The event was held during the month of Ramadan, when the Muslim volunteers were fasting. The non-Muslim volunteers were encouraged to fast too, just for the experience. All of us will then break our fast together to end off the event. However, the committee suggested that everyone should “makan berdulang”, which means sharing meal on a tray of food among a group of people (normally 3 or 4).
.jpg)
The main purpose of eating a shared meal is that the Malays believe that it promotes cohesiveness and makes the food eaten much more appetizing. I was enjoying my meal with 2 other committee members when I noticed that Mary, my Chinese friend who was a committee member as well, had hardly touched her food at all.
The people in her group in turn were uncomfortable that she refused to join the meal with them. Initially, they had thought that she did not find the food to her liking. From her facial expression, I could tell that she was turned off by the idea of sharing food with the others who ate with their hand. Apparently, Mary had found it unhygienic to eat such a meal with her hands and suggested they used the plastic utensils instead. Her group mates reluctantly agreed to the idea.
In retrospect, Mary probably was not accustomed to using her bare hands to eat. Unlike the Malays in her group, she was not brought up to eat that way. They perceived that their washed hands were hygienic enough to eat with but she could have been taught otherwise. Overcoming cultural barriers such as the example above are necessary to successful communication. As the saying goes, it takes both hands to clap. Thus, a successful intercultural communication involves active participation from all the parties involved.
Hi Ikhsan,
ReplyDeleteI agree that successful intercultural communication involves active participation from all parties. One must be willing to teach and the other must be will to learn and not be prejudice. It was nice of Mary’s group to agree to eat with utensils. I feel that it is kind of strange that she finds eating with her hands unhygienic; after all when we eat fast food we eat it with our bare hands. It might be possible that she did not know how to eat rice with her bare hands, I find that it require skill and practice to eat without dropping rice all over the place.
Regards,
Peh Joo
Hey Peh Joo,
ReplyDeleteThat could be true as well. It also could be that she just take her hygiene more critically than others. However, I do not think the impact of the activity was totally diminished. The group still ate together. Thanks for the input!
Hey Ikhsan,
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that it intercultural communication does require effort from both parties, I feel that being aware of your surrounding environment is also critical.
In Mary's situation, having immersed herself in the Muslim culture and volunteering for ROW, she should have sufficiently familiarized herself with the practices during Ramadhan. So I feel that she could have done more to adapt herself to the situation.
At the same time, eating with her hands must have been something very different for her, let alone sharing a meal with others! From that perspective, her level of discomfort was totally understandable and here, her Muslim friends could have played thier part in helping her be more comfortable.
Hey Zabir,
ReplyDeleteThank you for bringing up the point that one should be aware of his/her surrounding environment. I feel maybe that there everyone has a limit on what they will accommodate to.
I also felt that my committee could have taken this issue into account before going ahead with the idea.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Ikhsan,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post you have shared! Living in the multicultural Singapore society, intercultural interactions are common. I think that in the situation you have described, Mary should have demonstrated more sensitivity when dealing with the situation. Maybe, like what Zab has mentioned, she could have learn more about the practices before she volunteered for the event. I can understand that Mary may have some cultural shock when she was first exposed to the practice. It was probably difficult for her to accept because she it was too different from how her culture was. I think that given more time she will be able to get used to the practice, after all, she volunteered for the event.