DUMELA!

Dumela, the translation from Setswana means hello.  However, I soon discover that the word is used in a much richer context than just hello. It is used before breaking into a conversation, before starting a conversation, upon entering a room and seeing another as an acknowledgement of personhood.  One of my biggest challenges was recognizing and acknowledging the presence of others.  

In North America, we give precedence to people’s privacy.  When entering into public spaces, generally strangers don’t say hello to each other, or conversely staff don’t stay hello to people in waiting areas as they pass them. In Maun, I had to readjust my behavior when I entered into public spaces, be it a bank or the grocery store, and acknowledge, the presence of others, Dumela!

But perhaps most illuminating while at the office was the lack of conscious awareness of people who were sitting in the reception area as I walked by. There were times that I was comfortably in my North American mode, in which counselling is a private experience and people’s lives are private, therefore I could see people, yet not see them.  In my mind to protect their privacy, I would walk by the room and say nothing but would become aware of their piercing stares almost of censure and realize my mistake.  Dumela!