Greeting in Oshiwambo

The act of greeting others is a very important aspect of Namibian culture. Here, you must greet everyone, and with the traditional greeting. This is not a simple, "Hello, what's up?", but an exchange that goes back and forth multiple times. I have learned that I cannot walk around town with my head down, but must make eye contact with every person that passes and greet each individual, one at a time. This can make getting from A to B take a little longer than planned!

While it can be a lot of back and forth, it's also refreshing to make substantial contact with each person you encounter. Namibians are not too concerned with time, and there is an assumption that you are never too busy to greet someone.

Greeting goes as follows:

Me: Walalapo meme!
You: Ee-ee.
Me: Nawa.
You: Ee-ee.

You: Walalapo, meme.
You: Ee-ee.
Me: Nawa.
You: Ee-ee.

In essence, it means:

Me: Have you spent the night or morning well? OR How is the morning?
You: Yes.
Me: Really?
You: Yes.

And then you return the greeting! Takes a bit of getting used to, but I'm getting it down.