On being a minority

I have never been such an obvious minority in my life. It's pretty eye opening. I am under no illusion that 90% of the people I run into see me as "WHITE PERSON" and the rest while constantly aware of it actually see me as Laura. People here will say good morning mzungu (white person.) It's really not a slur, but coming from a society where it is unthinkable to run around screaming "Hi black people!!!" it's difficult to get a handle on.

Then there is the staring. People here have no qualms about blatant staring, they even break into uncontrollable laughter if you talk to them or turn your back. I can't tell you how many times I have gone out to brush my teeth and aimlessly stared at a tree to discover 5 children sitting in it staring back at me. Everyone wants to greet me and is extremely happy to see me all the time. That's nice but it's because I'm white. It's really wierd. It's the closest thing I will be to a celebrity. I've had random people take pictures of me and 7 year olds propose. It's sort of funny, easily frustrating and over in 16 months. Not the worst thing in the world but I can definately understand why someone might beat a photographer with their own camera.

Then there is the strange phenomenon of people thinking that being a minority only makes life easier. I have had conversations with people who tell me it must be so easy for me to get rides because I am white (and that's absolutely true) but refuse to believe that people try to charge me extra for everything because I am white. Even when it happens right in front of them. It's exactly the same as people who think affirmative action is grossly unfair but deny the exsistence of any other type of prejudice.