Discrimination Is Everywhere

Today, I went grocery shopping with Sarah at the local mall. She is leaving for field work in a few days and let me tag along with her so I could buy a few things for myself. I bought some orange juice and chocolate. (Note: For future African adventures, always bring enough chocolate to last for most of your trip. If this means looking like Willie Wonka while going through airport security, then so be it. The probability Africa will have chocolate you recognize may be slim and expensive. It took me a bit to find some snickers…)

While shopping, Sarah wanted to pick out some transparent coverings for her trip. She asked a store person for help, and while he stood near her as she asked direct questions, he was very rude. Sarah would ask questions about the products she was looking at, and he would hardly answer her. She told him he didn't have what she wanted and she would check again. After leaving, she overheard him say something to another employee. All in all, it was a very rude thing for him to do. She wanted to tell the manager, and while waiting, yet another employee at customer service was rude! The manager seemed to understand and after filling out the form, we left.

While on the way back to icipe, she told me about how some business owners would discriminate against black people here. She told me if I were to go into a restaurant that had a line of people waiting, that I would probably be seated before most of the other based solely on the fact that I am a white person. Of course, when I go to a market suddenly the prices skyrocket, but when it comes to services, I will be served better than people who have been living here their whole life.

She told me the story of a man who went to a café to buy 10 pastries. The owner would not serve him. When the man asked why, then showed he had the money, the owner called the cops and the man was arrested. When the police questioned the owner, he said something along the lines of the order being too large to handle. (You should know this is a large café by the way. It would be like me buy 10 kolaches. No problem.)

I was so surprised though that even here, black people were discriminated against. In their own country no less. When I learned I was going to be an intern, I prepared myself for my eyes to be opened on things like poverty, hunger, and the society of 3^rd world countries. I wasn’t as much prepared for discrimination against a country’s own people.