Communication

I LOVE the way Kenyans communicate.  They speak their own language among others of the same tribe, use Swahali most all of the time AND read, write and speak English, too, thankfully!  Their accent is delightful, mostly influenced by the British, but with their own language affecting their words as well.  Somehow some of the ways they phrase words together expresses so much better what I what to say than I could ever say it.  Along with their verbal communication is their wonderful body language.  Often they touch one another with a hand on the shoulder or arm or slapping each other’s hand when they are excited about what was said, sharing a common experience, laughing together.  All the time one is listening to the other, there are facial expressions hard to imagine in our stoic culture.  The raised eyebrow, the pooched out lips, the head tilting back quickly, a sign of agreement or maybe asking directions for which way to go, they look in the right direction with their chins moving in a quick jerk upwards signifying the way….all of these expressions with no words exchanged yet the other knows exactly what is meant.  And, listening skills?  They are great listeners often giving a hmmm, or gasp of delight or horror as the case may be, or a grunt of agreement or a clicking of the tongue to acknowledge understanding of how bad something might be.  As far as spoken words, though, here are just a few of the great things I’ve heard and thought, “Now why didn’t I think to say it that way?” Examples:

When I asked a friend how her marriage was, she replied, “Well, it’s not bad, but let’s just say he doesn’t quite exalt me.”  (mmmm, girls, do you feel exalted today????  I’m not thinking I do so much…loved yes, exalted? Maybe not!)

Talking with another friend and asking how it’s going, she said, “I am so stressed up; life is hard, hard, hard.”  (I can be stressed out, but maybe when life is extra challenging, I’m really feeling stressed up!)

“We must delete ourselves from the situation.”  (Self-explanatory I guess).

A mom trying to deal with her restless and very bored children in a restaurant, “Please be calm.”

Not to waste precious cell phone minutes or time, a caller says, “This is ___________.”   The receiver of the call may respond, “Tell me what you want to say!”   (How many times have you ever wanted to speak to someone so directly!)

In reference to the many, many “brokers,” men you might pay to help you get across a border, money exchangers, taxi drivers, men or women or children in your face wanting you to buy a soda, fruit or who knows what, I was told, “When you go somewhere for the first time, there are many people there to deceive you.”

In reference to someone a friend thought was pretty much a jerk, he told me, “He is not a very bad man (with strong emphasis on the ‘very’).”  This holds true for most anything.  If you don’t like it, you just say, “It’s not very bad!”  Nice twist, huh?

“I do not know why they want to confuse the price.”  (referring to the price of very limited gas in Kitale right now with the price fluctuating throughout the day.)

Regarding the purchase of a used dresser from a neighbor:  “He is thinking of disposing of a dresser and I am thinking of receiving it.”

“I must go help myself.” (I am going to use the toilet.)

Regarding the challenges of a project one of the guys has been working on, he said, “It has been difficult from day one to day last.”

Referring to the level of concentration it takes to drive on pot-holed, red dirt road in Uganda:  “If your thoughts are mixed, it (a car accident) will surely be your fault.”

“They are proud of being big.” (referring to a tractor trailer angling to get in front of everyone else on a thin strip of pot-holed, dirt road.  The general traffic rule being if you are bigger you can overpower anyone else, which everyone obliges, even if begrudgingly.)

With six of us piled into a car as we were leaving Uganda, a friend prayed, “Daddy, thank you for this good day.  Now we beg you to be our Provider, our Protector, our Friend as we make this journey to the border.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

So, you can see why I LOVE to be in Africa!  The people are loving, extremely hospitable, warm, animated, and kind.  We have come to enjoy, appreciate and love them so very much! Check out some of the folks we get to hang out with: