Uganda #12: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
When people think of Africa, they think safaris, wild animals, jungles: uncivilized land. Ironically, this is only a pice of Africa. When one studies the language, culture, people and traditions, one discovers a very intricate & civilized system based on respect for elders, formal greetings and introductions.
Since my 2 days here in the village, I've discovered that R-E-S-P-E-C-T is big here. The pyramid goes as so: children respect those older than them, women respect men and everyone respects God. Respect is shown by kneeling before the other person & greeting them formally for about 2-5 min, as well as respecting & not questioning their ideas. The greeting goes soemthing like,
Hello J. Hello M. How are you? Fine. How are you? Fine. How'd you sleep? Fine. You? Fine? Thank you for working so hard. Yes, working is hard but it's what I do. Thank you for studying hard in school. Yes, I am working on my Master's degree. How's your family? Good. Yours? Good. Okay. Okay. Uh huh. Uh huh.
This greeting must repeated every time you see that person, even if you just saw them (as in leaving the room & returning), as was the case as my mother & I walked past a friend on the way back out of our room. During this time, I got a bit frustrated because so many people came for the lumbe & sometimes, going through that formal greeting process with each person when I had to walk past 10 relatives on each side bothered me. I didn't understand why I would greet someone again for the second time after seeing them 2 min ago. I would sometimes be the "uncultured American-Ugandan" lady who would run past the group with no greetings just to get to back to my room & pick up the camera my aunt had requested.
Also, there is a hierarchy amongst cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother's side, father's side etc. We've been trying to decide how to serve food to the guests at the lumbe. For hours, different sides of the family argued. My step grandfather (husband of my late grandmother) finally said we do this & we all had to respect his decision. The system can be challenging sometimes if the person at the top is unreasonable or stubborn (like my grandfather can be) but it's the Baganda way. Hands down. No questions.
Since my 2 days here in the village, I've discovered that R-E-S-P-E-C-T is big here. The pyramid goes as so: children respect those older than them, women respect men and everyone respects God. Respect is shown by kneeling before the other person & greeting them formally for about 2-5 min, as well as respecting & not questioning their ideas. The greeting goes soemthing like,
Hello J. Hello M. How are you? Fine. How are you? Fine. How'd you sleep? Fine. You? Fine? Thank you for working so hard. Yes, working is hard but it's what I do. Thank you for studying hard in school. Yes, I am working on my Master's degree. How's your family? Good. Yours? Good. Okay. Okay. Uh huh. Uh huh.
This greeting must repeated every time you see that person, even if you just saw them (as in leaving the room & returning), as was the case as my mother & I walked past a friend on the way back out of our room. During this time, I got a bit frustrated because so many people came for the lumbe & sometimes, going through that formal greeting process with each person when I had to walk past 10 relatives on each side bothered me. I didn't understand why I would greet someone again for the second time after seeing them 2 min ago. I would sometimes be the "uncultured American-Ugandan" lady who would run past the group with no greetings just to get to back to my room & pick up the camera my aunt had requested.
Also, there is a hierarchy amongst cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmother's side, father's side etc. We've been trying to decide how to serve food to the guests at the lumbe. For hours, different sides of the family argued. My step grandfather (husband of my late grandmother) finally said we do this & we all had to respect his decision. The system can be challenging sometimes if the person at the top is unreasonable or stubborn (like my grandfather can be) but it's the Baganda way. Hands down. No questions.
posted by Pet at
10:15 AM
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