WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

138 WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES
Adjusting to a simple lifestyle will cause tensions for those who come
from developed economies or from backgrounds accustomed to having
amenities. What may be considered as necessities in one's home culture may
be regarded as luxuries in the host culture.
Some of my colleagues who served in South Asia decided they would
not own refrigerators because the people they were ministering to did not have
them. Later they realised that refrigerators though considered a luxury item
were not a hindrance in their desire to identify with the people. Having a
refrigerator certainly helped to reduce stress where storing food was concerned.
Today, there is a variety to choose from even in South Asia.
4 Environment and Health
Dirt and dust are commonplace almost anywhere, and often there is
nothing much that can be done to alter the situation. More difficult to face are
unhygienic factors which prevail because of poor sanitation. Ants, bugs, fleas,
mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats abound in many locations. Clean water is
not always available.
One common mistake is to think that the people in the culture detest
cleanliness. In fact, the lack of cleanliness may be an issue not only for the
cross-cultural worker but also for the local people.
A young missionary was learning the culture of a people living in hot
and dry conditions. He would only take a shower or two in a week, just as he
would in his temperate country. His friends in the host culture had to tactfully
tell him he should bathe twice daily, using clean water from the well. Body
odour was offensive to this particular culture!
In a South Asian country, workers had to adjust to the fact that toilet
paper was not used. Toilet paper was too expensive an item for the local people.
They would use water and soap.
One of the common symptoms of cultural stress is a preoccupation with
unhygienic conditions and germs. Some people indulge in washing their hands
excessively and at odd moments. Others will refuse to eat food offered by people
in the host culture. We should note that no cross-cultural worker can live
normally or minister adequately if he refuses to eat with the people.
Although illness is a risk, the worker need not be overly anxious if he
has learned how to refrain from drinking untreated water and from eating
uncooked food. In some countries, water has to be boiled and left boiling for at
least five minutes. Untreated vegetables at the roadside stall in countries where
dangerous diseases prevail should also be avoided. Even nationals with builtin
resistance to certain viruses are careful with their eating habits. They also
value health.