Curious, at a Chinese restaurant

When she brought me the bill at table number 14 I asked: "Why do you communicate in English?"

She said that is how it has always been at home. Even the parents, owners of a Chinese restaurant in Dar es Salaam where I had just completed a lunch of Chicken with juicy black mushrooms and egg fried rice, would speak to the children in Chinese and accepted responses in English. Interesting.

Perhaps even more interesting that afternoon, the two younger sisters, both less than 12 years of age, were working at the restaurant - folding napkins and, once, one of them returned some change to a customer. In some countries they could sue their parents for being made to work at that age.

The elder sister, who answered my question, was the 'head waitress' taking the lunch orders. She appeared to be in her mid twenties.

The mother was cooking in the kitchen. The father was probably also cooking.

The entire family was working. I wonder why the Chinese seem to be a step ahead of the rest of the world?