I have been in Africa long enough to completely forget that my skin is white. The other day I was eating lunch with all my co-workers. They are all Rwandan or Ugandan. I was the only white girl in the room! It’s such an awesome feeling (especially coming from a country where the color of ones skin has played a major part in our history). We are not “American” or “Rwandan”. We are human…God’s children. We have only one creative creator.
A few days later, I was playing with some P1 and P2 students after lunch. Some of the new students have never had the chance to hang all over a white person. Well, I gave them that chance! I felt someone touching my foot and I looked down and a little girl was feeling the vein in my foot. My vein appears greenish-blue against my very white skin. Their veins are not visible against their dark skin. They love rubbing my arm and feeling my arm hair…they don’t have much arm hair and you certainly can’t see it! I showed them how I can push on my arm and a red spot briefly appears before vanishing. They thought it was magic. Some tried it on their arms with no success. Their black skin does not show the red marks like mine does.
They LOVE touching my hair. It’s like I’m a rare unicorn when I let them touch my hair. I started flipping my head over and let my hair fall over their heads and they screamed in excitement. I would spin around as they watched the yellow blur fly past them. I haven’t heard so many giggles in a long time! I had to condition my locks two times after that day!
My favorite white girl in Africa story includes Diane. One day she was holding my hand and started smelling my fingers, then smelling her fingers. It was precious. I knew exactly what she was doing: smelling to see if my skin smelled like hers. The mind of a 5 year old…amazing!
I really can’t put into words how awesome my life is.
“Our true nationality is mankind.” –H.G. Wells
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