The UAE has millions of expats. About 85 percent of the population of 8 million comes from outside the country, and that works out to about 7 million foreigners, compared to 1 million citizens.

What is curious about the UAE, however, is how all those foreigners tend to come from a limited number of countries. India, 2 million-plus; Pakistan 1.5 million; Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, 500,000 each … and we’re already at 5 million. Collectively, those five countries probably account for more like 6 million people, and you could button up most of the rest under the generic headings of “other Arabs” and “Westerners.”

Almost no one here from Latin America. Actually, not many people from the entire western hemisphere. And, also, almost no one from sub-Saharan Africa.

So when I encountered someone from Tanzania … it was interesting, and prompted an obvious question.

How did you get here?

Hailing a cab, trying to get home after work. Cab pulls up, I get in, and the driver is African.

That is not unheard of. A smattering of guys from Ethiopia drive cabs here. A few from Sudan. I rode with a talkative guy from Morocco last week. But Africans of any sort, even Arab/Muslim North Africans — not all that numerous.

I tried to read the guy’s name, which was on his meter, as per local law … and his name did not sound Ethiopian or Arabic.

The driver, who seemed about 25, had a cold. He was fussing with his nose and snuffling. I often carry antihistimines, so I began digging around for one in my backpack to offer him one, and while I was doing that my driver took a wrong turn on the short journey … and that started a brief conversation.

It began by him apologizing several times, which really wasn’t necessary. I said, “I didn’t look up in time.”

I asked him how long he had been here, because veteran cabbies would not have made the mistake he made. “Three months” was the answer. I then asked him where he was from, and he said, “Tanzania.”

He pronounced it tan-ZAN-ee-uh … and I said it back to him as tan-zuh-NEE-uh … and then I realized, well, duh, the guy is from there, and he certainly must now how it’s pronounced.

I asked him if he were the only person from Tanzania in Abu Dhabi or the UAE, and he seemed to say something like “just about.” (We were stretching his English, at this point.)

I said he was far from home (consult the map on the Tanzania wiki page to see), and he agreed with that.

I managed to get across the idea of “why are you here; how did you get here?” and his response mentioned a friend from South Africa who thought he might like working in the UAE, because work is hard to find in Tanzania, he said.

I asked him if he liked it here … and usually cab drivers will express some reservations but will concede to an economic imperative that overrides all else.

This young man said he didn’t like it here … at all.

He said he spoke two languages, and Swahili was one of the ones he mentioned … and I did not catch the other. He said he knew nearly no one who could speak either. English is his third language, and how he gets along, no doubt.

He indicated that his biggest problem with being here was loneliness. Not being able to talk to anyone. He said his cab company did not employ even one other Tanzanian. Just him.

And that would be hard, indeed.

I suspect he will not last, that he will leave soon, if his contract permits. It’s hard to be young and far from home and so … alone.

The UAE is a highly diverse place, but scratch the surface and nearly all the expats (as well as the Emiratis) tend to stick to their own kind. And if your own kind, all 40 million of them, are back in the southern half of Africa … the UAE probably will never feel like home.