My cousin once pointed out something I hadn't noticed about Zimbabwean (Zim) society. He said in Zim a person can be promoted to family status. I chuckled at that, but am inclined to agree with him. In truth, a person can go from a stranger to family, it just takes some time.
I was reminded of this because my sister (Chipo) recently went back to Zim and returned full of news about how things are there. She was also kind enough to bring me some tea and music...no doubt fearing that she would never hear the end of it if she came back empty handed! I was explaining to a friend that I was going to visit this sister of mine, and the friend was surprised: as of last week she thought I only had 1 sister in the States (Nqo), why didn't I tell her that other family had arrived? I explained to her that this sister I was talking about is not my biological sister. In fact, she's not related to me at all. However, consistent with the Zim way, we are family because we come from the same place. Having that in common means we look out for each other, and basically treat each other as family.
I like that way of being. The idea of having 2 kinds of family (the ones we are born with and the ones we choose) is a rather neat one. It meant that when I 1st came to the States by myself I found myself surrounded by several "family" members. And if the price to pay for that is having to explain which brother or sister I'm talking about, that's okay with me!
It's a special thing, this concept of the fluid family! Oh, and this cousin of mine I mentioned at the beginning? We're not biologically related, either - his family lived in the same neighborhood as mine for many years, and they were eventually promoted to "cousin" status.