The first thing that I learned had to do with the various names for our relatives. We were going through Pastor Kumbuka's pictures, and he was explaining who the people were in the pictures. Several times, he had a hard time coming up with the right English word to describe the family member. For instance, he had no problem describing his mother's brother as his Uncle, but when he showed us a picture of his father's brother, he couldn't find the right word. In Swahili, they give different titles to family members of different sides of the family. For instance, his maternal uncle would be called his mjomba and his paternal uncle would be called his baba mdogo. He was shocked to learn that we use the same word "uncle" to describe both. I don't know why this difference exists, but I would guess that it stems from how close families are, both in location and in daily living. For instance, Kumbuka's mother and wife cook and garden together quite frequently. And Mama Allen, the secretary to Bishop Mwakyolile, spends a lot of her time (mainly cooking, cleaning, and singing) with her children and grandchildren, since they all live so close to her. I guess since everyone is so close and with each other so often different words developed for each side of the family. I doubt this is even close to a full explanation of why this exists, especially since at one time Americans lived in a similar way. Maybe this difference goes back to customs and rituals from when Tanzanians lived in tribes (this would have been before they would be known as Tanzanians). Also, I learned that Swahili comes almost directly from Arabic and Bantu languages. So maybe, there are different words for different sides of the family because that existed in either the Bantu or the Arabic languages. My best guess would be that this difference in language developed partially for all of these reasons, but I am not sure.
Another major difference in culture can be found in marriage. Pastor Kumbuka was shocked that my brother and his girlfriend have no plans to get married at this point. And he was even more surprised when he found out that no one is going to force them to get married. He didn't quite understand the concept of dating, since it is pretty much unheard of in Tanzania. It seems like Tanzanians marry not necessarily for love, but for other reasons. Some may include money and status, but since there isn't a lot of money around, that probably isn't high on the list of reasons why they get married. I think it has more to do with reproduction and a duty toward society and their families, and it is possibly closer to the reasons people got married earlier in our history. Pastor Kumbuka was shocked that my parents actually truly love each other, and that was a shock to us. I think that this idea helps explain some other differences in our societies. If marriage is more about reproduction and carrying on the family name than love, it helps explain why they, as a society, are so against homosexuality. Of course there are other factors that affect this view, such as religion, but it does give a clue. People who are homosexual cannot reproduce, so it doesn't work in their view of marriage.
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