Some more interesting Differences

MORE HAS BEN ADDED TO THIS POST. IF YOU'VE ALREADY READ IT, LOOK FOR THE RED

This post requires you to have read the previous post. . .So if you want to read this very interesting post, go check out the previous one. If not, skip it all!

Now let's continue with some differences between Africans and Westerners according to the book "African Friends and Money Matters"

--When an American needs money, he works for it. When an African needs money, he talks for it.

My friend Ryan, who has spent much time in Africa, made a comment about this observations in the comment section of this post and I think it is worth posting on here to clear things up.
"I think the jest of what he is getting at with that statement is that Westerners are usually too prideful to ask for help, so we just work and work and work until we can provide what we need. Whereas, Africans usually don't have that level of pride when it comes to finances." This is true. I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression that Africans do not work for what they need, because from what I know, from what the book points out, and as Ryan points out, they certainly work very hard. This observation is referring more to emergency situations that come up in life, not meeting the day-t0-day needs of life.

Africans are very sensitive and alert to the needs of others and are quite ready to share their resources.

Being involved financially and materially with friends and relatives is a very important element of social interaction for Africans whereas Westerners distrust friendships that regularly include financial or material exchanges.

Africans assist their friends who are in financial need as a form of investment for those future times when they themselves might have needs. This arrangement constitutes a virtual banking or savings system.

(This really is so interesting to me. This is just a COMPLETELY different mindset than what we have. We both have forms of savings, investment, credit, etc--ours just depends on non-personal, big institutions while theirs is personal and relational. Again, I am not saying one is better than the other. I'm just saying that I find the difference interesting and I wish there was a way to blend the two.)

--Africans do not want to be independent or autonomous. They want to live in interdependent community. They want to share material goods—both receiving and giving—with those near them. People are generous with others. Sharing and equality between close friends in the rule, not the exception.

(This is obviously a very broad generalization, because we know there are many Africans these days who are wanting to be more and more independent. I think the main point here is that overall, in general, as a culture, almost all African cultures are extremely interdependent and communal.)

-- Westerners readily share their knowledge but are possessive of things and space. Africans are possessive of their knowledge but readily share their things and space.

Africans avoid being alone. They prefer to work in groups while farming, or on the job in the city, or in the kitchen—in fact, during virtually all the time not spent sleeping. If an individual ahs a preference for being a lone to a noticeable extent, he or she is considered strange, antisocial, or even to be feared.

Westerners who have lived in Africa sometimes ask, ‘Do Africans have no need for privacy?’ I believe they do, but I would argue that their privacy generally takes the form of thought privacy. My experience has been that Africans do not verbally express many things that Westerners express without hesitation.

In contrast, westerners share their thoughts and knowledge much more freely than do Africans. The Internet and the countless scientific journals that publish the latest in research findings are examples, reflecting Western values. One of these is the belief that society will benefit from a free sharing of information.
(EX: asking athletes how they felt right after winning; media asking a family how does it feel to lose your house to the tornado, blogs, facebook, etc.)

(This is going to be very interesting for me. I definitely fit the typical Westerner in this case, though I have been trying for a few years now to be more of a typical Jesus follower (not necessarily African) who is not possessive with my things or space. But i also want to continue readily sharing knowledge as well. Maybe not so much in the form of facebook. . . but I suppose blogging is okay. =) I have learned about this difference in books I have read previously, so I am very interested to see this lived out.)

There are many, many more things I could share from this book, but no need to overwhelm. These are just the big ones that I found the most interesting and most different. Do with it what you will.

I had an encouraging conversation with a friend of mine yesterday who's parents were born and raised in Ghana, Africa. His parents moved here many years ago and he was raised here. He said that he read these past two post and thought something to the effect of "So this is why my parents and I have had so many communication problems over the past 18 years!" He referred to the ambiguous communication that they express with him and how all he longs for them to get t to point, be direct, just say it like it is! He also feels the tension of their desire for interdependency and his for independence. He said they tried to instill much of that in him, but he grew up going to public school and there just wasn't much hope for some of those African characteristics to break through what he was learning from his Western peers. Anyways, I just found this conversation incredibly interesting due to the fact that he saw all of these differences in one household in America.