Hand Shaking And Hand Touching Alternatives During The Wuhan Crisis

Hands - apparently we all touch our faces ten times an hour. Shakes hands with somebody else, take a plate or spoon or pair of chopsticks, then touch the lift button on the way home - what can you do to avoid contamination?





Shaking Hands

.Let's start with shaking hands.

As President of Braddell Heights Advanced club I am expected to shake hands with members and visitors. That could be 8 to 10 or more people. .. 

At Emmaus Club I mentioned namaste.





Raymond demonstrated a Chinese greeting.

Then as Toastmaster of the Day, during an evening, I might shake hands with ten or more people, twice, as they enter the stage and leave it.


Namaste greeting in hotel.

Namaste
With the Wuhan coronavirus threatening the world in February 2020, I decided as toastmaster of the day at Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters International club, to give up our usual system of shaking hands to welcome guests and each time I enter and leave the stage. Instead I used the oriental Namaste greeting, a nod and pressing both hands palms together.

I then followed this by clapping my hands to encourage the audience to do the same to welcome the speaker onto the stage.

This worked well. I remembered every time.

The previous day I had visited Emmaus Catholic Toastmasters club, where I was the General Evaluator, commenting on the whole meeting. I had remembered to avoid hand shaking most of the time.

I was not able to stop others trying to hand around plates, and chopsticks. At the break time we had lo hei, which is a Singapore custom involving a communal plate of food.

You can buy it from supermarkets at assorted prices. The price varies according to the size and contents. The ingredients are various colours of vegetables, added sauces or spices. Depending on whether it includes fish, such as the more expensive smoked salmon, other fish, or is purely vegetarian and vegan.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See later post on this subject. Please share links to your favourite posts.