm our own food.
That a couple might not want to have children.
That a woman can reach age 27 and not have a husband or children.
That we keep dogs as pets.
That there aren’t tribes in England, and that English is the mother-tongue of (almost) all the people in our country (obviously excluding non-native Brits c:)

Zinza Genesis dedication

This past weekend, we made another trip, this time to Mwanza where we stayed for two nights in order to attend the dedication of the book of Genesis which was recently printed in the Zinza language. Getting up early on Saturday morning, we left the Catholic guest house at half past six, and made our way to the ferry terminal. Arriving through the gates, we waited for our turn as we saw the smaller ferry being loaded up. Sadly, the buses seemed to take precedence over our small vehicle, so we had to wait until 8am for the larger ferry to arrive, but eventually we were able to reverse our vehicle onto the cramped ferry before the cracks between vehicles were filled with people (I kid you not, that ferry was packed!) and we set off. Arriving on the other side, we drove onwards along a dirt road to the village of Nyakaliro where the dedication ceremony was being held.

Mwanza ferry

Arriving at the storage barn that was filled with hundreds of seats, we were ushered up to the front where we were seated as honoured guests despite our protestations! Honoured or not, we were rather deaf by the end of the ceremony, having been seated very close to the speakers which belted out music and whatever was said/sung into the mic.

AIC choir

The service started a little late, which was good since we had not been able to arrive for the official start time, but still people were arriving up to an hour into the ceremony. It began with introductions of all the official guests; translators, missionaries, pastors and board members involved with the translation, some of them giving speeches of various lengths, then proceded on with a song from the AIC (Africa Inland Church) choir from the AIC church in Nyakaliro. After this, we were treated to a show of Zinza traditional dancing accompanied by drums and the ululation of many watching women. This was a great experience for me, as I have many times bemoaned the lack of times I have seen traditional African culture displayed in dance or music.

Following this, the AIC choir sang another song and then some of the boxes of Genesis books were danced in up to the front where the mgeni rasmi (honoured guest) cut the ribbon with great ceremony and pulled out a couple of books to stand with them while photos were taken. Many of these books were then gifted to those who had been a part of the translation process in various forms, which took quite a while!

Not much was said or done after that, and the ceremony closed quite efficiently without the need for long drawn out speeches which made me happy! By this time, it was about half past 1, and having had breakfast at 7am I was rather hungry and thirsty (I had stupidly forgotten my water bottle). We were treated to a pilau and meat lunch in traditional Tanzanian style, before we eventually piled back into our cars in order to catch the ferry back.

So, that was my first (and possibly last) experience of a dedication! I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite the thirst) thanks to the good planning that kept speeches to a minimum (Tanzanians are not known for being able to keep speeches or ceremonies short, the last one I went to being a good example, having gone on for 5 hours) and thus meant that the ceremony itself ran smoothly. The dances were a real treat also, and despite my protestations at being placed at the front, it did make for some good unobstructed photography!