NATIONAL WAVE ASSOCIATION OF WAVERS-NWAW

wave 

waved, wav·ing, waves

verb

To move one's hand to and fro in greeting or as a signal.

To cause to move back and forth or up and down, either once or repeatedly

I have always been a self-confessed waver.  There is something good for the soul about sending out a wave to people you don’t know while travelling.  I have always done it on all of my trips and more predominately on my 6 month South American trip last year and most recently my West African trip this year.  Particularly on my West Africa trip, we were passing through villages that either didn’t see many or nil foreign people, add to that, us sitting on an 8 ton passenger truck which they would never see in their day to day life, the wave seemed to have more of an effect on both parties.  Especially for me, as the effect seemed to be more personable; than say; waving to some-one in a big city like Accra for example.  It was also really cool to have a fellow waver on the last 7 weeks of the trip in the form of my waving partner in crime, Ian.  Between the 2 of us, there was always someone waving from Madge, we would be waving at the same people, we would share waves, challenge each other with long distance waves and I would also like to think that we encouraged other travelers on the truck to wave more than they might have had we not been as ‘wavy’ as we were.    

After spending 10 weeks in West Africa in 9 countries I have to say that Guinea and Sierra Leone take the award for the friendliest people out of the West African countries.  In Guinea we had groups of kids run after the truck, on more than one occasion, and some of my favorite photos were catching that on film.  Rich asked if I had been keeping a wave tally of the trip, which of course I hadn’t but wouldn’t it have been interesting to know how many waves have been shared with the West African people.  Let’s have a think about this.  Let’s assume that I would wave around 200 times a day, that’s around 20 waves an hour (I think that is a pretty fair guess) it may be a little more, but taking into account 2 day stays where we don’t go anywhere in the truck, let’s say 200.  I was on the road for 70 days, that makes a total of 14,000 waves and let’s say half of them are returned, some are in groups, some don’t see, some don’t wave back at all, some are scared, that means that I have received over 7,000 waves back and then if you add in Ian for his 50 days, as he is up there in the wave club-we have sent out nearly 24,000 waves and isn’t that just amazing!  Something that costs nothing can make such an impact to the sender and also the receiver.  If you have not waved to people you don’t know, especially when travelling, you do not know what you are missing.  I have never seen anyone wave as much as me until I met Ian and it is good to know that some else also enjoys dishing out some waves and smiles on trips.

So I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur on waving, and believe it or not there is a traveler’s etiquette to the wave and also different types of waves and thought that I would share them with you.  Feel free to use them on your next travel overseas, and notice the immediate difference you make to some-one you don’t know and also the high you get when you receive one back from a complete stranger.  It is just a shame that we can’t do the same thing back in western society without looking like a loony tune, but imagine the difference we could make to people back in our own cities……   

So there are 4 main groups of waver that I noticed in West Africa.  When you send out over 14,000 waves in nearly 3 months, you get to see a pattern and pick up consistencies on the type people that will return a wave, how they return a wave and the way they return a wave.   

::GROUPS OF WAVERS::

KIDS

They are the highest ratio of wavers and return wavers.  I guess kids are less likely to worry about the fear of rejection if a wave is not returned.  Children are the most energetic with their waves and also the only ones that ran behind the truck as we passed through small villages.  The kid’s waves entail an open hand and a fast movement from side to side.  It is a happy wave and will ALWAYS result in a friendly smile.  This is my favorite wave of all.

COOL DUDES

These are the teenagers of the community.  They are the cool dudes and a wave could border on the ‘uncool’ for them.  So you need to be ‘cool’ in order to receive a wave back from this generation.  It generally entails a single hand with your pointer and thumb extended (like you are pointing to something) and then a nod of a head to accompany the ‘wave’.  Sometimes you even have to forgo the wave it is just a nod of a head and a smile will suffice for the cool dudes.  If I make eye contact with the cool dudes, I will generally always look back after we have passed this generation and there will always be a small wave, a blown kiss or just another acknowledgement of your presence and that gives you a spring to your step just as much as a wave would have.   

