Dear Editor,
I want to share with you some stories about the differences between cultures. Priya, [not her real name], asked me to help her rent her home to foreigners. I found her some foreigners from the Check Republic, Germany and Ukraine. When the guests arrived, the men didn’t bring towels or soaps; they were expecting Priya to provide them because these items when they travel. I asked Priya to give them towels, and soap, but she refused. She said, she can’t let them use her towels, and she said, they should have brought their own towels. When she travels, she always walk with her towels. She offered to give them one bar of soap to share among themselves. When I heard this, I started laughing. It was the funniest thing I ever heard.
One bar of soap to be shared among three foreigners. When I asked Priya why she couldn’t give the men each a soap, she said she doesn’t see anything wrong with them sharing one bar of soap because this is common in Guyana. And, then, it dawned on me, I was dealing with cultural differences. In Guyana, when bathing, some people share one bar of soap. I did. Growing up in Guyana, I didn’t see anything wrong with it nor did I see it as unhygienic. So Priya is right. Guyanese do it all of the time. But I explained to her that these men came from a different culture, and they don’t share the same bar of soap.
Editor, here is another story about me this time. Growing up in Alboystown, I always showered at the yard pipe because there was no indoor shower. All the boys showered at the yard pipe in our underwear (Buckta). Having showered wearing my Buckta, I thought everyone showers wearing their Buckta. So when I joined the American military and I was sent to basic training, naturally I was taking showers wearing my Buckta. It wasn’t until I joined the military that I learned that people showered without wearing any clothes. In basic training, the soldiers did everything together. We eat, sleep, work, train and shower together. We took communal showers. The shower was one big open shower with no walls of separation and no privacy. About twenty men, naked as we were born, showered together. Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians.
Having never showered without wearing my Buckta, I felt and looked weird. I was the only soldier wearing my Buckta. Years later, I joined a gym, and I started showering without wearing my Buckta in another open shower. Today, I am still uncomfortable showering in an open shower with a group of men. It takes time to get over our culture. Editor, one last story, many Guyanese take toilet tissue and sitting toilets for granted. But in much of the rest of the world, these habits are rather strange – and may be less hygienic. Plenty of people would agree with me.
The penchant in Guyana for wiping after using the toilet – rather than rinsing off – is a source of puzzlement among Guyanese. Water cleans more neatly than paper. For example, when I was in Iraq with the American military, I used a toilet in one of Saddam Hussein palaces in Baghdad. The Iraqis don’t use traditional toilets like we in Guyana use. The toilet was a hole in the ground. No seat. No toilet paper. There is a wash sink to wash up when you are done. I recommend Guyana building some of these hole in the floor to be used for toilets because toilets and toilets papers are expensive. And by the way, it’s more hygienic.
Sincerely,
Anthony Pantlitz
