Gimme!

Kambubu adults who participated in the survey research

Kambubu kids and adults, one with an Ikizu calendar

I (Misha) recently went on a language survey with a team of three others.  All in all, it was a great trip.  In fact, I have only good memories of our work and interactions with people, with the exception of some of the folks in Kambubu village.  So while I usually like to write blog posts about cheerful things and positive encounters, I thought that since what happened in Kambubu isn't terribly uncommon, I should write a bit about it to give you all a picture of what sort of thing sometimes happens here.

We were coming from working at another village and the timing was such that we were a bit early, so we parked under the shade of a tree.  Very quickly, a group of about twenty kids assembled and stood no more than five feet away from our vehicle.  They stared at us, whispering among themselves, for over 45 minutes.  The bolder ones frequently called out to us, "White people, give me money!  Give me candy!"  No less than three times various adults from the village came by and yelled at the kids to disperse, one of them going so far as to throw sticks at them, but every time they came back within minutes.

When 2:00 finally arrived, we got out of the vehicle and happened to meet up with a group of young people who were walking by just then.  They looked to be in their 20s and all were fairly well-dressed, like they were coming or going from some meeting.  I smiled at them and greeted the group.  They did not answer my greeting or even acknowledge it, but the four walking in front simultaneously stuck out their hands and demanded, "Give us money, white lady!  Give us cell phones!"

An elderly man with a cane came up to me just then and led me away from the group of young people to walk with me to where we were meeting the survey participants.  At first I was grateful for him arriving, but then he proceeded to say, "I see that you have Ikizu calendars for sale.  Please give me one.  I can't afford to buy one, but I really want one."  I gently explained why I couldn't simply give calendars away, trying to be respectful but still firm.  Finally, seeing that I was not going to give in, he sighed and pulled the money for purchasing a calendar from his pocket and bought one.

The survey participants, a group of twenty adults, had been told ahead of time that the only tangible item they would be given for their help was a bottle of soda as a little afternoon refreshment, but that their work would help further language development and Bible translation in Ikizu.  Nevertheless, that did not stop them from spending the first ten minutes of our meeting demanding that we pay them for their time.  When it became clear that we would not be paying any money, they settled down and cheerfully helped with no hard feelings.  It was like they reasoned that the worst that could happen was that we'd say, "No, we are not paying anything," and they wouldn't be any worse off than before, so had nothing to lose by asking.  Of course, after the meeting as we were saying our good-byes and thank-yous, at least four people drew me aside to request phones, money, or free books.  Maybe they thought that although we couldn't help the whole group, maybe there was something available for just one person!

Interactions like this are very tiring for me, as well as very frustrating.  I don't like people begging me for stuff, and even worse is people demanding stuff.  However, the people of Kambubu village were all kind and helpful in the survey work and nobody got offended when I turned them down.  They were all smiling when we left and gave us friendly waves good-bye.  I had to remind myself that although their behavior seemed rude to me, that perhaps it was okay in their culture and that I needed to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Cross-cultural interactions are always tricky!