Cultural Differences Part 1 (Written on January 22)

Since arriving in The Gambia Sarah and I have noticed some cultural differences between the USA and The Gambia. What follows is a short list of some of these differences - this items are listed in no particular order and by no means is this a complete list. I plan on adding more in subsequent posts as I discover them...

- Sugar - Gambians have a serious sweet tooth. First, of all you have to consider Attaya, which may as well be the national drink. Attaya is green tea with sugar and occasionally mint. When I say sugar I mean a lot of sugar - like a one:one ratio of tea to sugar. One result of this is that anything that is good is also sweet. A good dinner is sweet, saying good night is the same as saying have a sweet night, a village can be sweet or not sweet, etc.

- Toubab/Mofingo - As a white person you will be "toubabed." People young and old (though mainly young) will yell "toubab!" at you whenever they see you, which is essentially them yelling "hey whitey." This is not considered rude nor inappropriate. Nor is it considered rude for me to yell back "mofingo," which is me yelling "hey black person."

- Violence - Corporal punishment is common and accepted. If a baby is crying people will say "shut up or I will beat you." Yesterday, we saw a roughly 6 ft tall teenager hit a 10 year old girl with a stick and kicked her when she was on the ground and no one stepped in to stop it. The same extends to animals. Also, I never knew that you could pick up a young kid by the armpit until I came here. In general, life here is a bit rougher than we were used to at home.

- Work - There is no cultural imperative to help out if you see someone else working. Your sister might be pounding rice for tonights dinner and there is no pressure to step up and help. It is completely appropriate for me to sit and watch and read or brew attaya or nap. I can watch a group of women do laundry all day and no one will think less of me if I don't step in to help. Also, there seems to be an odd gap (maybe age 17-25) where you don't have to work. Most of the time when I see someone in this age group he/she is brewing attaya or braiding someones hair.

- Time - There is no value placed on time. We hired a carpenter to build a solar dryer for us. He charged us for the materials and then asked for whatever we felt was right for his time. Whereas at home, the cost of labor would have been the most expensive part. Additionally, a significant amount of time is spent pounding rice or other food items to turn them into something edible. This is not only time consuming but very difficult. However, it is free. If I could magically produce a rice milling machine for free and charge people less than $1 each time they wanted to use it, I don't know how many people would use it. Who would pay to use the mill when pounding is free? The value of time is never accounted for.

- Greetings - It is essential (and you will be yelled at if you don't) to greet everyone you see. The questions and responses in this process are formulaic and only vary by time of day. (Hope there is no trouble - There is no trouble; Hope you are at peace - Peace only; How are the home people - they are there only; etc).

- Questions - People like to ask questions. By that, I mean it is normal for someone to ask where are you going; where are you coming from; what is your fathers/mothers name; what is my name; etc. They also like to state the obvious...such as walking up to you when you are sitting writing and saying "you are sitting" and/or "you are writing." This is not just making small talk with the toubabs who have limited language skills - they do it to each other too.

- Laughing - It is not rude to laugh at someone based on their actions. We get laughed at a lot for attempting to speak Mandinka, as well as any other local daily activity we attempt (e.g., pounding, cooking, doing laundry).

- Sitting - Some of the time I like to stand. It is more comfortable than sitting in some positions. This, however, makes people very uncomfortable. People will consistently ask me to sit until I oblige. Apparently standing like that makes me look like a soldier...

This is just a short list of observations, which is by no means comprehensive, but I figure a short list is better than none...enjoy!