Cross Cultural exchange

Part of the Peace Corps mandate is an exchange of cultures. Those of the USA with the people of the country we're living in, and visa versa, they with us. The exchange is just a normal part of daily life when different peoples live together. Everyone acts in their own unique ways influenced by their respective cultures. It is demonstrated in our actions and speech as we journey through our day. What you see in the picture was an exercise in cultural exchange. It is not from my USA culture to Namibian culture but from Senegalese to Namibian. I learned this gesture during my time living in a rural village of the Pulaar people in the southern region of Senegal. The four San girls in the photo were kind enough to pose showing their newly learned Pulaar gesture. The gesture is similar to that of what could be best described as the arm movement in the dance called 'the funky chicken'. The meaning of the gesture is - I refuse. There is also a goal to teaching that gesture. The goal is to tie that gesture into a message later on that says - Refuse unprotected sex and teenage pregnancy. So it isn't a mindless exchange only, it is laying some ground work. Kind of a two birds with one stone strategy.