Leave your cultural assumptions at the border
Wednesday October 18th 2006
Brian PolkinghorneIf you are coming to Africa for the first time you could be in for some shocks. Sights, smells, tastes, world-views ? they are all potential challenges to your assumptions and experiences. Depending on how you approach your new human environment, these shocks will be the source of either depressing frustration or exciting learning.
You will see beggars on the street ? genuine lepers, and others of questionable authenticity. How are you going to deal with this sad and frustrating reality around you every day? Some of the beggars will be aggressive and get in your face. Comparatively, your pockets are full of spare money and you are rich. Are you going to give to everyone in an effort to dampen your sense of confusion and guilt until you get sick of it and zipper up your wallet and conscience; or will you only give to polite beggars who appreciate you and thank you sincerely so that you don?t forget them next time? Or are you going to walk right by and pretend that they don?t exist?
You will see plenty of grinding poverty and genuine joy living side by side. You will see what you might think are offensive table manners, personal hygiene practices and very strange priorities and values.
If you are male, you will almost jump out of your skin with shock the first time an African man holds your hand, as western lovers would do. In reality, this is a sign of sincere acceptance of you and an expression of friendship. On the other hand, you may shock your western friends when you meet a really good friend after a long absence, and hold hands as you walk and talk.
Almost as soon as you have escaped your first pro-western cocoon-like hotel experience and started to experience Africa, your nose may be immediately repulsed by the smells of unflushed toilets, drains with sluggish putrid water and piles of rotting rubbish.
You will be invited to share meals with people, or of necessity, come in contact with new tastes. Those culinary offerings may be bland, or even distasteful and offensive, but this is the reality of Africa. With constantly stabbing reminders that this is not your home country, which has fitted nicely around your cultural value systems like a loved and well-worn shoe, the experiences here may grate and rub and frustrate. These however are the realities that you have to deal with if you want to survive, or better still, contribute some of your skills for the betterment of some tiny aspect of African society.
People may make seemingly genuine promises to you and do nothing. When you meet them next and revisit the issue, there may be no expression of remorse or shame for not fulfilling the promise, just a string of highly questionable excuses.
Because you are white, you will ?stick out like a sore thumb? in the more remote communities. People will soon let you know about their expectations; that you are obviously the one who is going to rescue them from all their long- and short-term nagging problems.
Prices of many goods you want to buy are flexible, rather than fixed, and you are normally expected to bargain. Why? Well bargaining sets up a conversation, and conversation is the basis of a potential relationship ? and relationships are of paramount importance in Africa.
Perhaps some of your highly prized priorities like gender issues, the treatment of children and human rights in general will be thrown in your face. They may be blatantly contravened without compunction, and you will be shocked and possibly angry. Political structures, economic priorities, educational experiences, health facilities and services, and so on, will all offer you potentially exciting challenges to broaden your understanding, compassion and wisdom. Welcome to an exciting array of new options, experiences, challenges and opportunities in Africa.
On the other hand, just by being yourself, you may well shock you new hosts. Some of the things you say may be offensive. The clothes you wear, the way you sit and eat, the values you unwittingly express and impose, the techniques you propose to solve problems may be more offensive than constructive. So, watch out if your agenda is to live and work with Africans for the wellbeing of all.
You will experience a collection of shocks and tentative insights in Africa. Human society has a wide and rich variety of opinions and practices that often disturbs us, but may ultimately lead us to the liberating point of admitting that there are very few absolutely right and wrong cultural values. After working in mainly rural settings in Tanzania for 23 years, I know that accepting this idea is the key to fitting in and contributing more effectively.
Of course, Africa is a vast continent with several thousand languages and cultural groups, but there are many common themes linking the people of Africa as well as many variations on those themes in each tribe. Knowing this can help you adjust more quickly and comfortably.
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