Cultural Differences (Gina's Post)

At a recent Peace Corps workshop, we discussed the cultural differences between Zambians and Americans.  The Zambians who attended were not villagers.  They were well-educated ministry officials or medical professionals who were able to articulate ideas in English very well.  It’s interesting to note not only the differences that people mentioned, but the way the two groups put their thoughts on a page.  The Zambian group had a list of concrete sentences about their culture, where the American group had a scattering of short abstract phrases laid out on the paper. 

Zambian Values

1)   Greet everyone with a handshake

2)   Share everything

3)   Kneeling down to show respect

4)   You do not refer to adults by first name

5)   No talking while eating, elders wash their hands first

6)   Parents have final decision on when to marry, whom to marry

7)   Men pay a dowry, men marry women

8)   We believe in extended family

9)   The more children a couple have, the more respect they have from the community

10)   Most tribes in Zambia practice polygamy

11)   Male children are educated first (if there is lack of money in the family, females stay home to help with household tasks)

12)   Ladies must be wrapped in a chitenge wrapper

13)   Nshima (thick corn or cassava porridge) is the #1 meal in Zambia

American Values

-       individualism, creativity, originality

-       education

-       equal opportunity

-       choice/freedom

-       independence

-       geographic mobility

-       financial stability

-       recognition

-       pursuit of happiness

-       privacy

-       time

-       organization

-       rights & empowement of women

-       family

-       diversity

-       health

-       accountability

-       trust/honesty

-       professionalism

-       security

-       reliability

-       critical thinking

-       comfort

-       youth

-       competition, being #1

-       rights of people

-       speaking your mind

-       doing your best

In so many ways, the two equally educated members of different cultures have radically different thought processes.  I really like exercises like this because it helps me put work-related frustrations (especially when working with the Ministry of Health) in a cultural context and realize why some things that might seem odd to me are perfectly normal for Zambians.