In Tanzania, storytelling is a ritual.  When we tell a story in Kiswahili, each story begins the same.  The storyteller announces that a story is about to be told: "Hadithi! Hadithi!" (Story! Story!) and the audience, usually children, respond in chorus: "Hadithi njoo! Uwongo njoo! Utamu kolea!" (loosely translated: "Let the story come, let the embellishments come, let the sweetness be great".  The call and response opening of a story is familiar to everyone, young and old. It connects the storyteller, the audience, and the spiritual realm where stories are held. When the audience responds "Hadithi Njoo!" - they are evoking the story into existence, and the storyteller becomes a conduit from which the story emerges.