The Trouble with Handshake (Greeting) in the Era of Ebola
By Malith Alier, Juba
In South Sudan, one can encounter tens or even a hundreds of handshakes in a good day like Sunday or SPLA Day celebrations.
Greeting through handshake is an induced affair among family, friends and colleagues as a gesture of social “meeting of the minds.” It goes beyond acceptance and understanding across humanity.
Greeting as a social tool for communication can be done in various ways. It can be through hand wave, signal, verbal or handshake.
It happened that handshake is preferable to all these other mode of passing good wishes. Handshake and bodily contact are very common among close friends and family members who have stayed apart without seeing each other for quite some time. It is not uncommon to see a couple patting their backs with their chests in complete contact. Seen at this portrait, the ones in such contact are in complete meeting of minds as in business agreement. Some people kiss one another as is the case with Ethiopians. Other people or societies have the habit to tapping their fingers in unison to show rhythm.
This writer went to a courtship one day in Juba and was mesmerised by ladies from Ngok Lual Yak who insisted that we should tap our thumbs in the way they do it in that community. This style of greeting made us refresh our traditional handshake to something worth remembering for life.
The handshake we have come to cherish so much has its dangers as exhibited by the recent outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa. Specifically, the countries of Liberia, sera Leone, guinea among others have known that the virus is spread through body fluid like sweat, saliva and other fluids.
The Ebola outbreak reverberates throughout the world and many people originating from West Africa, the epicentre of the virus carry it to far away nations like Belgium, USA and France. This has prompted many countries, South Sudan included, to take precautionary measures against the deadly super virus.
Last Tuesday, the government of South Sudan through a Council of Ministers resolution, banned handshake as a precaution against Ebola virus. Whether the ban will be observed by anyone is another matter altogether considering the fact that the masses have come to live with handshake for very long. For South Sudanese society, refusal to shake hands is considered mean.
This year, the country experienced the outbreak of cholera for the first time since CPA. Cholera is another contagious disease just like Ebola. It can be spread through contact with a patient and kills within a short period if not treated.
Shaking hands further comes with other nuisances like waste of time as well as being an obstacle to other people in public places. On many occasions, individuals who bump into each other would stand just where they met to shake hand and exchange a few words about everything though trivial.
The West African nations are well aware of those dangers associated with shaking hands. Particular individuals who have no custom of using hankies or serviettes blow and rub their noses and swipe the fluid on their clothes. This category of people is the one quick to offer “free” handshake with anyone without warning.
Stories abound about some people who have fore knowledge of the dangers of handshake and decided to use gloves or handkerchiefs to protect themselves from the people above. These self conscious people are often ridiculed for being aware of the unintended consequences of shaking dirty hands. To them, their motto is caveat emptor or simply let the buyer beware.
However, this approach is absentmindedly used against them by complacent traditional supporters of handshake.
Perhaps it is now time to consider further measures beyond handshake. Some people have already decided not to share beds with partners until their country is totally declared free of Ebola.
Final precaution; don’t drink too much, you might forget yourself and unknowingly come in to contact with Ebola carrier travellers in the pubs!
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