Human encounters

People in Africa – what are they like?

One of my (Tim) personal quests here in Niger is to understand the culture here, how do people think, why do they do what they do.
That is an especially challenging and even dangerous thing to discuss, but very interesting. We show you 2 dimensional photos but the full image – well I will try to share a little bit although obviously this question really warrants writing a book to do it some justice.

One of the fellows in this photo at right is a guy I know, I work with him, we are funding a couple of his projects. He is not just some stranger that I snapped a photo, he is a friend and associate. He came from a nomadic and muslim background, but he is today a Christian and works in development to help his fellow man.

People in general often figure that they know themselves well, they know who they are and their neighbours, how untrue – once you spend some time in another culture then you see things in your own culture that you never really knew, or not well.

Asking the question “what is African culture like” also begs the question “who are we” or “who am I”.
Everyone has their own personality of course, and some attributes are genetic, but there is a lot that we might consider common sense or common to “regular” people, and yet they are not universal but rather specific to your culture or your group of people. There are also universal or absolute values that we can find through all cultures, attributes common to all humankind, yet these values express themselves differently and have different boundaries.

Stories help make a point:
I am reminded of a visit I made once to a village where we work helping locals in nutrition and safe water amongst other things. In customary fashion we sat down and had tea with the local officials. We chatted for quite awhile with the head of the military there, le Commandant, a tough gritty fellow overseeing a dangerous job as we are in the dangerous zone near the border and near rebel and bandit activity (this town was months later invaded by rebels and the military overtaken).

After discussion for quite awhile, a man entered our compound and greeted us. He was not with our staff or a familiar face, he was just visiting. The visitor was dressed from head to foot in a pink flowing outfit. The military chief gave his goodbyes to us, and then walked out with the visitor, walking hand and hand with him slowly and chatting along the way. If two men were walking casually hand and hand down the street in any town in Canada with one dressed mostly in pink, that might raise a few eyebrows, but here in the African context it is of course different. Here brothers and close friends hold hands, it is like a hand shake that is simply extended in time, and also to mention that the colour pink has absolutely no symbolism different than say red or orange, it’s just another colour.
Actually a man and a woman would generally not hold hands in public here even if married, that would be morally questionable by some, but a man will frequently hold hands with another man he knows well and may walk hand in hand. It always takes us Westerners some time to get used to that, actually we don’t get used to it.

The big point from this story though is not the holding hands; it is the “common sense” of Africans to greet everyone and anyone, an extroverted culture. If you are a person and people see you, they will greet you, it just what everyone does. Even more so for those who are from the nomadic tribes it seems, maybe that comes from being more rural and more dispersed. When you are greeted by a Tuareg it will take some time to complete it as he will ask you about 8 questions (how’s the health? the wife? The heat? The sleep? The …) There is no one alone unless they are trying to be that way. This of course is different in western big cities where people are often alone and generally you don’t greet people you don’t already know (and often walk past people that you do know).

Christine remembers well a faux pas (goof up) of hers – she entered a taxi and sat down, and didn’t greet the other passengers (the taxis are private cars that operate like free lance buses – they fill up with people and the driver sets the route.) Christine got critiqued and chewed out by the other passengers because she didn’t greet all of them! One can be rude without knowing it! But she learned her lesson.

Canadians pride themselves as being very polite, even thinking themselves as superior in politeness and highly valuing this, and some dare to call themselves friendly (‘friendly Manitoba’). But despite that Canadians are only really polite within their own definition; they are not as polite as they think. If you would “cut and paste” them into Africa they would be considered somewhat rude. What is rude? Rude, by African culture, is to not greet anyone within close proximity. So for instance to walk into an office you work, if you pass anyone’s desk and did not greet them, you are snubbing them.

Unfortunately in Niger the idea of “forming a line” has not caught on, which is frustrating for us who know the obviously benefits of order and taking turns.
Most Nigeriens will not recognize a line and most will not sporadically form a line when there is a need. There is always the chaotic scrambling with pushing and aggressive behaviour to get your turn.

