“I’m fine”
Greetings are an important part of the culture here, and they are done regularly, often in a set format and most often with a wonderful smile. In general they fall into “How are you?” with the answer always “I’m fine”
We are fortunate in Milestone House to have a cleaner (Violet) who comes in three times a week. This week on Monday we did our Hujambo etc and of course got the reply “I’m fine” (mzuri sana). Violet speaks English beautifully but we have to go through the routine in Swahili so that we can practise. A few minutes later she was blowing her nose and coughing. I asked her again and this time she told me she hadn’t felt too good for a day or so, and on Wednesday she didn’t come in as she had a bout of malaria. She was however back in on Friday and did her usual great job in clearing the inevitable dust which settles everywhere in the house.
It seems, unlike the UK, where at the slightest asking people will tell you all the things that aren’t good, here everyone says they are fine. I had a chat with Moshye at Mwanza Samaritans and asked him about this. He says of course not everyone feels fine all the time, but if the culture wasn’t as it is, what would happen to those who said they were not good, who would they go to, who could give them the time to talk through and find answers to whatever problem was acute. I know in the UK we are short of psychiatrists, but here I think I read that in the whole of Tanzania only some 100 qualified psychiatrists practise. That’s for a country of some 40m people!
Is this another area for more synthesis between African and European culture? Perhaps we should spend more time greeting and saying we are fine, and here more effort should go into those who when the “I’m fine” layer is peeled off are just not feeling good.
Kwa heri for now
Donald
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