Some Tanzanian Customs

One of the things I find most fascinating about living in such a radically different culture, is finding out about the little quirks, differences and idiosyncracires of the customs and indeed the natives.

For example, in Tanzania, a wife and her children take their Father’s first name as their last name/ surname. So, if John Martin married Jaqueline Jones, she becomes Jaqueline John and the children are eg. Frank John, Mark John etc. Essentially it means that first and last names sound and effectively are interchangeable and not really a separate commodity, in the way that they are in the Western World, except that one is the first name and the other is the last name!

Another little quirk that I’ve noticed here is younger children all take off their shoes before entering the classroom. Older children don’t for some reason that I haven’t quite worked out yet.

A really fascinating sight to witness is the open affection between boys and men. Unlike the Western civilization, where men are extremely loath to show any physical signs of affection (a firm handshake or perhaps a matey pat on the back is around the limit of physical contact), a lot of African boys and quite a few men, sling their arms around each other’s shoulders and some even hold hands, the way that young girls in our society do. It’s done in such a casual, relaxed way that it’s really a lovely sight to behold.

For a while I couldn’t quite understand why I found it difficult to differenciate locals from each other. I will happily admit that in the beginning, it was because I was simply getting used to the colour of their skin, as I really am unfamiliar with the African complexion, in the same way that they think most Caucasians look the same. Only when I became familiar with the African skin could I start to pick up the subtle skin tone differences, face shapes and various other distinguishing qualities which each person has. It is a little hard though because all Africans have black hair and to make it more confusing, the children in the school all have very short hair (like, shaved short). Because water is so scarse and they just can’t afford shampoo, having very short hair is a practical solution. Some let it grow a little bit and then plait it very finely to their scalp. A popular hairstyle among young girls is to plait their hair so that it stands up in an arc on their head – that’s called a “Kilimanjaro” for obvious reasons.

I guess the hardest part in distinguishing the children is because they are all in uniform and wear hats, so it really is hard to pick one from the other. But every day I recognize another child so I’m hoping soon I will know many of them. And I’ll be distinguishing a Kilimanjaro hairstyle from a banana one!!!