Monday, 6 July 2009

"I have no chupis"

My wife is from Tanzania. Through mobile phones and internet she is now more in touch than ever with her friends and family, or extended family as westerners like to put it. Our Tanzanian nieces and nephews are now leaving childhood and entering the boy/girl-friend phase. While all these years it was too early to talk about sex, it may soon be too late. Time to put social media to work.

"I want to hear more from them than just 'I have no more chupis!'", my wife says. Chupi means slip or underpants in Swahili and is what is asked for most by girls and women when asked what they would like auntie or sister to bring. Most clothes are either bought from second-hand markets called mitumba or are tailored out of traditional cloths. But chupis are scarce on the second-hand markets and not part of traditional garments. So now, instead of, or in addition to, chupis they are going to get a mobile phone. The price of most older models is comparable to that of chupis anyway.

There is no way of knowing what the conversations will go like once the classic 'I have no more chupis!' has been preempted, but I certainly look forward to hearing them.

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