Did you know that when you visit in Mutoko the hosts will offer you drinking water? As a visitor you are supposed to drink the water and not turn down the offer. Turning down is a sure way of being rude. Culturally you are expected to drink the water.
Akomana here, this practice has lived for hundreds of years and has been successfully passed on from generation to generation. Unfortunately it has not been captured in business books. Fabulous business lesson from Mtoko and its wonderful people.
So what is the business in offering visitors water? Easy its great CUSTOMER CARE!
Below are the responses from ZBIN Members
Bridgitah Tembo Its true, every visitor arriving at any homestead is given water before any greetings, rationale yacho one has been travelling and could be thirsty but can not ask for water immediately achingosvika so what do we do ipai varendo mvura musati mamutsana navo!!!
Mdala Wa Rue So no discrimination? Amazing stuff
Bridgitah Tembo Yes no discrimation at all kana ari kubvunza nzira achipfuura anopiwa mvura!!
Mdala Wa Rue Who offers mvura–women only or munhu wese?
Bridgitah Tembo Mostly its women
Tichaona Matimura Great stuff. We are very proud of that.
Innocent Jokonya From scientific point of view .Offer of water for people in Mutoko makes a lot of sense becoz Mutoko can be very hot especially in summer. Before the coming of cars for you to reach a homestead it meant you have traveled long distance and most of the time you will be thirst
Praise Chabona Although i am not Mubudya but i have stayed in Mutoko long enough. Mutoko has very high temperatures through out the year. When this custom of giving drinking water to everyone who comes to your homestead started, it was because people would walk long distances in the heat of the sun and would be very thirsty. So they give water first before they even ask tokubatsira nei?
Mdala Wa Rue I suppose Mtoko is a transit point…so some of the visitors were from other African countries…Somalis etc…so zvakangonzi ngatibatsirei vanhu n not worry abt language barriers lol — my guess kk
Mdala Wa Rue Future books on customer service in Zim should look at the history of customer service by Zimbos n trace it back to many centuries ago– u should not exclude the Mighty Toko people. Fabulous stuff…hatina kutanga customer service nhasi–we started way way way back!!!
Gift Goto Unoziva munhu akakupa mvura unongonzwa kuti ndaiswa pedyo
Tonderai Chibanda Its a Korekore custom, all the Korekores vanumupasa mvura muchisvika, takadozvidzidza tichi vadokwane. Proud to be a Korekore from Dotito
Rueben Moyo I worked in Mtoko for 4 years. I really appreciate d the hospitality….
Mdala Wa Rue Is there a difference between Toko and Korekore or the folks are the same
Bridgitah Tembo Matoko anonzi Mabudya
Tonderai Chibanda Budyas are a segment of Korekores, there are about 6 dilects of Korekores
Justice Magagani interesting have never been to Tokyo before
Grace Kadoma Mutoko pple hatirase hunhu hwedu,im proud to be one fruit of mutoko,tsika yedu iyi inobatsira muhupenyu inotipa diginity
Skumbuzo Madlela ko hanzi ndakanzwa kuti yakatanga apo maMozambiquens used to come vakuvara nenzara so many of them wud just faint b4 saying anything vachisvika pamusha from across the border so pple from tokyo made it a point kuti munhu achisvika pamba water first asa fainter is it true ?, Tokyoans confirm
Gideon Mapara Our forefathers had a culture that respected another human being regardless of whether you knew them or not…it was a culture that respected and valued life…Mutoko is a area that experiences rather high temperatures and back in the early days our grandfathers n grandmothers if anyone had been exposed to these temperatures they would most likely be seriously dehydrated and by turning into your homestead it most likely meant that person needed some form of assistance…and what greater way than give someone something that gives life(i.e water)…so the custom was to greet every visitor negapu remvura…then ask questions later… If you are the visitor and you have been offered the water the norm is politely accept the water and just pretend to take a few sips then ask for whatever it is that you want to ask for…refusing to accept the water totally is seen as being rude and you are likely not to get further assistance from your hosts…it is also likely to be interpreted as you are saying you suspect they ve put something in the water (saka urikumupumha uroyi!!!!)
Gamuchirai Cathrine Matiza Mdala its not just people in mutoko bt people from mutoko coz even if u visit them in harare u do the same.my inlaws are from mutoko saka wenever i visit cup yemvura first before ma greetings.it was a bit arkward ma first days bt ndakatozojaira
Warvet Hondo Anhu haazii ba manje kweduyo kuma nyika tope riri zowe kana frozen
Post originally appeared on ZBIN Facebook page in December 2015
