Funny or stupid

When you are in a cross-cultural situation and you see something that strikes you as funny or stupid, do three things:

• Assume that the “funny” or “stupid” thing makes sense from some perspective
• Assume that it seems funny or stupid because of something you do not know – that it is a sign of your own lack of knowledge of the other culture.
• Start learning

Let me give an example. When we arrived in Ghana I stared seeing signs “This land is not for sale” or “Not for sale. Keep off” I had seen many For-Sale signs, of course, But Not-For-Sale-Signs seemed odd and funny. My next step was to wonder what I did not know and my third to start asking questions. As it turns out, there is a very good reason for all those Not-For-Sale signs – real estate fraud. Using forged documents and other tricks, unscrupulous people will sell you real estate belonging to someone else as though it were theirs. Legitimate land owners have found people moving onto their land, or into a house they own, claiming that they bought it. Indeed, they believe that they did buy it from the legitimate owner. Such matters go to court, but that can be a long and expensive process which does not guarantee a just outcome. Some people who were not very good at keeping records have lost their land.

So painting a prominent Not-For-Sale sign on a wall where it is hard to remove is a very good way to keep unscrupulous people from showing uninhabited property.

When I asked my Ghanaian friends about this, I got interesting stories about problems they, or someone in their family, had with fraudsters trying to take their land. It was a good occasion to get to know them better, and commiserate with them about a trying circumstance. Following those three simple steps gave me understanding and better relationships.

• Assume that the “funny” or “stupid” thing makes sense from some perspective
• Assume that it seems funny or stupid because of something you do not know – that it is a sign of your own lack of knowledge of the other culture.
• Start learning

People who come back from a missions trip only to talk about all the funny things people did, are showing that they failed to dig a little, understand and really connect.

The Mango

Our first posting in Africa was in 1978 to a small town in Burkina Faso and we got our first real introduction to mangoes.

Mangoes

During the rainy season, the mango tree produces new leaves, but no fruit. Then the rains end. A dry wind called the Harmattan comes down from the Sahara desert. The humidity drops to near zero. For months, there is not a drop of rain. Wells go dry, small rivers become dusty channels in the baked earth. But the mango tree stays green, However, its biggest achievement is still to come. With the aridness at its apogee, it somehow manages to load itself down with juicy fruit!

Burkina Faso has more kinds of mangoes than North America has kinds of apples. They have been creating hybrid varieties for a long time. Some are huge – almost the size of a pineapple – with a very strong flavor. Mangoes were seasonal, but they have created such early and late varieties that mangoes are now available year round. We fell in love with one variety in particular – the Lippens which originated in Florida. It has no strings and a flavor which reminds us of peach. Yummy.

If you have not eaten mango much, beware. Many people are allergic. For many years Dayle could not even touch a mango without breaking out with the typical itchy rash on her lips, cheeks and neck.

Meeting to discuss translation in the Nawuri language under mango trees

But the biggest gift of the mango tree may be its shade. It does not lose its leaves, the non-hybrid tree can get quite large. Its leaves and branches are thick. So it creates a dense shade. Many of my photos of people meeting to discuss literacy, the development or their language or Bible translation include a mango tree or two. Spaces where local markets are held and roads are often lined with mango trees.

Click on any photo below to enlarge it and start a slideshow.

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Mangos

Mango trees lining road in Kpandai, Ghana

Meeting under mango tree

Mangoes

Meeting to discuss translation in the Nawuri language under mango trees

Nawuri committee members

Pike

Yesterday in 1912, Kenneth Lee Pike was born. He first studied theology and wanted to be a missionary in China, but he was not accepted. He went on to meet William Cameron Townsend with whom he went to Mexico where we learned and studied the Mixtec language. He had a very distinguished academic career at the University of Michigan; becoming a member of the American Academy of Sciences, and was nominated 15 times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

His book on Phonetics is a classic in that field of study. The science he elucidated in that book serves those developing alphabets for unwritten languages. But it also serves speech therapists and others.

On one of the few times I met him, he told the story of how Phonetics came to be written. He was living among the Mixtecs in Mexico, learning their language and starting to translate the Bible. The group he was with, SIL International, also taught linguistics courses in the USA for others wanting to get involved in Bible translation for minority peoples. For that, they needed textbooks. The leader of SIL, William Cameron Townsend, wanted Pike to write a textbook on phonetics. But Pike kept putting it off, working instead on the Mixtec language.

At one point, Pike was traveling in Mexico by train. The train he was to travel on arrived at the station, but a rail-car-load of wheat needed to be unloaded before the train could continue. To pass the time and to speed things up, Pike lent a hand. But he slipped and fell, breaking his leg. He was hospitalized. With nothing to do, he started working on the textbook on phonetics which later become the book on Phonetics which is still a classic.

I can identify. When we worked on the Cerma language in Burkina Faso, it was easy to keep our focus on learning that language and culture. Requests to help other missionaries, teach courses, and so on, seemed to be distractions. Fortunately, God did not let me break my leg to turn my attention to serving others.

Harmattan

Papaya tree in sunset during Harmattan in Accra

Harmattan is a weather pattern in Africa in which dry, dust-laden winds from the Sahara desert in the north blow south. For most of the year, the winds go the other direction, bringing valuable moisture inland from the Gulf of Guinea. In October, the direction changes. The air made warm and moist by the waters of the Atlantic is progressively chased off the land by air bearing a dry, cool and dusty heritage from the broad expanse of the Sahara Desert. The air’s load of reddish particles makes for model sunsets to please any photographer, as in this photo, the colors of which have not been enhanced.

But the Harmattan is not all beauty. I remember times in Burkina Faso when the humidity would drop to zero percent, and it would hurt just to breath. We would retaliate by putting damp wash cloths over our mouths as we slept. I also remember air so soupy thick with dust that the streetlights stayed on all day and the sun was nothing but a deep red disk in the sky, even at noon.

Banana leaf covered with Harmattan dust

Harmattan’s foreign powder covers leaves progressively until they have the ashen countenance of the critically ill. They stand in miserable patience; hoping for a rain to cleanse them of their distressing ailment.

Every household and office surface collects a gritty deposit of imported particles. At first, newcomers dust incessantly. Usually sooner, and only rarely later, do they acknowledge the comic futility of skirmishing with one of the world’s major weather systems armed only with a dust cloth and broom.

Then the season changes. Abruptly, the air takes back its muggy normality. There is a magnificent, decontaminating downpour. The world is no longer a study in shades of earth red. The predictable pendulum is swinging the other way; but the cleansing is temporary. More assuredly than MacArthur, next season, the Harmattan will return.

Click on any photo below to enlarge it and start a slideshow.

If you liked this you might also like Kente, Advice from taxi windows, or Festooned with signs.

Papaya tree in sunset during Harmattan in Accra

Banana tree covered in Harmattan dust

Harmattan dust on palm frontds

Sunset through Harmattan in Accra. This photo has not been enhanced

Sunset during Harmattan in Tamale

Rainstorm in Congo

Rainstorm coming into Tamale

During Harmattan, this tree looses its leaves, keeping only seed pods.

LeftHarmattan dust on leaves

Dust devil in Burkina Faso

Harmattan dust below during a flight

Annual rainfall in Ghana

Rainfall in Ghana during January – the height of Harmattan

Harmattan dust in Accra

If you liked this you might also like Kente, Advice from taxi windows, or Festooned with signs.