Day 2 Cont'd - The Minority

Here is a journal I wrote for an assignment. I might post some of these (at least the interesting ones) every once in a while, especially since I learned SO much while in Ghana with these amazing people!

Discuss a cultural experience you had this week and the impact it will have on your personal life.

I've only been in Ghana for 2 days, but I have definitely had some cultural experiences.

One of the main cultural experiences so far is my experience of being a minority in a population. Now I was born and raised in Orem, Utah. The majority of the people there are white and LDS. I fit that mold perfectly. I've never been in a situation where I feel out of place or different from other people around me, because I'm the same as they are. I've never been really concerned about if what I say will be acceptable to other people. I've never had to worry that my white friends think my way of living is strange or different. Because I fit in perfectly.

Now I come to Ghana and I am one of the very few white people here. I stand out like a sore thumb. I walk around and people stare at me. Granted, it's not the worst thing in the world by any means. For example, I love the attention from the little kids, running around saying, "Abruni! Etese!” (White person, how are you?) That is definitely very fun. But this "standing out" thing is very different.

That's me in the glasses. :)

It is different because, for the first time in my life, people stare at me because I am different than them. I also get treated differently because I am different. No, I don't get treated poorly, but different. I'm sure Ghanaians aren't followed around by kids all day like we are. I'm sure a lot of Ghanaians aren't expected to have a lot of money like we are. It's interesting to get treated differently as the minority.

At times I've been nervous as the minority. Like our first day in the grocery store I just wanted to get our food and get out of there. Why? Because it felt weird to be stared at for me. I felt threatened. I don't think its because I felt like the people were going to hurt me - maybe my identity as "one of the majority" was being threatened. What I was used to was being threatened. I don’t know.

This has made me think a lot about the minorities back home and how they must feel - the Latinos, the Asians, even the "non - members.” They must be nervous at times, just like I've felt here sometimes. They also get treated differently because they are different. A lot of times people assume that Latinos can't be trusted, or they must not have very much money. They are seen as not very intelligent because it is assumed that they drop out of school or don't speak English very well. Sometimes even I've been guilty of these stereotypes.

I wonder how they feel when they are treated differently? Probably a lot like me - kind of out of place. It must be hard to live like that all the time. This experience of mine is only going to be 3 weeks, but it must be strange to live like this all the time. Like I said, it must be hard.

This experience of being the minority has really helped me to feel more empathy towards the minorities back home. It's helped me see how I regard and treat them differently, even when I'm not aware of it sometimes. Yes, they are different, both culturally and their skin-color. But does that mean I should not regard them with the same high regard as I do with the white people I associate with? I don't think so. These differences of ours shouldn't make a huge difference in how we treat each other, but it does.

When I go home I'm going to try harder to embrace the differences I have with other people. I guess instead of looking at the differences, I'm going to try and look at the similarities. And not just between different races, but even between people with different personalities or ways of living their lives. Looking for the similarities instead of the differences will help me to bridge the gap between a lot of people in my life and will help me to connect with them.

These kids and their smiles make my heart melt. They are adorable.

I am so grateful I have this experience to be in Ghana, and this experience of feeling what it's like to be the minority. It's really opened my eyes to what other people must feel like. It's really helped me increase my understanding of other people.