We’ve been in Malawi close to a month and a half now. We are nearing the halfway point of our time here and it feels surreal. We are just beginning to settle in, to feel like we understand the groove of our workload and to deepen in connection with the locals whom we work alongside. While we are nowhere near comprehending the ins and outs of Malawian culture, we are becoming more familiar with the basics, such as the importance of greeting every individual when you first see them in the morning, regardless if you meet them in a group or one-on-one. I will say, Jer and I have struggled a bit with this one. Much of our western mindset is centered around getting the logistics ironed out and hitting the ground running, and we often forget to say good morning before we launch into our agenda. This has created many situations where we catch ourselves mid-sentence, apologize to our local friends, laugh together, and start over with a greeting.
Here in this beautiful country, a traditional greeting is not so different from North America:
“Good morning, how are you?”
“I’m fine, and you?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
But where in North America, if you are not fine you might respond with, “I’m not doing too well,” “I’m sick,” or, “I’m doing poorly”, here there is really only one response: “Pang’ono.”
The direct translation for this word, pang’ono, means “a little fine.”
“How are you?”
“I’m a little fine.”
During one of our infamous drives to ministry with our host, Jef, he explained the heart behind this. “Malawians believe in the power of the words they use. They are careful not to put word curses on themselves or others. Instead of saying, ‘I’m bad,’ or ‘I’m sick’ or ‘I’m struggling’, they choose to acknowledge they are not doing well, but will eventually get better. ‘I’m a little fine.’”
The power of words is so highly respected in Malawi, it is taught as an essential cultural value. So essential, in fact, that even a foreigner, learning the most basic of phrases, will begin to understand and communicate with the same respect for words.
Upon arriving in Malawi, I felt strongly that I needed to be more careful with my words. James 3 says, “anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” Proverbs 18 says, “the power of life and death are in the tongue.” Matthew 12 states, “out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Therefore, if there is life in your heart, your mouth will speak life, but if there is death in your heart, your mouth will speak death. And if you want to be perfect, start with your speech, because that is what will carry you into an abundance of life, or an increase of death.
When God created the world, all He used were His words- “Let there be light!” And there was light. In each step of creation, God proclaimed with His mouth and life sprang up around the earth. From the beginning, He modeled the life that words can carry. Soon after, the serpent also showed us the death that can drip off spoken words. The people here understand this concept. They avoid dramatization with their words. They are careful how they wield the power given to them, mindfully choosing their speech to best communicate their hearts.
I have much to learn from this beautiful approach. Though I earnestly try to be mindful of my words, I fail miserably so often. I am encouraged that God is the one who will continue to change my heart as I ask Him to teach me how to take every thought captive and submit it to Him. I know I have a long way to go but, in the meantime, I’ll try my best to honor God and the people around me with my lips, to ask for forgiveness when I misspeak, and to answer with “pang’ono” on the days when I’m not doing so well- to intentionally choose to emphasize the hope of the future over the hardship in the present.
Zikomo,
Diana
Our First Journey Together 