An interesting experience from Mali translated into my perception of events elsewhere -- it really is amazing how just a brief time immersed in a foreign culture can alter one's own outlook.
Imaging you are giving a cutesy little wave to an infant or toddler, not a whole hand wave but a quick open and close of the fingers onto the palm over and over in rapid suscession. One waves to a child like this in America to be cute and to seem nice and not mean to him/her. Such is not the case in Mali as Michele and I were reminded over and over by our mistakes. That hand gesture in Mali translates to 'come here'. Adults, children, everyone uses it to signal everyone else. Far too often we would make a cutesy wave to a child as a soft form of 'hi' only to have the child shake his/her head quickly in fear because they didn't want to come too close to us.
Needless to say, it was a simple mistake we made that ended no worse other than some slight embarassment and a quick correction. I only wish the same was true everywhere.
Reports came out of Iraq last week that Unity Resources, a private security firm that hires UK, US, and Austraulian citizens to guard officials in Iraq, opened fire on two unarmed Iraqi women driving down a Bagdad road in a car, killing both. Though reports are conflicting, the concensus of eye witness accounts claim that the women were not doing anything suspicious but rather looked much more confused than threatening and began to panic.
Unity Resource guards' accounts claim that they did what they were supposed to: they signaled the women to stop and when the women did not the guards fired a flare at the windshield of the vehicle. When the car still did not come to a stop, the guards opened fire killing everyone inside.
When investigators asked for clarification as to how they communicated with the women to stop they explained that they used hand signals - they gave the women what we Americans would immediately assume to be the 'halt!' signal, the palm of the hand projected forward with all fingers together and straight up.
A lack of cultural awareness is the reason these women are dead. An extended palm is a signal of 'welcome' in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. The confusion of seeing armed guards shouting one thing, signaling the opposite is enough to scare anyone - and I'm not sure I've heard of a culture yet with people who could remain calm and not panic when a flare is fired at them.
Please tell me its not the fact that I've actually lived in several foreign places that makes me aware of how the simplest of things can make a world of difference. In a culture you are completely new to, simply knowing how to say 'hello', 'please', and 'thankyou' are all it takes to make a good impression or in just as many cases friends.
I don't know if this is true or not, but I've heard some say that men and women in the US military conducting house to house checks on the ground in Iraq did not receive any instruction in basic Arabic or on the cultural behaviors and gestures of Iraq. I pray to god this isn't true with the military because I fear it is true with the private security firms like Unity Resources and Blackwater.
One thing always comes to mind when I first hear the words private industry: the focus on profit above all else. I have no choice- I am just naturally suspicious of anyone who carries a gun around in a land where the law doesn't apply to them and are focused on profit more than anything else...
Enough about this. Today is Blog Action Day, a day where you are supposed to post something to help bring about additional awareness of the world around you.
For the love of man, please, go do something nice to someone you don't know today!
