3 Eye-Opening Lessons I Learned as a White Woman in Africa

If you've ever wondered about my experiences while living in East Africa, have I got the post for you!  I have guest posted over on Verily Merrily Mary about 3 lessons I learned as a white woman living in Africa.  These experiences were the catalyst for me becoming passionate about intercultural dialogue and racial equality.  Go ahead, hop on over and check it out!

Click here to read the post...


Flashback Summer: 3 Eye-Opening Lessons I Learned as a White Woman in Africa

10 comments

  1. Beautiful post, Emileigh. It is very interesting to hear about this perspective because it's one that is far less common. I really appreciate your honesty in the post with regards to the challenges and difficulties that you faced. Such a fresh an honest perspective really allows us readers to understand your situation and the situations of the people who you described.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I totally agree with Jessie... this was a very interesting and insightful post! Thanks for speaking out

      Delete
  2. This was a great post, very eye opening into something that most of us do not experience. I think it's so important to move outside the western centric view of race and racism; these issues are so complex that simple platitudes such as "only white people can be racist" really play own these issues and only serve to reinforce a western centric worldview

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's true, there are many other viewpoints and experiences with racism that have nothing to do with the U.S. or even the "black vs. white" tension we seem to focus on the most.

      Delete
  3. Eloquent and highly engaging post. Your passion for cultural awareness and for having frank, informative dialogues about it is downright refreshingly and always welcomed with open arms on my end.

    ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much, Jessica! I always love hearing from you. :)

      Delete
  4. Beautiful post! Cultural awareness is such a beautiful and important thing to have, especially when you are white and come from a society with a white majority "No matter the place in the world, an ‘us and them,’ divisive mentality has to be intentionally fought by dismantling systems of inequality. Unity will not come about by accident" I could not agree with that statement more, the us and them idea is perfectly explained in the 'blue eyes / brown eyes' experiment ( you can watch it on youtube), it shows perfectly how meaningless differences when given meaning can tear society (or in this case a classroom full of friends) apart.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, and even if somehow all the governments and social structures were magically equalized, we as humans would still fall back into some sort of category-making if we weren't vigilant to fight it. We all gravitate toward people like us, and that natural tendency has to be acknowledged and moved past to be able to have unified, diverse societies!

      Delete
  5. I really enjoyed reading this post. Sometimes it is hard to think of yourself as an outsider or different when you are surrounded by all the same "type" of people. I grew up in a very white town, and I joke you could count any POC in a grade with one hand. But I did grow up going to day cares where I was the only white girl, so I at least had the benefit of growing up without the prejudice that black or hispanic kids were different (side note I wanted cornrows so badly so I could be just like my friends, but I had super silky hair so that wasn't going to happen)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad you've enjoyed it! I also group up in a VERY white town before living in Africa (95% white, to be exact), so I totally understand where you're coming from! Although I didn't know very many POC, I became friends with those who were around me. I hated racism even then and would stick up for the kids that couldn't speak English well or were picked on, but I only wish I had known to ask more questions about their experiences. I knew I hated racism, but no one ever really talked about it, so I didn't even think to ask. Now I do, though!

      Delete