Wednesday, January 30, 2019

First month in Shianda




There has been almost a month now since I arrived to Shianda. It hasn’t passed neither quickly nor slowly. I have been enjoying every moment and I am very grateful for living this new experience. I think it would be wise to “touch” in this post the issue that concerned me the most and gave me food for thought from the beginning:  local community’s conception of a white person.
 
It was not difficult to notice that “wazungu” (white people) are seen and treated as different in every context, from WEFOCO’s (our hosting organization) office till the streets. Let’s give some examples:

Whenever I go to the office, the staff provides me with a chair, even though I am already seated on the bench.
During the orientation meeting, our director mentioned that “Here you will face cultural differences, for example in Europe they don’t greet each other. Here we even shout from a distance to another person”.
When I washed some clothes for first time, my landlord’s wife exclaimed “Oh, you wash your clothes alone!”. The second time I did it (in bigger quantity), she asked me “Do you know how to wash clothes?”. After a while my landlord came and told me: “That’s a lot of work for you, next time we call the cleaning lady.”
Every time I take a walk in the surrounding Shianda area, there are always willing drivers who stop asking to give me a lift.

People really want to interact with me, from a simple handshake till a small talk. However, I have the impression that they feel afraid and shy, hesitating that their way of approaching may be offensive for an American (since all “wazungu” must be Americans!).  I’ve heard questions like “Did you come out from a computer?” as well as compliments like “You are smart”, once I greeted a child in Swahili. 

It took me some time on reflecting about the causes that led to that kind of behavior and are strongly related to historical, socio-economic and political reasons. Furthermore, I am in a small rural area so I have to bear in mind the stimuli that people receive here. Most of them rarely see "wazungu" in person, or probably have seen them from a TV or book image and there are others who may not have experienced again the surprise of seeing people with different skin color in any means.

As I am myself from a small village of a Greek island, I can’t say that people’s mentality is unfamiliar to me.  Interacting with them comes out naturally so I started coming closer to them exchanging information.  

Whenever I am offered a chair in the office, I tell them I feel comfortable also sitting on the bench.
I underline to the director that Europeans vary greatly among them according to their place, customs and traditions. In addition to that, if one visits some European countries, he/she cannot have a general image about Europe, the same as if you are in Kenya (which is SO MUCH diverse anyway between ethnic groups and clans) and generalize about Africa. In fact, in many European rural settings, greeting each other on the street and shouting by distance is common.
Every time I hear a kid or adult calling me “mzungu”, I go towards him/her and we introduce ourselves so that next time it would be much better that he/she calls me with my name. And believe me, it works! And they are proud of themselves assuring me: "You see, I remember your name!".

When they offer me a motorbike lift, I kindly refuse pointing out that walking is a way of exercise for me and I like it. I have explained to my landlord and his wife that hand washing is common not only in Africa. I enjoy doing it and I know how to do it, as I had my mother’s example from a young age.

I love walking and hiking, so my walks around Shianda are frequent. That way, I get to meet and interact with a lot of people.  It is an opportunity to share with them things and take them one step further from ignorance. I have met people who were surprised when I told them that in Europe there also exist rural areas with dirt roads and villages, people who couldn’t think that in the majority of the countries English is not an official language, people who believe that everybody with white skin is rich.

And then I start telling them about economic crisis, refugees, immigration, governments’ corruption and unemployment.  I tell them that there are more continents than Africa and America in the world, that people live together in them having different backgrounds, color and culture and among them you can find “wazungu”, who speak other mother tongues than English (!) in every place you go. I tell them that wealth in the world lies in the hands of very few and that at the end in feels much better having less. I tell them that we should all focus on the things that we already have e.g. family than those that we don’t have e.g. money.  And lastly, I tell them that we are all humans and we have to cover the same needs to be happy, we have to emphasize on the things that unite us, rather than those that separate us.


It turns out that every time I give this kind of “speeches”, there is a crowd gathered around me nodding their heads, identifying themselves with what I share with them and finally recognizing me as "sister". Many of them ask for my contact for more information exchange and I forward them to WEFOCO. It’s a great opportunity to promote my hosting organization and its actions.  Empowerment, enabling and confidence boost for everybody. To be continued…