JAMBO is one of the most common words you will hear being spoken by the Ugandan guards in Iraq ,This is the easiest Swahili greeting, and is often the first word learned by any one who comes to Iraq,be it American,the local nationals,the TCN's(third country nationals) and all the people living and working within the American installations in Iraq.
The usage of this word has widely been adopted and spread throughout Iraq from camp VBC to Talil,Alsad to Buccra because it is increasingly hard to begin a conversation with a Ugandan without citing the word 'jambo' the word originates from Swahili a language commonly spoken in East Africa,the origins of Swahili can be traced back to the days of the East African coastal trade, as a trade language used by both Arabs and coastal tribes. The language incorporated elements of both classical Arabic and Bantu dialects, and became the mother tongue of the Swahili people who themselves rose from the intermarriage of Arab and African cultures.
The word Swahili itself came has it's roots from the Arabic for 'coast'
Sahel. But the language became a pervasive influence in the early years, and a regional lingua franca, becoming widely used throughout Kenya and Tanzania. Today, the language is also used in regions of Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Congo and Zambia, and is the most widely spoken African language.
The word Jambo is increasingly being used to describe,name or address a Ugandan here in Iraq,
