Benefit of a Zambian Greeting

In Zambia it is important to properly greet people when you meet them. In other places,for instance UK, when you meet somebody for the first time you will try and get to know them a little before you discuss your business -- the reason you are getting together. But after that when you see them or talk to them again, you will begin to discuss your business right away and not talk about yourselves beyond the perfunctory: "Hello, how are you?" "I am fine, how are you?" "Fine..."

It is different in Zambia. Whether or not you have met the person before you will not only be asked how am you, but how is you wife, how are you children, how are your parents, how is the work going, how is it with God, how is it with the car, how is it... and so on. The greeting can last up to four or five minutes.

To the impatient British business man, talking too much before discussing the reason you are contacting them is a waste of time. They will try to move to the subject at hand as quickly as possible. This is especially so when you are on the phone. It frequently occurs that they do not even bother to say "Hello" or "how are you?" They immediately launch into the reason they are calling you. This is the way business is transacted in UK.

Greetings in Zambia serve the purpose of readying or connecting before any messages are transmitted. I have experienced on several occasions the silent offense of Zambian people who I have not greeted properly. Now I know how important it is to greet someone.

Life in the UK is also full of ups and downs for people. I have learned the importance of "connecting" with people before I transact business. From now, I will greet people as Zambians greet people. I repent of my superficial way of saying hello. I want to know how people are, how they REALLY are, before I begin discussing business. People are very important, their life, their struggle and their tragedies are very important. The business I am doing with them is often not as important as the person themselves. I will recognize the importance of the person and my relationship with them by greeting them properly before I begin to discuss my business with them. That is one very good benefit from Zambia.