Afrique, je t’aime! (Why I Love Africa)

By: Meisha


I first fell in love with the continent of Africa while traveling across West Africa. The diversity of cultures, mixture of languages, beautiful landscapes, and richness of history drew me in.  However, it was the unique joie de vivre and spirit of the people I met from Senegal to Nigeria that made me fall in love with Africa.  Until now, I have never been able to fully express in words what I felt. I have learned a new word in South Africa though that fully captures the essence of the African spirit—Ubuntu!

Ubuntu is a South African word that loosely means humanity to others and is based on a philosophy that a person is a person through their relationship with others.  I have learned from my South African friends that Ubuntu is also togetherness.  Despite our differences we are one. Everyone is treated with the same respect.  And whether or not I know you, I respect you as a human being.  You are my brother.  You are my sister.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu once defined Ubuntu as, “the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality – Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.” 

While Nelson Mandela described Ubuntu as when, “a traveller through a country would stop at a village and he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food, entertain him.”

I have witnessed Ubuntu as far north as Morocco and as far south as South Africa, in the warm (and sometimes really long) greetings that are extended to strangers and friends alike. In the numerous cups of mint tea, meals, and Cokes I have shared with strangers to welcome me to their country.  In the trust my neighbor has in her community, which permits her to let her 3-year-old son walk around and play in the neighborhood without her supervision (she literally goes door to door looking for him sometimes).  Or in the rides that strangers have given me that kept me from walking in the hot African sun.

I will never forget while traveling from Senegal to The Gambia during Ramadan, I got stuck at the border for over an hour while workers prayed and consumed their evening meal.  My friends and I were a little concerned about finding lodging at night.  A couple we chatted with, while waiting, invited us to abandon our taxi and ride with them into The Gambia.  They not only escorted us to an awesome hotel, but the next day they picked us up, took us on a tour, and invited us over to dinner for a delish meal of Chicken Yassa!  This was all done with no expectations.  The couple wouldn’t even take gas money from us.    

I encourage you, if you haven’t already, to visit Africa so you can experience Ubuntu for yourself. Be sure to include activities that will allow you truly mix and mingle with the local culture. I promise you that once you have a love for Africa will also develop in your heart!

Yeosu World Expo: The Ugly, the Bad and the Good

By Nicole Brewer (featured in the June issue of Busan Haps)


I attended the opening day of the Yeosu World Expo which is set to run through Aug. 12th.  Yeosu is a port city in the South Jeolla Province and its 317 islands. This year’s Expo theme is “The Living Ocean and Coast: Diversity of Resources and Sustainable Activities." The overall goal of the three month exhibition by countries from around the globe is to promote how humans can live in harmony with the ocean while also encouraging sustainable development and renewal energy.  

Nicole taking a photo opp. in the Oman pavilion. 

The Ugly- The expo was absolutely gorgeous with an astounding array of architectural designs, light exhibitions and dancers in vibrant, colorful costumes.  Nevertheless, I would be remiss to not mention that several of the pavilions were not finished on opening day.  I did not have time to investigate the corporate pavilions such as LG and Samsung but heard they too were incomplete. I did see a lot of wood planks and walled-off construction areas which was disappointing.  

The Bad- In order to be a successful international event with appeal to diverse backgrounds they need to have several languages available at the exhibitions.  There are 105 international pavilions to attract a varying crowd of participants.  However several pavilions, including the Korea’s, did not include English (the most widely used tourist language!) in the video displays.  

The Good- I was very impressed with the organization of the Expo.  We arrived around 8:30am with our tour group WinK (When in Korea). My suggestion to you is while you’re in Korea to not use this group, I was quite disappointed with their service, but I digress. After 9am you can reserve your 2 top pavilion choices.  

The "Big O" where fireworks and water displays are shown.

This helped smashingly in allowing us to detour long, never-ending lines unlike the Shanghai Expo of 2010.  When I attended the Shanghai Expo I was lucky to tour 4 pavilions in 6 hours.  Nevertheless, the crowds were much bigger in Shanghai but a reservation system could have indeed helped.

Even with some of the flaws I did have a lovely time and would recommend anyone living in Korea to check it out. I suggest visiting over the course of 2 days if you want to take a lot in.

