Notes

It was back in 2012 when I was 10 years old. I traveled with my family to Somalia to visit our Uncles and Aunts. The uncle we stayed over with on our first day was so excited to see us that he even insisted on taking us for Icecream the moment we step in his house. My 3 siblings and I hopped onto his car and off we went into the town. It wasn't our first time in Somalia and we were not surprised with the poor road conditions. It had rained the day before and there were potholes all over the street. Not to mention the congestion at the time due to the fact that Hargeisa, Somaliland's capital, has roads with only two lanes. On our way to the icecream shop we had to stop for a while at road cross section since there was traffic in the adjacent lane. In Hargeisa, there are no traffic lights. Your passage depends on the mood of the guy blocking you on the adjacent road. If they are sympathetic, they let you pass but as a result they along with all the cars behind them will have to wait until there is another person behind you willing to give way.

I was sitting next to my Uncle in the front seats. He asked me to wave to the car infront of us to stop. I did just that and saw the man giving us a hand gesture to move through quickly. I could see the man and a women seated next to him through their windshield and so to show I was grateful, I gestured back with this hand gesture. The woman held her mouth in shock and the man's facial expression changed in an instant. He started honking his car and even switched lanes just to chase after us. My uncle noticed there was a car onto us and parked his vehicle next to the road. The man got off his car and walked quickly towards us. He started yelling at my uncle just because of the hand gesture I made earlier. I did not know what was going since this gesture means thanks or well done back in Kenya. My uncle explained that we had come from abroad and were not accustomed to the local culture. The man backed off and apologized and I apologized too by the demand of my Uncle. I asked him what I had done wrong and he told me not to use that gesture again as it was offensive. When I asked him what it meant here, he simply brushed it off as offensive and immediately changed the topic. I learned on this day that even the smallest things like hand signs can have a significant difference across cultures.