What could it mean?

Today the Omondi's and I met together with Pastor Elly and his wife Amina. Elly works with us training leaders in a village south of Mombasa. To get to the place we were meeting, we had to take a ferry. In front of us on the boat was an unusual car we'd never seen before. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it! But the funniest thing about it was the methali, or proverb, adhered to the rear bumper (making a statement with your car is cool here - sticking catchy sayings on your bumper or side panel is very hip!). It said, "UNALIA NA KIBOKO BADO". I read it slowly, trying to figure out what it said.

'How strange. Surely,' I thought, 'I've misunderstood.' Finally I asked Dennis, my team leader who is a native of Mombasa, "Hey, Dennis, does that really say, 'YOU ARE STILL CRYING WITH THE HIPPOPOTAMUS'?"

He looked at the car and laughed. "I hadn't thought of it like that!" he replied. "It does say that. But it also says, 'YOU ARE CRYING AND THE WHIP HAS NOT YET COME'."

I looked again, and sure enough, it says that too! Swahili is all about context. One word can have 20 different meanings! Just a comical reminder that communication is hard work - even when we think we've communicated clearly, the message may get 'lost in translation'. The lesson I learned today: if something doesn't seem quite right, always clarify!