Answering a common question

One of the favorite questions people ask me when they want to start a conversation is “How is Malawi compared to Canada?”

There is obviously a correct answer to this one, but I try to drag it out a bit before saying my line.

Step 1 – The surprise.

Most people know that Canada is cold, so all through June, July and August, I enjoyed telling them that Canada was hotter than Ntcheu (we were hitting highs of 25 degrees, and chilly overnights around 12 degrees).

“Ah, Malawi is much colder than Canada now.”

Typical responses:

• “Really?” (think I’m pulling their leg), or
• Disinterested “Oh.” (I didn’t give them the right answer… yet).

(Now Malawi definitely isn’t colder than Canada though, I’m still working on a new surprise.)

Step 2 – Shrinking.

The world is a big enough place as it is, and “Canada” is far away, foreign, and full of strangeness. I like to try to make the world a bit smaller, and my strategy is to tell them something that is the same in Canada as Malawi.

“My home is also like Ntcheu, we grow a lot of Irish [potatoes], and the soil looks the same.” (The second part is not entirely true.)

Typical responses:

• “Oh? So you like Irish. Do you take nsima here?” (this is a test, you pass by saying that of course you eat nsima, and you love it.), or
• Disinterested “Oh.” (I still didn’t give them the right answer.).

Step 3 – The right answer.

This is what we’ve been aiming at all along.

“People in Malawi are very friendly.” Which is true. *

Typical responses:

• “Yes, Malawi is the warm heart of Africa.” (pride), or
• “Yes, people here are friendly. They are not where you come from.”

Optional Step 3b – Shrinking, continued.

This is usually the follow-up if I am told that people in Canada are not friendly, depending on how long I want to continue the conversation. If I’m in the right mood, I want to keep making the world a bit smaller and more knowable, and give Canada and myself some deserved credit.

“Yes, Malawians are very friendly. But so are people in Canada. I come from a rural area where people are friendly just like Malawians.” **

Typical responses:

• “Oh, yes, some Canadians are friendly.” (I appreciate the lack of generalizations), or
• “You have rural areas too? You have villages just like Malawi?” (interest – I’ll explain that Canada is about 50% rural, and we have villages, but they are different from villages in Malawi.)

And now -

Your turn, how is [place you love] compared to [another place you love]?

 

* From my experience, that is the correct line just about anyplace.

** I’m pretty sure that complaining about cities is appreciated by 95% of the global population, regardless of whether or not these people live in a city themselves. Insulting Toronto is pretty popular in Canada. In Malawi, I talk about Lilongwe being too big and get lots of appreciative nods.