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Life philosophy, change of pace, simple and basic, greeting culture, breaking the ice, getting stares, smiles and laughter, being met with open arms, huge misconception, getting overcharged, stand your ground, marriage proposals and I love you's
Pole pole is basically their life philosophy, at least it seems like it. Pole pole is Swahili for "slowly, slowly". There is really no rush to do anything in Tanzania!
For me, coming from Switzerland, it's definitely a change of pace but it felt good. I didn't mind it at all, it's part of their life and it's my intention to immerse myself in the different cultures in every country. It was actually nice to just slow down for once, although I have to admit that sometimes stuff could have been handled a bit faster. Especially when it came to food and us being hungry. 😁
But in all honesty, their way of life fascinates me. It's so simple and basic compared to what I'm used to. And they are right too, just having what they really need. I mean how many things do WE have at home we don't even need? And yet, Tanzanian people generally are very happy and content.
I did realise myself that I possess way too many things. I could have easily spent the two weeks travelling in Tanzania with half the stuff I brought with me! 😅
What I really loved was how total strangers talked to each other like they've know each other all their lives. Folks are very open, curious and talk active. We did get greeted every few steps we took but contrary to popular believes, they didn't always want to sell us something. All the "Jambo's" and "Mambo's" are usually just that, greetings to acknowledge us and see how we're doing.
And they were quite happy when we greeted them back. Greetings like this are a big part of their culture and seeing us taking part of their culture – even if it's just a "Hello, how are you?" – can make a huge difference and breaks the ice from the start. Not that you actually need to break the ice because they will talk to you anyways. 😉
It was very common for locals to stare at us "Mzungu's" (white people), especially while travelling through the country where they rarely get to see foreigners. However, this wasn't intimidating by all means! Compare it with an elephant walking through your city or town, you're bound to stare and wonder what he's doing there, right? 🙃
Although we got a lot more smiles and laughter than stares! It was so nice seeing all those happy faces everywhere. The happiness they spread when seeing foreigners, the ear-to-ear smiles and waves... It almost felt like we were royalty, being taken around in a carriage and visiting the people. It's contagious. 🤩
What really amazed me was how everyone took such good care of each other. Especially among the kids! There's this solidarity, kindness, protective, caring sisterly or brotherly attitude - also towards kids who are not part of their own family. It's hard to put it into words really, but it was absolutely amazing and beautiful to see.
At one of my first days we were just chilling and playing on the beach with some local kids when a girl, about the age of 4 or 5 joined us, carrying her sister who was only a few months old. Among the kids, an other sister (aged about 12) was already present and took the baby out of her arms and played with her. She even gave the baby to me for a few minutes to hold her. To top it all of, their big brother (probably around 19 or so) happened to pass by, picked her up and brought her back home with him.
I don't think anything bad will ever happen to that baby! 🥰
We were welcomed with open arms everywhere. Even in the fishing village we went to visit at sunrise to observe the fishermen coming back from the night shift. There especially! We received 14 (!) fish, just out of sheer kindness of the locals. Plus we were able to see into the villages kitchen and the lady was so welcoming, that she offered us to try some of her fresh food. I have to admit though that eating fish first thing in the morning wasn't really my favourite. 😁
People are just so happy when they can talk to us and show us how they live. It's really beautiful to observe. 🥰
Taking pictures of people usually is no issue neither, I still preferred to ask though. I mean, I don't like it neither if people take pictures and videos of me without asking. There are some that would ask for money so I didn't take their picture and just let them be. The funny thing is, a lot of people actually asked us to take a picture! Especially the kids, I have waaay too many pictures of kids. 🤪
Oh and ladies, it's totally normal to get a few marriage proposals or I love you's from locals! Don't sweat it though, it's almost comical to experience actually, just laugh it off. 😉
However, there is a huge misconception about white people in Africa generally. Many believe that when you're white, you have money and that you're well off. This unfortunately can also lead to situations where we get overcharged for certain things. Especially in more popular tourist destinations like Arusha or Zanzibar. We never had any issues while travelling through the countryside.
In those cases it was very useful that we were able to negotiate and know some basic Swahili, especially the numbers. Also, we would ask some locals or friends we made about prices whenever we could. This helps to understand it a bit more and with time we also got the hang of it and knew when we're being charged too much. Don't be afraid to stay persistent, it usually pays off. 🙂
Sabbu ❤️
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