Hakuna Matata

I remembered this one time while we were in Kenya I was singing "hakuna matata, it means no worries for the rest of the day, its a problem free philosophy. Hakuna matata." My daughter was having her tantrums so I was somehow trying to cheer her up with the Disney song. I have not actually seen "The Lion King" but got that song from the animated series " Timon an Pumba" which I used to watch when I was young.
Then suddenly our driver who is a local said, "that's our national anthem". I was embarrased because I was singing it very playfully. You could imagine how pale my face turned when he suddenly blurted that out. To ease up the tension, my husband asked him cheerfully, "oh that's nice so what does hakuna matata actually mean?" and our driver said "it means you don't have to worry too much because things will be OK".

I was very surpised to know and observe how kenyans and probably africans in general are carefree in life. Actually they also have the saying, "there's no hurry in africa". They smile a lot and when they laugh, you can't help but laugh too and throw your worries away even for a while.

Kenya is actually a poor country that is why many would probably say " they can't be carefree, that's foolish". But sometimes you could not help but think about the cliche that money is not everything. Developed countries are actually the ones with the highest suicide rates and it is not the poor in those countries that are suicidal some are actually rich ( and famous?). They are also the ones who try different alternative ways to relieve their stress, sports, yoga, meditation etc.

We have something to learn from Africans ( or specifically Kenyans) after all, Hakuna Matata.