Being in Africa now brings a new element to my lifestyle which is skin color. I love the Latin culture, which didn’t make South America a big deal or really any different for me. Then onto Europe, that is basically where my ancestors are from so it was pretty normal. But now onto Africa is where things get interesting for me. And thinking about it and processing my thoughts led me to wonder why does it matter to me if someone has black skin or white skin or brown skin? It’s only due to skin pigment and [long] exposure to the sun right?
Where I grew up, it was very ethnically diverse. All cultures and backgrounds and skin colors. As my schooling time passed, it seemed to be the trend that Whites were becoming the minority. I felt relatively safe in my neighborhood. Nothing too bad or scary had happened to make me think otherwise. But I realized it was from school that this fear in me arose. During high school it was an unspoken rule [for us white people] that you didn’t upset the black people. Pretty much, you went out of our way to stay out of their way.
Even though I have been in some pretty sketchy situations previously on the Race in both South America and Europe, it wasn’t until Johannesburg, South Africa that I was truly afraid for my life for the first time. And why was I scared? These people could be the nicest people in the world, but I was already judging simply on skin color. This just seemed to be the culture I knew and grew up in. It is completely unfair to these South Africans. Especially to those who have already been treated so badly due to apartheid. Yeah I need to be on my guard in other countries and cultures but really no more on guard in Africa than I was in the previous 2 continents or even on the continent where I live.
We had our first day of ministry and in the afternoon, we went to the township and started rounding up kids to play soccer. The first kids who came are white. This truly surprised me. Then more kids came, but they were all black. There were only 4 white kids at soccer. Why only 4? I don’t know, but they definitely stood out to me. When we started making friendships with these kids, I was drawn more to the white children. All the kids were precious and cute but the ones who stuck out to me and who I wanted to play with were white. My favorite little girl is 6 and I loved to hold her. She is so cute and looks totally ‘normal’, until we started talking and because of her Afrikaans accent, is kind of hard to understand and the fact that she has braids/extensions. She is African too. Why am I not afraid of her? Am I more comfortable with her because we are of the same skin color? That doesn’t seem very fair to the rest of the children here.
(Hanging out with the kids after soccer. Passing out apples and Christmas cards)
I think I am learning how big of an impact culture has on a person growing up. These children, living in poverty and in mixed races will grow up with a different viewpoint and perspective on life than I have. Probably even a more just and grateful perspective than I currently have. It’s taking me some work, but I know I can break these viewpoints and judgments I currently hold in order to see everyone, whether they are white, black, brown, rich, poor, clean, dirty, English speaking or not as equals and to love them as God loves us.
(Playing as goal keeper with the kids)
