Talking with Africans

Conversations started in the market, on the road, or on the street can lead to surprising responses. To greet some one with, "Jambo, jabari gani?" (Hello, how are you?), gets a big smile and, "Jambo, nzuri sana (Hello, I am well)".









However, conversations that start with "do you have pens, do you have money, here I give you this bracelet" often end in disappointingly antagonistic responses to, "no I don't have any."













One man said to me, "Take my daughter to America and educate her." He was very upset when I refused him. He told me I didn't care about his daughter, trying to make me feel guilty. I wondered after I finally walked away from him whether he even had a daughter and just wanted to pocket some money.
These Maasai definitely wanted to pocket some money.






This village in Botswana was where I bought the bag of dried Mopani Tree worms. They gave us a nice welcome after we gave them 15,000 Tanzanian Shillings. Then they put on the hard sell. Lisbeth, a young Norwegian, gave the ask for price of $40 for a $10 Maasai blanket.