Culture: Greeting

As the first post in a new category that we’re calling “culture,” we thought it would be appropriate to reflect upon an activity that has taken up a great deal of our time since we have arrived: Greeting. However, whereas in America this word corresponds only to a few words quickly passed over at the beginning of a conversation, in Mali, this is an activity in and of itself.

To give you a better idea, the following is a “Greeting” conversation that Jim and I have with every Malian we see every day,

Jim: Good Morning

Villager: Good Morning

Jim: How are you?

V: No problems

Jim: How is your family?

V: No problems

Jim: How is your wife?

V: No problems

Jim: How are your children?

V: No problems

Jim: Everyone is doing well?

V: All Peace

Jim: How did you sleep?

V: Peacefully, How are you?

Jim: No problems

V: How is your wife?

Jim: No problems

V: How are your children?

Jim: We don’t have children yet

V: No, you’re supposed to say “No problems”  It doesn’t matter that you don’t have children. You obviously need to work on your Bambara some more.

Jim: Sorry. (It’s just that this whole thing seems redundant.)

V: How did you sleep?

Jim: All Peace

….. Repeat that conversation again word for word with Joye and after all that you can finally start in on real conversation.

General Rules for Greeting:

• Upon arriving at your workplace or any other location, you must greet everyone in the room no matter how important he/she is or you appear very rude. The only time greeting doesn’t take place is when 2 people are fighting.
• People are greeted in order of importance: this usually means men before women and older Malians before younger Malians.
• It doesn't matter if you aren't married or don't have kids. You have to answer that everyone is fine. Even if people are extremely sick, their family will answer that they are fine. On multiple occasions, we have gone through the regular greetings with families assuring us that everyone is fine before finding out that they spent the day before at the local hospital getting treatment. Obviously, this can be very confusing, so we’ve had to figure out more direct ways to ask about family members so that people will answer truthfully.
• Malians will stop by neighbors and friends houses regularly just to “greet” before continuing on their way. To not do so on occasion is to say that you are not friends.
• As is in the States, it is common to shake hands when greeting in Mali. However, here you may shake hands multiple times, and you can show additional respect by touching your left hand to your forearm or placing your right hand over your heart after shaking.
• White people have a bad reputation for coming to people only when they need things out of them. “Tubabs” as we are called, never come by simply just to “greet” because we are too busy for that sort of thing. Therefore, when Jim and I go out “greeting” at the Mayors Office and local NGO offices, Malians are first very confused and then pleasantly surprised.

At first, when we could barely speak a word of Bambara, this was extremely overwhelming; however, at this point, it has become a reflex. Indeed there have been many days in village where we have spent the whole morning walking through town ‘greeting.’  This odd custom has served as a way to introduce ourselves to villagers and begin to strike up conversations that will hopefully lead to friendships later.  So while we can’t do major projects for our first three months at site, by proactively getting out of our house, greeting, chatting, and drinking tea (another culture blog for another day), we are laying the groundwork for a successful two years at site.

 

~Joye