Cultural codes and cultural sensibility

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   Cultural codes and cultural sensibility

by  Sarah Dauphin and Servane Fouillen 

We  have all already travelled or worked abroad.
We have all tried to assimilate in another country, whether it was for a short time or not.
But who has ever been abroad and managed to avoid making any cultural misunderstanding?
Hopefully, these cultural misunderstandings often lead to funny stories you can tell your relatives when you come back!

As a crazy Erasmus student, I have already entered a Finnish sauna with my swimsuit. How dirty it must have seemed for my Finnish naked neighbors! 

As an intern in Palestine, I have already proudly told the taxi driver an address in Arabic, and ended up in a completely different place. How confusing it must have been for the taxi driver!

As an adventure tourist, I have already paid my tomatoes in Burkina Faso by giving my coins from my right hand. How non respectful it must ahve been for the storekeeper!

As a tourist, I have already entered an Italian church with a tank top. How shocking it must have been for my neighbors!

But these cultural anecdotes are not funny anymore when they illustrate a denial of one other’s culture, a refusal of trying to understand and adapt.
Unfortunately, these cultural misunderstandings can also happened at work, and in the humanitarian sector they can lead to a project that is not adapted to the context and the cultural aspects of the country.

As an expat, I have already participated in the building of concrete toilets in Africa. But what if the beneficiaries prefer their own way of sanitary and keep closed this useless white building, which doesn’t fit in between all the red-soil houses?

As an intern, I have already seen some condoms distributed by an NGO hanging on trees in Benin because people were sure that AIDS comes from Vodoun. So condoms on trees were used as protection against Vodoun.

It is not always easy to understand another culture than yours, but in the humanitarian sector, it is essential. The needs of the beneficiaries during a crisis are often the same: food, shelter, medical and psychosocial care. But each crisis is different because of its environment and its context. We often attribute our cultural mistakes to the others: they are “weird”, “savages”, “not educated”, “less regarding”, “exotic”. But just think a minute, what if humanitarian workers from Southern countries come to save lovely France and lovely French?

How about African elderlies who would arrive in our towns… naked breast?

How about Birman women who would arrive in France and try to make us healthy by putting on all our faces their green Thanaka powder?

How about people from Burkina Faso who would feed us with caterpillar sandwiches ?

This is just to make you reflect on the impact of being a cultural-non-curious tourist or worker,
… just to encourage you to think about your behavior abroad,

… just to make you aware of the importance of being careful with our own cultural approach.

The 5 stereotypes of a typical humanitarian worker by Ghizlaine AHMANE and Eléonore CHAZOT

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The 5 stereotypes of a typical humanitarian worker

1)     No, humanitarians workers are not all communists or ecologists ! Just like everyone, We enjoy having twenty minute showers (without thinking about mother Earth), taking our 4x4 to work every day, and complain about paying taxes!

2)     We do not wear only hippy clothes, have dread locks and smock joints. Zara, H&M and Gap are also our favorite shops. We do watch TV reality shows, and love having a smart phone.

3)     No, we are not idealistic, nor love and help everyone. We are not ready to go on the field anywhere including dangerous areas. We first check if it’s a good (safe?) area to travel, if it’s sunny and if there’s a swimming pool in the estate !

4)     Don’t be mistaken, it’s not easy to work in an Non-Governmental Organization. Just like anyone searching for employment, we also need good skills and related work experiences in order to find a job. Take a look yourself at the job offers : you must have eight years of studies and speak five languages to find a job as a secretary. So, please, do not think that we imposters !!

5)     Most of all, not all of us have personal problems that we try to solve by helping others, this is a prejudice. We are as healthy as you are! It’s not that crazy to try to help, right (is it?) ?

Living Or Surviving?

By Hélène Gignoux



Iguazu Falls

Have you ever wondered if you were living a real life? Do you think you’re happy or are you seeking happiness? Do your daily worries really make sense? What are your life priorities?  For people on the other side of the world, these questions have a radically different meaning. Think about it and make up your mind… What I am going to depict today is a colorful portrayal of a Guarani Community that I encountered last summer in Northern Argentina and their unusual way of living… Surrounded by tropical forests, about 40 Guaranies were living in a tiny village made of wooden houses, a few miles from Iguazu Falls.

The majority of the population was minors, and many young teenagers had babies. The entire population seemed vulnerable; they received aid from an association to satisfy their immediate needs. When I encountered them, they seemed very quiet. What caught my attention was the fact that when they gathered, nobody was alone, they behaved like a true family-a clan. When I spoke to a Guarani mother, she told me that they were learning 3 languages in order to sell their products: Spanish, English and Guarani, their native tongue.

I was later intrigued by a small group of teenagers sitting in a circle, smoking and drinking alcohol, doing nothing. Ok, you are going to say that in Europe or in the US this is also pretty common. They were young, there was nothing wrong with this, and I agree with you, but here was the thing: isolated deep down in the jungle, with no job opportunities, nowhere else to go, nothing to achieve, I wondered what the future would be for these young people? Would it be living day after day? Or changing drastically, choosing adventure and leaving their roots to settle in a city? Could they follow their own choices?

Then, something else surprised me… I saw 10 kids watching TV, and at this moment I was thinking that this might reinforce a sense of frustration fest by the Indians: with this media they had a window to a completely different world with opposite behaviors, materialistic values based on consumer society, with massive financial power… Did this represent a threat for them? Did it urge them to go and see what was happening outside of the village? And did it lead them to this grim question: what would be the fate of the remaining Guaranies? Was this media a threat or a benefit for them? People say one must move along the times, but was this concept irrelevant for them?

Guarani Kids

Taking into account these short observations, when all is said and done, are Guaranies happy and free people? Do they really need humanitarian action? Does it have a beneficial impact for them? Is outside help necessary even though they have been living this way for ages? Well, I would say not necessarily… In this particular context, it appears to me that humanitarian action may be, above all, useful for them for water sanitary projects, and to create social links, and to allow them to build a sustainable communication network between the community and the rest of the world.

Ultimately, I would say that perhaps this is not a question of living or surviving: the community has been living there for generations, and that reveals that this is their authentic life style. Family, roots, and preserving their original way of life seem to be vital priorities for them. Have they found the key to happiness? Maybe.