Joseph
05-09-2007, 12:20 PM
At the far end of the offices on the ground floor of Maison des Suds building at the université de Bordeaux III in South western France, there is a door with a sticker with the words, Hakuna Matata. On seeing the sticker and its message, I was pleasantly surprised to find an East African saying stuck onto a French office door. So, I decided to knock and enquire further about the sticker. When I entered, the French lady in the office told me she is a regular visitor to East Africa and every time she goes there, she collects such stickers and small flags as souvenirs to add into her memories of East Africa. One sticker is on her car (with the word Karibu, welcome), another on her house’s main door (with the word Jambo, How are your?) and the one on her office door with the words hakuna matata, there is no problem). Afterwards, I thought how good an idea it was that the lady had of sticking doors with these lovely expressions!
These particular sayings are popular expressions that for a long time have been used in welcoming visitors to East Africa. They are usually said at entrances (for example at airports, hotel receptions, curio shops, national and game parks, etc). They have for many years characterized the hospitality of East Africans. For instance in Kenya, Jambo/hakuna matata is almost like the tourism anthem in the form of a chorus that is often sung to visitor at airports and elsewhere. It goes like this:
Jambo →How are your? →Comment allez-vous ?
Jambo bwana→How are you sir/madam? →Comment allez-vous monsieur/madame ?
Mzuri→Fine→Bien
Mzuri sana→Very fine→Très bien
Wageni→Visitors→Les visiteurs
Mwakaribishwa→You are most welcome→Vous êtes bienvenu
Hapa Kenya→Here in Kenya→Ici au Kenya
Hakuna matata→ [There are] no problems→Pas de souci
NB. The French translation has been added following the request by our lady informant.
More popular sayings are found in most curio shops in East Africa either in form of stickers or emblazoned on T-shirts, or Kanga cloths also known as shukas (certain kind of East African pieces of cloths with many uses but mainly used by many East African women when working on the farms or while at social gatherings).
A collection of popular sayings collected by Joseph Healey from East Africa Kanga cloths are available on the following African Proverbs, sayings and stories website link: http://www.afriprov.org/ebooks/436easayings.pdf
Translation note: Dear reader, sorry if you’re still translating the first part of the title of this write- up as Hakuna Matata (there are problems) in France. That translation makes a lot of good sense but I want to mean that the expression Hakuna Matata has already found its way right into the French’s interior.
Joseph Kariuki is the assistant moderator of the African proverbs, sayings, stories website, www.afriprov.org . He is currently on safari at the université Michel de Montaigne—Bordeaux III, France where he is working on his doctoral thesis about ecotourism, conservation and local development in Kenya. For more information on proverbs and sayings contact him on email: kariukiprov@yahoo.co.uk
These particular sayings are popular expressions that for a long time have been used in welcoming visitors to East Africa. They are usually said at entrances (for example at airports, hotel receptions, curio shops, national and game parks, etc). They have for many years characterized the hospitality of East Africans. For instance in Kenya, Jambo/hakuna matata is almost like the tourism anthem in the form of a chorus that is often sung to visitor at airports and elsewhere. It goes like this:
Jambo →How are your? →Comment allez-vous ?
Jambo bwana→How are you sir/madam? →Comment allez-vous monsieur/madame ?
Mzuri→Fine→Bien
Mzuri sana→Very fine→Très bien
Wageni→Visitors→Les visiteurs
Mwakaribishwa→You are most welcome→Vous êtes bienvenu
Hapa Kenya→Here in Kenya→Ici au Kenya
Hakuna matata→ [There are] no problems→Pas de souci
NB. The French translation has been added following the request by our lady informant.
More popular sayings are found in most curio shops in East Africa either in form of stickers or emblazoned on T-shirts, or Kanga cloths also known as shukas (certain kind of East African pieces of cloths with many uses but mainly used by many East African women when working on the farms or while at social gatherings).
A collection of popular sayings collected by Joseph Healey from East Africa Kanga cloths are available on the following African Proverbs, sayings and stories website link: http://www.afriprov.org/ebooks/436easayings.pdf
Translation note: Dear reader, sorry if you’re still translating the first part of the title of this write- up as Hakuna Matata (there are problems) in France. That translation makes a lot of good sense but I want to mean that the expression Hakuna Matata has already found its way right into the French’s interior.
Joseph Kariuki is the assistant moderator of the African proverbs, sayings, stories website, www.afriprov.org . He is currently on safari at the université Michel de Montaigne—Bordeaux III, France where he is working on his doctoral thesis about ecotourism, conservation and local development in Kenya. For more information on proverbs and sayings contact him on email: kariukiprov@yahoo.co.uk