Karibu. Sasa. Wapi. Unasema Kiswahili? (Do you speak Swahili)?

Person: [unintelligble]
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Swahili. 

As I was editing a previous blog post, the power went out in the building a hour ago. I saw it as a sign from the heavens that I should take a computer break and eat lunch. Off I went to the Hill City Park area to grab lunch. When it was my turn to be served, the server had to go back to the kitchen to add more soup. She said something to me and I gave her my ticket assuming that is what she wanted. A man in line behind me told me, "She wants you to move back." Oh.

I was prepared to hear Swahili, but I was expecting to also overhear conversations in English. Approximately 99% of English conversations I hear involve me or happen within my guest housing area. The newspapers are in Swahili. The radio programs are in Swahili. Of the 10-12 TV stations I can watch, at least three are in Swahili including their Christian channel. And yes, they can still speak English properly and effectively.

For those that do not know, Swahili is inter-tribal language. It facilitates communication between many East African ethnic groups in the same way that Castilian (Spanish) allows Catalans, Galicians and Basques in Spain to communicate or how Scottish, Welsh and the Irish can use English to communicate. Speakers of Swahili may speak other local languages, but will only use them in the appropriate settings. I have not come across such a unifying language as Swahili elsewhere in Africa.