Shikamoo: The Greeting That Runs One Way — Epoche B1
Field Report: First Placement, Mwanzo Village, Morogoro Region, 3-17 February Prepared by: J. Hart, volunteer teacher For: Programme coordinator, Dar es Salaam office Purpose: To record what poor preparation cost, and what the handbook should add. 1. Background Preparation was the handbook alone - nobody consulted who had been there. Two problems followed, practical and social; the social cost more. 2. The practical problem Twelve purification tablets treat twelve litres; the nearest bottled water is in Morogoro town, forty minutes by dala dala. They were gone by day four; days five and six went to a dehydration headache. The host family's routine - boil, cool overnight in a covered pot, pour rather than dip - solved it from day six. Recommendation: tablets or a filter bottle for the whole stay, three litres a day. 3. The social problem The handbook teaches Habari? - how are things? - as "the greeting", and for a week it was used on everyone. Conversations with older neighbours stayed short until the host's daughter explained. In Swahili an elder is not greeted with Habari but with Shikamoo - a compressed sentence meaning "I hold your feet" - and it is not an exchange between equals: only the junior says it, and the elder alone replies, Marahaba . The pair runs one way; nobody answers Shikamoo with Shikamoo . The first word announces which speaker is senior. From day nine, with Shikamoo offered to anyone of a parent's age or older, three neighbours who had answered in single words invited the volunteer in. Nothing else changed. 4. Recommendations A handbook page on greetings, Shikamoo / Marahaba first, learned before arrival: fifteen minutes would have saved a week. A page on household water, and the question to ask the hosts on the first evening, not the sixth. References Mbiti, J. S. (1969). African Religions and Philosophy. Heinemann. Obiechina, E. (1993). Language and Theme: Essays in English and African Literature. Howard University Press.