I’m in Africa but I’m sitting in a restaurant at the mall, across from the movie theater with the newest Hollywood releases, using wifi to imessage and facebook. All the signs and menus are in English. When I walk through the mall window-shopping, I see clothes, shoes, and accessories I would buy in a heartbeat if I were back in the States. It’s all very familiar.
On our day off, we usually go to the mall for wifi and coffee and maybe to run into other teams from our squad or perhaps even to see a movie. This mall is like any mall in the U.S. although the wifi is less reliable and the coffee usually better.
I’m in Africa but it’s so much like America. Traveling through the city, I see the large Radisson Hotel, then the Intercontinental Hotel. We pass the USAID “Read to Succeed” program office. In another neighborhood, the wall in front of a large crème and blue building reads, “Campus Crusade for Christ–Zambia”. Every bus ride we hear as much American music as we do anything else.
In the crowd of children at the school where we volunteer, I saw a boy wearing a red t-shirt with gold letters that read USMC JROTC surrounding a U.S. Marine globe and anchor emblem; another boy had a grey t-shirt with orange letters that read “Texas football” over a “Hook em’ Horns” logo; another wore a Seattle Seahawks hoodie; another had a New England Patriots shirt.
No matter what country I’m in, America is not far off. Every country I’ve been in has American restaurant chains, clothing stores, and music on the radio. American popular culture has permeated countries around the world, maybe not every part of every country, but certainly the major cities and especially the younger generations.
People overseas take a serious interest in who we elect. They often know more about our officials’ political platforms than we do.
While driving home with our host one night, he asked what we thought about President Obama. He said that people in Zambia always had an opinion on the U.S. President. Our president is so important and impacts so many people around the world in such a decisive way, that they can be just as happy or disappointed with him as we are. As I’ve travelled, I often found that true. Friends overseas often ask how I feel about our president and if what they hear is really what’s going on in the U.S. It used to surprise me that I had more discussions about U.S. politics abroad than I did in the U.S. I didn’t realize how and to what extent our government’s policies impact people around the world. But after traveling so much the past few years, it’s no small thing.
There is still plenty that is distinctly African such as the crowded vans they use for public transportation, the many street vendors selling everything from vegetables to cell phone chargers as cars wait in traffic, and the women dressed in brightly colored wraps and dresses.
The surprising thing, however, is that a continent and six time zones away, I can feel as though I’m only a block away from home, sitting in the café with my coffee and wifi chatting with friends.
