Becoming the minority

Traveling from Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi to Ethiopia to Malawi is a very interesting transition into the African continent. First the people around you have different accents and are speaking different languages. Then when I was in line for the flight to Nairobi the population became close to half white folks traveling to Africa and half black folks headed home or to see family. Then I was met at the airport by Ashford, who will lead my trip with Carl to Meru in March, and suddenly I was the only white person I could see. I am now on an Ethiopian Air flight and am definitely in the minority. It is very humbling. And one might think since I live in Detroit where the majority is African American that I would feel similar but when you go anywhere else in SE MI you will be mostly surrounded by white folks. The airport is mostly white in Detroit, the restaurants we frequent are pretty white, etc. But here it leaves you with a feeling of vulnerability that I wonder if that is what a black person in a mostly white world is feeling regularly, daily.

Speaking of vulnerability, part of my nerves of going on this trip were due to the recent violence in Africa, Kenya in particular being surrounded by Sudan and Somalia to the north. But one of my seat mates on my Nairobi flight was with a group headed into Sudan to work at an orphanage for a week. And I realized, the places on my itinerary are pretty tame in comparison. So if people are brave enough to go into those countries who have even more struggle, I can be brave enough to live in Malawi and travel to Kenya. Screw you state department warnings;)

I met a white woman from Connecticut while waiting in line for Visas at Nairobi. She had spent some of her years in Ann Arbor and commented on how people tell her she has more of a Midwestern personality. She said that she cried a lot when she first moved back to Connecticut because the people were like Ice. I'm glad we Midwesterners are a friendly folk, I think that has helped me meet many cool people along the way.