What I Learned from a Tanzanian

                                                         by David Parker

Recently, a Christian pastor from east Africa visited in our area to inspect the recent printing of a Scripture portion into his native language, Swahili, spoken by approximately 100 million Tanzanians.  While he was here, this Tanzanian shared a short message from Jeremiah chapter one (vv. 1-10).  He pointed out that Jeremiah’s mission included going to the “nations” and “kingdoms.”  He also described how so often the work requires more destroying (unlearning of lies and false teaching) than building (“root out,” “pull down,” “destroy,” and “throw down” – v. 10).  Because the enemy has worked so effectively, we often have twice as much clearing out and deprogramming to perform before we can even begin to build and to plant (v. 10).  When you renovate a room, you take the old stuff out; clean, paint, repair, etc, and then put new stuff in.  Additionally, he used one of Jesus’ parables (the wheat and the tares, Matthew 13:24-43) to demonstrate that the wicked one does much of his work while the farmer is sleeping.  “Where did all these tares come from?” asks the farmer (Christian worker).  “The enemy did it while you were sleeping” explains the Lord of the harvest.  The message was both insightful and spiritually challenging.  We are grateful he was able to speak to us from God’s Word as well as tell us about his country.

The Tanzanian’s worldview is uniquely different from my own.  Worldview has been defined as “the mental map by which a person views all of life.”  A good example of worldview is the area of how westerners view the floor in contrast to how Asians (not Tanzanians) view the same.  Because westerners fundamentally believe that the floor is dirty, they build platforms (chairs, sofas, beds, etc.) to keep themselves off the floor.  This is also a reason that most westerners keep their shoes on when they enter a home.  Asians, however, believe that floor is clean.  This is why it’s taboo to enter an Asian person’s home without first removing one’s shoes at the door.  It is the reason they sit and sleep on the floor.  The environment at an international airport accurately depicts this contrast.  When flights are delayed or people are experiencing long layovers before their flight departure, one will probably notice westerns trying to get comfortable on one or more chairs.  But an Asian traveler has no qualms about stretching out on the floor; and he gets some needed sleep.  Worldview means that we all do what we do because of the way we view the world.

Our Tanzanian guest shared most of the following only when asked by myself and a mutual friend.

All of his responses were the direct result of our questions.  He was in no way judgmental, but meek and hesitant.  He appears more careful to comment.  Many times, we quickly blurt out (often without thinking) what we think about others.  In his culture, they take more time (weeks or months) to form an opinion about someone because they are watching, not just what one says; but also, what one does.  Consequently, their observations are very discerning and highly accurate.

People in his culture are event-oriented; it doesn’t matter how long they have to wait for someone to get there, they don’t start until everyone shows up.  And they enjoy the activity without respect to the time.  They don't get bent out of shape about time.  Time doesn't control who they are or what they do.

It is a common thing for someone in his culture to a have a need and ask a neighbor for help.  They feel it is their duty to meet a neighbor's need - they are obliged to provide.  They feel compelled to provide something which is asked of them without concern as to when or if it is returned.  We have so much we don’t know what it’s like to need something.  Our Tanzanian guest held up a saltshaker from the table where we were sitting and asked, “Where can you go in America where you can’t find a salt shaker to use on your food if you want it?"  It was a rhetorical question; we have everything we need.

In his culture, they have a history of group thinking, group decisions, and group ownership (communal property).  It’s not mine – it’s ours.  I don’t make a decision – we make a decision.  This promotes unity rather than division, and it is in direct contrast to our individualistic society.  He told us that in his culture, children existed to serve the needs of the parents.  He said, “The number of toys in your houses shows clearly that you are servants of your children.”  He is right about this.  Sometimes in our desire to give our children good things, we neglect to notice that it may also be producing a self-centered individual with an "everything is about me-mentality."

I asked our Tanzanian guest about whether his people enjoyed any proverbs.  He acknowledged the commonality and frequent use of local proverbs in his culture, and shared this one: “The information comes from the stomach.”  This is equivalent to our business practice of fattening someone for friendship, or more humanely, buying someone lunch before discussing business.  So depending on what you wanting to hear as a result of meeting with your friend, you may want to buy him lunch first.  So to our Tanzanian guest, thank you, for teaching us something about your culture, and something about our own.

David Parker