I’ve learned that in Canada the people have learned to “buy into” efficiency by agreeing to a first-come-first-served concept whenever there is a group of people waiting for something. If you see a line of people in front of what you want, you agree to join the back of it.

A perfect example is the 4 way stop. Christine mentioned to me once that Niamey needs some 4 way stops. However culturally this cannot work. A 4 way stop means you have looked to see who arrived before you and you wait for them to go first – that is strange and even laughable in this culture. Laughable because you would be waiting forever or until you are alone as the others will all rush into the intersection and honk and squeeze their way through! Ah the joys of driving. Actually the occasional person may notice your plight and take pity on you and stop traffic to wave you through. Which really involves other cultural traits! one of which is vigilantism.

It is well known that in Niger if a guard sees an intruder trying to break in, they will whistle to call in the neighbouring guards, and then they will capture the intruder and then … call the police? … ask questions?... no- they will beat and kill the intruder on the spot and then burn or dispose of the body. Ahh – nasty! I’ve seen this already once by chance, a man was getting beaten to death beside a mosque by a vigilante mob, one can presume an intruder (thief). This is the “common sense” here, community vigilantism, people taking the law into their own hands and issuing a punishment. No judges or lawyers present of course. This is due in part to a lack of confidence and lack of presence of police and the courts.

Nigeriens are generally honest and trust-worthy in matters of money and with regards to stealing, at least no less than Canadians, but the boundaries and definition of this are not exactly the same. To steal or not to steal? It is more complicated that you might think. An awful lot of Canadians out there would swear that they never steal and yet their computer software and music they are using was never purchased by them! So when does the definition of stealing start and end – at least in the serious sense of it?

When in a new culture you try things out and observe, willing to lose out a little if necessary at least to learn something. One thing is with change and verbal agreements. If I go to a crowded market and buy something there for 800 CFA francs ($2) and give the guy a 5000 F bill, he will likely say – I’ll go get some change. And off he goes with his wares and then he is out of sight deep in the crowd. Note that the average person in Niger earns less than 5000 F per day, and so this is no small peanuts. The thought of course crosses your mind that “some guy I’ve never met before just took my 5000 bill and disappeared, without leaving anything behind - is this person really coming back?”.
Many minutes may go by, and you wonder, hmmm, am I waiting for nothing? However the merchant will always come back and give you the correct change and off you go. Honouring a verbal agreement is culturally very important here, and so it is really the dignity attached to it that has force.
So although person x may look for ways to cheat and even steal, he will not breach a verbal agreement. Canada is a “writing” society, Niger is more verbal, and so verbal agreements have more weight with people here than say in Canada. In many ways a verbal agreement in Niger has more weight than a written agreement, even though it is harder to prove something verbal, but they are taken with great seriousness.

These are just some snippets, I could go on and on, but I won’t, and so to wrap up: There is beauty and ugliness in every culture, but each one different, and through this it magnifies the nature of our human condition.
There is the goodness there, the image of God in us that occasionally shines through and which is rooted in compassionate love, and in which collectively each culture adopts some of that goodness as normative. Then there is the fallen nature of mankind, the sin and selfishness that is rooted the absence of love, and which each culture adopts some of that and then puts these “bad” aspects as normative and acceptable.
The morality that Jesus calls us to, especially in the Sermon on the Mount in the Bible, is a new culture that embraces all goodness. The new culture is like no other and so naturally counter cultural to every human culture yet not in the same ways to each. It is a lofty goal that is not attained but nevertheless set out before us. Particularly the counter-cultural aspects are the hardest to follow, as it is always easy to follow a crowd. In this Jesus calls us to two things, one: to choose to seek and live out a life of goodness that is counter-cultural; 2) accepting his offer of forgiveness and reconciliation along the way as we fail.