My father’s parents were from Lebanon, but he was first
generation South African. Although I had grown up knowing my Lebanese family
and their ways, they were Christian Lebanese. I came from a small South African
time under Apartheid and was so naïve in my knowledge of the world that I did
not know that there were also Muslim Lebanese – in fact I had never previously
met anyone of the Muslim faith.
I travelled to Lebanon at the age of 19, shortly after
Lebanon’s borders were opened but the country was under Syrian occupation. This
was a part of a backpacking trip around the world, including the USA, and I had
stitched patches from all of my travels onto my backpack. Of course the biggest
patch was an American flag. My knowledge of Lebanese history was non-existence
and my only reference to culture was from my family experience – and this was
one generation removed.
Landing in Beirut at around 5pm, I needed to get to Jounieh
which is along the coast about 40km out of Beirut. I hauled my backpack onto my
back and noticed some unpleasant glances in my direction, but I had no idea
what the problem was. Fortunately I was pulled aside by a fellow traveller of
American-Lebanese origin. He explained that the USA was not very popular in
Lebanon and that I needed to cover the US flag. This I did. I then headed out
of the airport in search of a taxi to take me to Jounieh. It was now getting
dark, and I was a young girl on my own in a foreign country, not able to speak
the language.
I finally found someone who spoke English and claimed to be
in charge of the taxis. I was delighted, and trying to be polite, I introduced
myself and stuck out my hand to shake his. This man, Abu Walihd, was absolutely
horrified. He jumped back from my hand, shaking his head and muttering, and I
had absolutely no idea what I had done wrong. I later discovered that he was a
staunch Muslim and I had insulted him by wanting to touch him – women in his
culture are not so forward. In addition he found it wrong that I was travelling
unaccompanied. I was also inappropriately dressed with no head covering and a
sleeveless t-shirt. I was extremely
fortunate that Abu Walihd was a good man who made sure I was in the right taxi
and I arrived at my destination unscathed, although it was quite harrowing for
a number of reasons.
Guffey (Lehman, et al., 2013, p. 309) advocates broadening
ones view of other cultures. This would have been very beneficial in my
situation. If I had prior knowledge of Muslim culture I would have been better equipped
and not appeared so insulting to Abu Walihd. I possibly would have had more
success in initially finding someone to communicate with me, as my persona
showed me to be a disrespectful foreigner. I knew immediately from Abu Walihd’s
non-verbal cues that I had offended him, although I was not aware of how.
REFERENCES
Lehman, C. M.,
DuFrene, D. D., Cameron-Dow, J., Barrett, M., Murphy, W., Ellen, M., &
Guffey, D. L. (2013). ITC105 - Communication and Information Management.
South Melbourne, Victoria: Cengage Learning Australia.
