our House Meri has a young 4 year old son whom she brings with her when she comes to work at our house. Usually the kids are in school and so she sets him down to watch a movie. I've seen the "Lion King" out a time or two when I've gotten home from work and assumed it was Blake's (her son) favorite movie.
That suspicion was confirmed today. After having a sneezing fit, I said "maybe it's the dust?" Before I knew it, our House Meri dusted the room, and I stopped sneezing.
"Thank you for dusting my room!" to which she replied "no worries" a very common phrase here as a lot of the English here derives from Australian.
A moment after saying it she said "hakuna matata". We all laughed. It means "no worries" after all.
She then proceeded to tell us (in pidgin), she has learned the language of this house, because her son has watched our movie and learned it. He is forever saying "Hakuna Matata" around her home and she's picked it up.
The cultural involvement in unravelling that little phrase was too complex for us to figure out so we laughed and let it be.
How do we explain that the phrase is in an American film about Africa with roots in Swahili viewed in Papua New Guinea in an American missionary's home by a Papua New Guinean.
So now.. Hakuna Matata is a family phrase... it means no worries, for the rest of your days.
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