Down the road from my humble house I walk pass the gates, stare up towards a baring of North East, just to have a glimpse of, as they say the 'most beautiful mountain in the world'-no luck due to the mountain being too discrete. Disappointed, get over it and tell myself, maybe tomorrow.
Mount Kilimanjaro is the only mountain that will be so near but as usual will spend most of her time sleeping in the clouds. You can stay in Moshi but as the name suggest it will be too 'moshi' to see the mountain, what make me so sad is that it is never too 'moshi for this kids shouting 'Shikamoo'.
Each time I walk down the street, I have to count how many Shikamo I get on a day. The more Shikamoo you get the more Marahaba you have to give, a quite person, they will keep you talking all the way long, trust me this kids never give up, pretend you have not heard them and they will shout louder. Like you know back in eighties when they introduced the Auto rewind system-automatically they rewind. You might think I passed that one ,only to here a louder SHIKAMOOO. I love and appreciate their effort but I pity them.
Since you have never been in the foot hills of Mount Kilimanjaro, you might wonder why am speaking in 'jibrish'. Shikamoo is away of greeting that every child born in this country Tanganyika must say when they meet any person who might appear older than them. The older person must speak 'jibrish' too and so he or she will say Marahaba. So you have to walk fully armed with more than 20 marahabas because you never know.
Sometimes back I took my time and did a little research to find out what Shikamo means, and guess what I found! Shikamo is a two word married-Shika and Mo. Shika is a simple Swahili word meaning to hold or to touch, Mo in the other words means knee or below your feet. And there we have our word-'am kneeling below your feet or am bowing down to your knees'. You might as well wonder what Marahaba means. Simple, I ACCEPT!!!!
Get 20 shikamo, and you have 20 kids bowing down for you. Unlike Uganda where ladies literally bow down for men, this kids are tought to bow down for elders not like their ladies cousins from year one. Sad that they have been told it is a way of respect. But it is tedious routine to put a kid on too. Others might disagree but, I agree cos I tried it the other day. Saying shikamo to any older person I met on the way, by evening I had a crack on my lips, got my Marahabas but fully dehydrated, That is why I have a kind of go slow, swear that I won't be 'kneeling' any more, still in respect of the elders today, respect of the elders tomorrow and respect of the elders forever, but no kneeling please!! May be we should teach this kids to pass, sometimes tell them that if they pass one or two times it is not a crime, we will still love them. All my Shikamo funs I love you!
If any case you happen to visit Tanzania, don't be surprised and chill out you will be sure to get your potion of Shikamo, I there for advised you to start banking your Marahabas since it is give and take-give and accept sought of.
Warning! Never follow the writers advice, he is Kenyan and in Kenya they don't say Shikamo!!
Mount Kilimanjaro is the only mountain that will be so near but as usual will spend most of her time sleeping in the clouds. You can stay in Moshi but as the name suggest it will be too 'moshi' to see the mountain, what make me so sad is that it is never too 'moshi for this kids shouting 'Shikamoo'.
Each time I walk down the street, I have to count how many Shikamo I get on a day. The more Shikamoo you get the more Marahaba you have to give, a quite person, they will keep you talking all the way long, trust me this kids never give up, pretend you have not heard them and they will shout louder. Like you know back in eighties when they introduced the Auto rewind system-automatically they rewind. You might think I passed that one ,only to here a louder SHIKAMOOO. I love and appreciate their effort but I pity them.
Since you have never been in the foot hills of Mount Kilimanjaro, you might wonder why am speaking in 'jibrish'. Shikamoo is away of greeting that every child born in this country Tanganyika must say when they meet any person who might appear older than them. The older person must speak 'jibrish' too and so he or she will say Marahaba. So you have to walk fully armed with more than 20 marahabas because you never know.
Sometimes back I took my time and did a little research to find out what Shikamo means, and guess what I found! Shikamo is a two word married-Shika and Mo. Shika is a simple Swahili word meaning to hold or to touch, Mo in the other words means knee or below your feet. And there we have our word-'am kneeling below your feet or am bowing down to your knees'. You might as well wonder what Marahaba means. Simple, I ACCEPT!!!!
Get 20 shikamo, and you have 20 kids bowing down for you. Unlike Uganda where ladies literally bow down for men, this kids are tought to bow down for elders not like their ladies cousins from year one. Sad that they have been told it is a way of respect. But it is tedious routine to put a kid on too. Others might disagree but, I agree cos I tried it the other day. Saying shikamo to any older person I met on the way, by evening I had a crack on my lips, got my Marahabas but fully dehydrated, That is why I have a kind of go slow, swear that I won't be 'kneeling' any more, still in respect of the elders today, respect of the elders tomorrow and respect of the elders forever, but no kneeling please!! May be we should teach this kids to pass, sometimes tell them that if they pass one or two times it is not a crime, we will still love them. All my Shikamo funs I love you!
If any case you happen to visit Tanzania, don't be surprised and chill out you will be sure to get your potion of Shikamo, I there for advised you to start banking your Marahabas since it is give and take-give and accept sought of.
Warning! Never follow the writers advice, he is Kenyan and in Kenya they don't say Shikamo!!
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