Meeting and greeting

Tips for meeting and greeting in East Africa

When meeting a Kenyan, a handshake is the done thing for greeting both men and women. You will find it always last longer than you expected. In fact, whole conversations may be played out while standing or walking clasping one another's hands.

Also, remember to shake everybody's hand. When you enter a room of people, the first thing you must do is go around a greet them individually (if practical).

As well as the handshake, other commonplace gestures include the high-five, the fist bump and, most bewilderingly, a combination of the two which ends with the individuals' thumbs clicking together (directions: slap your hands together, curl round your fingers and then use your thumbs to click).

When greeting someone, always ask 'how are you?'. The answer will always be 'Fine.' Everyone is always fine in Kenya. Even if you've just fallen down a well, if someone asks how you are, the instinctive response would be 'fine' and it would take a bit more questioning to ascertain the person's actual condition.

And, of course, with the kids you can mix things up by saying 'mambo' as you fist bump, beat your chest once and then lift your hand up to the sky. 'Poa poa' is the requisite response.

'Yes' is also an often used greeting. Although it sounds a bit strange at first - when someone walks past you just saying 'yesss' - you'll find it's a nice alternative for saying a quick hello as you're crossing paths.