Thinking
about this incident can still turn my cheeks red.
My
Béninois host and I had just concluded a meeting during which we had reviewed
progress and discussed issues related to a project my agency had funded at the
Port of Cotonou. (Bénin is a small West African country sandwiched between Togo
and Nigeria) My host, a friendly and
most hospitable man, told me a previous commitment would prevent him from
driving me to the airport but that he would try to get there in time to see me
off.
Early
that evening I took a taxi to the airport, found the Air France check-in and
got in line behind two African travelers. As promised, my host soon walked
through the main doors and waved. As he approached he grabbed my suitcase and
said “What are you doing here?” and moved me and my suitcase to the front of
the line, leaving the two African travelers where they were. I was deeply
embarrassed and protested mildly but ended up staying where he put me.
A few
years later I heard a conference presenter say that people posted to foreign
countries often come to accept many of the quirky aspects of their host
cultures. She also said that there would be things expatriates would never be
able to accept no matter how long they lived in their adopted country.
Did
my host’s actions qualify as a quirky local custom? Could
that little scene be construed as an example of local hospitality? Were his actions based on his interpretation
of my status, or was he acting out of a sense of his own place in the socio
economic hierarchy of his culture?
These
are important and challenging questions that should perhaps have been more
prominent in my mind at the time. One thing I am certain of—and I knew it then--by
not protesting more forcefully or moving myself back to where I’d been
standing, I acquiesced.
I welcome your comments.