ADULTS

It is always a hit and miss with adults, but on a whole we got a great strike rate from adults, males and females alike.  This generation works hard, in the field, carrying liters of water, bowls of goods on their heads and they were 95% of the time happy to take a break from pulling rice in the fields as we passed or stop on the side of the road to give us a wave, even with the loads that they would be carrying.  It is quite inspirational that they do take the time, seriously some of their loads would be up to 20kg+ and they were always happy to send a wave back.  In Guinea and Sierra Leone there would be people sitting on the roof of cars as transport, and some of those cars would be travelling at a great rate of speed, and I would feel bad waving to these guys on the roof as they would have to let go of their grip on the car to wave back and I always envisaged that they would fall off trying to wave back at me.  It never did happen, but this is the risks we are talking about that they were happy to take to send a wave back.  It was this group where we received the 2 handed waves, one hand was apparently not enough.

THE OLDER GENERATION 

The older generation always seemed like a tough nut to crack.  They have obviously been around the longest and depending on the West African country, they have probably seen their fair share of foreign people in their lifetime and with each country’s own history particularly of slavery hundreds of years ago, they always look wise and most times solemn and serious.  This never stopped Ian and I waving to the older generation, and after the kid’s wave, the older generation was the biggest buzz for me as their serious faces would break into a massive unexpected smile and they were more than happy to wave back at us.  It felt even more satisfying to receive a wave back from the old ducks for some reason and to just see (sometimes their toothy grins) was unexplainable.  This was also probably the age group, if I had to pick one, that had the lowest return rate, but I do contribute that to old people being old people, when they were waved at, I noticed they were incredibly old and I am guessing it would require a great amount of effort to wave back and also aged related, they just simply may not see us waving at them with their eye sight fading.

::KINDS OF WAVES::

Single hand wave-the most popular and used by all groups with a bent elbow.

 Double hand wave-most popular with the kids and the adults.  Does it count as 2 waves?

Group wave-you send out one wave and 10 people wave back.  They are the best waves of all.

The hand clamp wave-like people have won a championship, 2 hands clasped to one shoulder.

Hand to chest-this was endearing when people would clench a fist and hold it over their heart.  Technically not a wave, but meant just as much. 

Accidental wave-these can be a little embarrassing and there are 2 accidental waves.  The first one is when you think you are replying to a wave when really they are just lifting an axe or other arm lifting activity.  The second accidental wave is when you are waving at a certain person and then people further down the road receive the end of the wave and think you are waving at them, which you could be and you issue a late wave so that they don’t feel bad.  That is probably the trickiest etiquette of all of them. 

Long distance wave

Generally given with a straight arm to get maximum wav-age Ian and I made a competition early on in the trip on who could get a distance wave.  This meant who we could get the longest wave from a person, generally working in the fields.  Ian won overall with a 300m wave from someone, then Rich fell in second place by default with someone distance waving at him and then I came in third on trying a long distance wave in a rice field to be told by Rich that he thought I was waving at a scarecrow, and he was right!  These waves were definitely the hardest to get as most times people did not even know we were waving, let alone get one back from over 500m away.   

The runners

These were the ones that made us laugh the most.  Passing through villages you would see kids sprinting from the huts, through the bushes, from school buildings to come to the road to meet us and wave.  We saw kids fall over; some do whatever it took to get to the road.  Guinea and Sierra Leone had the biggest amount of runners and some of the kids would run for over 500m behind the truck with them all yelling and screaming and waving at us.  The largest group would have been over 20 kids and it really is a sight to behold and witnessed.  This you only really get runners in rural areas, we never got city runners, but it was always funny when some-one from the truck would yell out ‘we have a runner’ and see small children running for the truck. 

On the last weeks of the trip, Clem and I were coming up with ideas for this blog entry and we came up with some wave theories, you know like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, but ours was on the wave, just as important if you ask us.  So below are a few that we came up with and wanted to share.  Thanks Cleminator for your input-it helped kill some time on the truck and also gave us a good laugh at the same time. 

R=S+DW (Received=Sprinters+Double Wavers)

H+W=P (Happiness+Waving=Pleasure)

P=R+D+S=G  (Pleasure=Receiving+Double Wave+Sprinters+Groups)

So a wave is not just a wave. 

A lot of thought and effort goes into a wave and the outcomes are bigger than you ever thought possible.  I have never seen anyone wave as much as Ian on the trip and to have a fellow waver was cool, we were fellow wavers in unity and most of the times we sat on the same side of the truck, so when we see something or somebody, waving or not, we turn and know that we have seen the same thing and have a laugh.  It is nice to meet a fellow waving machine and I would nearly go as far and say as a bigger waver then me, well nearly. 

I now declare the National Wave Association of Wavers officially a group!
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