When walking by people in Tanzania you have to acknowledge and greet just about everyone. Its demeaning if not. And since I am a mzungo I have to be a polite diplomat for not only Americans but white people in general.
Most of the time its “Habari” ( whats the news, but really”hello’) or Habari gani . Habari za leo ( whats new today?) Jambo ( greeting), mambo( hows things). And if you’re trending toward Islam its”Salamu” or Asalama alekum. Then there is ‘vipi” (whats up)?and then there is all sorts of other local slang which I hope and assume, is friendly. This can go on for ever with many kinds of hand shaking which is an art form in itself.
The simple hand shake( like what we do) is formal and really just not enough here. If your friendly, know the person, had a few beers or jut in a good mood the hand shake is a 3 part process. Part 1: orthodox had shake, 2) change to the “brother” handshake then 3) back to the orthodox handshake. This often followed by some other contact, slapping, fist bonking, wrist clinking all the while exchanging greetings and news. Then it is OK to hold hands and be lead somewhere to show something near by. This part was really cringy for meat first, just too uncomfortable. But now its OK to hold hands with a man as you walk, I get it, nothing intimate just genuine friends. But not in the United States thank you.
When I met the Bishop here for the first time in a casual setting (not church) , I did the routine orthodox western handshake and he immediately continued on to the 3 part shake. I knew he was cool and I was “OK” . We are bro’s.
There is another greeting which I have totally missed and it has mystified me until today. Since this is my 3rd trip here I guess that qualifies me as a slow learner or maybe I am just in denial. Often when I walk out in the country a mile or so ( the only exercise I get) to another village or “neighbor hood” I pass people who have never seen me and so the greeting is different. Young children are fearless, uninhibited and curous and they usual run up to within 5 meters and point and say “mzungu”. After a few words or a petcha ( picture) they are all over you.
Older kids, teenagers, women stay away and either say nothing or say something that I have never been able to figure out. It sound like “shh” or “shiiiit” or maybe “sheek”. I just reply nzuri( good, fine) and keep going. They know they shouldn’t mess with strangers specially white men strangers and I am not going to mess with any women….in a strange village.
Guys, guys are different. They may be friendly ( as above), neutral or out right mean street, bad ass hostile. Some guys just look bad ass, and know it. But even lots of guys, mean or not, say ‘shhh”or something that sound like “Shiiit or” shiik” or “sheek”. So this has been going on for a long time I just chalk it up to another thing I have to learn..someday.
Yesterday I walked to a new village maybe 2 mi. north. No white people there at all. I am alone, a little uncomfortable “entering town” like in a western. New guy in town. New WHITE guy in town. The town is just a bunch of shacks, really stalls with tin roofs, it was hot and smart people ( every one but me) is in the shade. The men are always hanging, sitting not really doing anything. The women are out getting food, water, preparing. This is standard procedure. No cars, couple of abused Chinese motorcycles, dirt road. The backround color for all of this is poverty. You get it.
So one guy says “shhh”, I wave and say “nzuri” ( good) but really unsure what this means. I pass by a few mid age guys ( in there 30’s here) and I hear “shiiit”. Now I am nervous. Like, I am in Harlem, it’s 1969 and the brothers look at me a say”shiit man , whats whitey doing here?” I mean I could be disposed of here and no one would ever find a single piece of me….ever. Anyway I say “nzuri” “vipi” and walk tall with kind of a strut – bop…just so they know.
Then a cool ,older “dude” comes up to me, right there on Main Street and says “sheek” Then in fractured English says “that is a greeting. People are greeting you. you should respond”. He says “SHIKAmo”. It means respectful greetings to an elder” Respectful greetings TO AN ELDER?? ELDER? are they respectfully greeting me because I am an elder? OK, this is an issue with me. Me, an elder.? My mental self image is I am everybody else’s age. I know I have this inflated self image that in my mind that I am forty…AT THE MOST! How can it be so obvious to all these people that I am older then them? All of them? Do I really look that old? In my delusion of denial I just assume I am everyone else’s age. Then I don’t have to deal with the reality of my age.
Well, look that way or not, I am older then 90% or more of the people here. In Kagera the young look younger then their stated age and the old look older then their stated age. This is because of malnutrition in the former and hard living in the later group. Life expectancy here is about 55. I should be long gone.
The dude tells me the response to shiikamoo is “marahaba” ( thank you for your respectful greeting). So suddenly the fear, the anxiety, the chopping me up into little un- findable pieces is gone. These people, living in such incredible conditions of poverty are so respectful, so graceful. I am so embaressed by my ignorance. Later that night I learned that “shikamoo” literally means “ I touch your feet” Blown away by my western paronoia and prejudicial bias, I am the one who is humbled and should be touching their feet. Al of this proves once again that most fear is based on misunderstading. And using symmetrical logic, most misunderstanding is based on fear.
A good lesson for the world to learn. Shikamoo
