Respect Your Peeps

We continue to make progress during our Kalahari adventure. I have now burned out a DVD player, computer and flat screen monitor, and magic bullet (blender) because of different voltage requirements here. The good news is that I have no other electronic gadgets to break. There is something to be said for taking a minimalist approach and we are actually adjusting nicely to the slower pace of Gaborone. We have our good days and our bad days. But even on the bad days, Chase reminds me that we all get to spend much more time together here than we did in DC when I would leave for the office at 6:30-7:00 and not return until after 7pm most days because of the commute and longer hours. Here, Chase and Finn and I have breakfast together, they take me into work, then pick me up at 5 so we are home by 5:20 and I get another hour and half with Findley before putting him down. And lots of free time on the weekends. It’s fantastic.

Some of the cultural differences between Botswana and the U.S. jump out and slap you in the face, and some creep in silently and settle in without you even noticing them until someone points them out or you step back and think about it.

Botswana is populated by 20 different tribes. As an outsider it is easy to overlook the fact that there are lots of subtle differences among the different groups, and these differences drive the political dynamics at the national and local levels and everything in between. But there are some social norms that cross over the socio-economic classes.

Botswana (people from Botswana are called Botswana; an individual is referred to as Motswana) place a high premium on respect. There are many gestures to convey respect, and I can say that I have gotten most of them wrong at one time or another. When shaking hands you are supposed to support your right hand with your left; the nearer you place your hand to your wrist the more respectful you are being. It is seen as dishonest if you do not look someone in the eye, unless you are a child speaking to an elder in which case you are supposed to look down as a sign of respect. If you pass someone in the street, it is considered rude not to offer up a “Dumela Ma” to a woman or a “Dumela Ra” if you are addressing a man. It is also rude to accept any object with your left hand. These social norms cross over classes, so everyone for the most part follows them.

I love this whole notion of showing respect and wish we had more of a penchant for it in the U.S. As the presidential election unfolds, and the financial crisis deepens, it angers me to no end how bad things have gotten over the last 8 years. In my limited experience traveling to different places overseas, I can say that we have forfeited a great deal of goodwill and respect that other nations had for us, largely because of the arrogance and failed leadership and policies of the current administration. There’s not a whole lot of sympathy for us to be found right now, and people can say “who cares what other countries think about us” but I’m telling you it matters and will come back to bite us in the arse. I’ll step off my soapbox now and just say that I hope things get better.