Africa Top Ten: #3 - Handshakes

Here’s one that seems pretty simple, but it’s kind of a big cultural deal: The handshake. Anytime you see anyone, you greet with a handshake. In the morning, when you enter the staffroom, you walk around, say hello to, and shake hands with everyone. When you are on your way to class and see someone, you shake hands. When you are trying to find the head teacher to ask about a meeting, and you go look for him in his office, you shake hands with each secretary, and any teachers/parents/students/randoms who may be also in the office. When there is a baby cobra snake in your bathroom, and you want to kill it so it doesn’t bite you and you are left seeking treatment in the horror-film-scene hospital down the street, you first shake its hand and say hello. It’s the right thing to do.

There are two kinds of handshakes you encounter here, and I’ve yet to figure out what the rhyme or reason is for which one to use and when. The first is your traditional “hey, nice to meet you” American handshake with a twist: the lingering finger hold. You go in for the shake like normal, but then right when you think you’re done, as palm slips from palm and you think it’s over, there’s the at-the-last-minute finger grab. Usually, the foreigner forgets about this, and it’s the Acoli who does the grab, and you stand for a few minutes with your partner gently holding a few of your fingers while he or she asks how you’re feeling or whether you slept okay the night before. It’s certainly awkward at first; the foreigner is like “ok, we shook, let’s move on with it.” But after a while, it kind of grows on you, especially since the person on the other end of the grab is really genuinely interested in finding out about your current state. It’s definitely reflective of the Acoli attitude that personal relationships are always more important than any sort of time schedule!

The second kind of handshake is my personal favorite: It’s a regular-handshake to a flip-it-up-thumb-grabby-thing, back to a regular handshake, sometimes finished off with a lingering finger hold. And I’ve just realized that it’s really hard to explain, so you’ll just have to wait and I’ll show you when I get home. Until I see you, just know that it’s pretty much awesome. And I think it’ll catch on in the states much faster than posho.