Culture Shock

Luckily, because I’m living in a house with the other volunteers and I haven’t been completely forced to use a new language my culture shock hasn’t been that overwhelming.  But here are some of the things that have really shocked me.

Corporal punishment...the teacher in my school walks around with a stick to wail on kids when they fight when they don’t pay attention, and the one that’s hardest to stomach, when they get a question wrong.  All of it is hard to watch, but definitely when the teacher starts hitting them for just genuinely not knowing an answer.  In my eyes there is no justification for that but I don’t really know what to do or say when it happens. 

Mzungu...which means white person and is said to us multiple times a day whenever we walk anywhere.  Children, young adults, and older men love to call it out at us as we’re walking.  We’ve been told that it’s not a deregortoy term but when enough people have said it at you and then giggle afterward it starts to take on the feeling that it isn’t all in good fun.  We’ve learn to ignore it, but it so strange to hear and think about what would happen if someone went around in the states yelling out “white person white person” and then giggled as people walk by.

Time...there is no concept of being on time.  Our program manager even says how things run on Bagamoyo time which just means people are allowed to be a half hour to an hour late for everything.  This is very strange growing up in a house where my dad thinks I’m late when I’m five minutes early.  This concept of time also seems to lead to a lot of sitting around.  It will be the middle of the day when most people should be at work or doing something and you’ll see people taking naps on their front porches for the breeze.  Or people will be at their jobs and just randomly put their head down to rest for 15 minutes while everyone else just keeps working around them.

Personal Space boundaries...or rather the lack of any boundaries, especially with men.  Not only when meeting a man will he offer up a very wet noodle style handshake which just kinda freaks me out they also insist on holding onto your hand for the duration of their conversation with you, whether it be a minute or 10.  We’ve also found that when talking people insist on getting extremely close to you which has been difficult to get use to as well.

The food...is really good but full of carbs to make you feel fake full.  And I’ve found that I’ve had lot’s of talks with the other volunteers about all the foods we miss.  For example I would be ecstatic to eat some cheese (my favorite comfort food) or drink some milk.  Other volunteers are really missing meat in their diet (to which I can’t really sympathize).  I also really miss dippy eggs in the morning...but only the kind my dad makes.  We’ve all talked about the first few meals we’ll want once we get home...mine are macaroni and cheese and sushi.  But all in all I really can’t complain...I’m being very well fed, maybe too well in fact.

Children...everything about them is surprising.  Women will hand over their babies for complete strangers to hold.  They’ll be left alone all day so random children will show up at schools, or orphanages just to play for the day.  Unlike in the states, children are the most generous people here.  Most that we work with only get one meal a day but they offer it to us anyway.  Anything they own they try and give to us while we’re at placement.  But most surprising is how they are just all so incredibly attention starved but an be entertained with the simplest things (like a tire and a stick).  Children as young as 7 have cell phones in the states and can’t make it through the day without the newest and most exciting electronic toy, and more often then not they get bored with it quite quickly.  The children we’ve met could play for hours with a ball and ask day after day just to keep playing with the ball.  There total happiness in this life that is so simple and uncomplicated from my own is amazing to witness and makes me want to strive to live by their example.