Sandals, the Vice President of Tanzania, T-Shirts, and Salama brand male Prophylactics

What do “Sandals”, “The Vice President of Tanzania”, “T-Shirts”, and "Salama brand male prophylactics" all have in common? My day, unfortunately! Let me explain... I went to town to meet with a Congolese friend who is the leader of a local ministry here in Tanzania. Shortly after arriving at his office, he told me he had to hurry to the airport and asked if I could give him a ride. He said we could talk while driving. As we were driving, he told me that the Vice President of Tanzania was coming to town and that he was going to join with other local politicians and community leaders to greet him when he got off the airplane. So I planned to drop him off at the airport and then meet with him later regarding the questions I had about ministry. As we were driving he began to explain to me the protocol for meeting the Vice President and what was going to happen at the airport. It was then that I suddenly realized that he intended for me to join him in meeting the Vice President! As soon as I realized what he was saying I exclaimed that I wasn’t properly dressed for the occasion. I was wearing long pants, but only had on a T-Shirt and sandals. His response was a bit derogatory, but comical in it’s honesty. “Oh, he knows that Americans don’t care about the way they dress,” he said. I tried to convince him to let me make the detour to my house to put on a nicer shirt and some shoes, but he insisted that we needed to get there right away so we could get a good spot. To make things worse, I realized when we arrived at the airport that he intended to introduce me to all of the local “bigwigs”. First I met the Regional Traffic Officer (the head guy over the Kigoma Region’s Traffic Police). Then I met the second in command of the Kigoma Region for Immigration. Then I met the Kigoma/Ujiji Mayor, then the District Commissioner of the Kigoma District (like a county in the U.S.). His name is John, and so when he said that I had a good name and asked if it was he who was lucky to be named John or me, I correctly stated that it was I who was lucky to be named like him. I passed the test and we talked for a brief moment. After that I met the Regional Immigration Officer in charge of the immigration department for the whole Kigoma Region (like a state in the U.S.). Then I met the Town Planner for Kigoma/Ujiji. He’s in charge of all land use issues and zoning for the area and he is a Christian and a very amiable man. He’s a good person to know when it comes time to find a plot for the Kigoma/Ujiji Youth Center we’re trying to develop. Then I met a bigwig from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (like the IRS in the U.S.), then the Regional Commissioner of the Kigoma Region (like a governor in the U.S.), and finally, after waiting for almost two hours for his plane to arrive, the Vice President of Tanzania, the Honorable Dr. Ali Mohamed Shein. And even though they all supposedly don’t expect us Americans to dress nice for such an occasion, it was still extremely uncomfortable. After shaking the Vice President's hand while introducing myself, the Vice President finished the last few hand shakes on the line of greeters and then moved on to greet and listen to a couple of different groups of singers and dancers there to welcome him with song. We as a group of greeters began to walk back towards the airport building to get in our cars and wait to follow him in the procession through town. As we began to walk I looked to my left where the Vice President was watching the group of singers and realized that all of the singers were wearing the same red T-Shirts with a huge logo covering the front of them. It was the logo for Salama brand condoms. Now I understand that male prophylactics here in East Africa are a symbol of the fight against AIDS (the finer details of that debate not withstanding), but the idea of greeting the Vice President of ANY country wearing a Condom T-Shirt just made me laugh out loud. Chalk it up to another lesson in culture!