Getting to and from Yeosu

The best route to Yeosu from Busan is by bus as there are no direct trains from here.  You can take either a bus from Sasang or Nopo terminals at a cost of 18,100 won. It takes 2 hours and 50 minutes. As reportedly widely in the media, poor planning by the Expo commission has, much like other international events in Korea, vastly under supplied the surrounding area with accommodations. Book in advance or consider staying at Gwangju, which is about 40 minutes away.

Giving It All Up…To Get So Much More…

By: Brittany S

As a Black American, I cringe whenever I go abroad and hear other Americans and non-Americans alike describe what it is like in America.  Almost every description I have ever heard describes mainstream America, not its subcultures.  But who is at fault for this?  Is it A—the non-ethnic American that reports their culture as if it represents the (approximately) other 31.3 million of us?  Or is it B—the non-American that takes the opinions of one or a few and solidifies their perspective of the entire group?  By all standards, that is not a large enough sample size to be statistically significant.  Answer?  A, B, and C.  What’s C?  ME.  Because I let my own assumptions about going abroad keep me from going, I let A be the only representation for B, who might only know what they’ve been told.  When I sat and thought about my assumptions and realized that’s all they were, I opened my heart to new possibilities.  So here is a piece of me, from my heart to yours.  Hopefully this will help you give up your assumptions, whatever they may be.  Ultimately, my decision to go abroad stemmed from the fact that the majority of my hesitations were just assumptions and nothing more.  I shared a few of them here.

1—I’m broke and should be at home working to pay off debt, not out playing in another country.

I’m an educator by trade, an English educator at that.  What am I doing abroad right now? Teaching English.  I’m definitely not over here playing.  Also, the amount of money that I make here compared to what I would make at home is less, but so is the cost of living.  In fact, it is so much lower that I have money left over to pay off student loans, credit card bills, send money home for emergencies, AND travel to different COUNTRIES (not cities, but countries).  For those of you who are not interested in education professions, there are other options.  I know several people who are engineers, auditors, etc and they are expat women of color, too.  Don’t let this thought be a hindrance for you the way it was for me.  I could have been traveling earlier when I took a break from school to try and sort some things out.

2—I can’t pack a lot of stuff, I’m going to look sloppy the whole time I’m there. L

The biggest part of this one was my HAIR.  All of you Africana women out there know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.  For the most part, the only people who understand our hair are our people.  What in the world was I gonna do with my bra-length relaxed hair in Korea?  Also, my size 10 feet do NOT fit Korean shoes.  I had 1 suitcase filled with four seasons of clothes.  Not nearly enough to be fierce!  I will say, however, since I’ve been abroad, stuff that I usually wouldn’t wear it America I wear over here and feel a lot more carefree and confident about my fashion choices, even down to my hair length and texture.  The Koreans keep calling me a fashionista!  I even cut all my hair off a week before I came here.  My hair was longer at birth.  I’m not saying you have to 

My hair now. It survived! My friend straightens her own hair.

do a big chop and mix & match a bunch of rags, but what I am saying is being abroad makes you appreciate living in the moment, not being seen as a moment passes you by.  People remember their encounters with me for the witty/silly things I said, not the way I was dressed.  But don’t fret.  If you really feel naked without all your accessories and MUST be able to shop, trust me, there is plenty of shopping available!  You can shop til you drop almost anywhere.  All I am saying is that for me, being abroad has helped me detach myself from a lot of the materialistic things I once felt dysfunctional without.  I am glad I finally forced myself to stop thinking that way and I hope to be able to continue to develop this new outlook wherever I am.

3—If I go alone, what will I do?  I won’t be able to go anywhere/do anything, especially if English is not an official language there.

Cool things happen when you go exploring.

When I lived in America, I never went anywhere alone.  Yes I went to work/class or to run my errands, but a social event or setting, never!  If I had to arrive solo, I was soon to meet someone else.  I finally worked up the courage to go to the mall alone, but even then I texted or chatted with someone almost the entire time.  I was overly dependent on group interactions.  Being in another country can break you out of that.  There are times that I go eat, shopping, or take trips to different countries or cities with me, myself, and I.  (Don’t worry, even if English isn’t an official language, there are tons of tourist-friendly resources available that have made all my travel pretty simplistic.)

For some, it can be out of necessity, but in many cases, I have chosen to do these things alone because I wanted to.  To me, living abroad is a chance to have a clean slate if you so choose.  A lot of my assumptions extended beyond what is there for me in another country all the way to what is there for me in life.  I felt I was expected to be in a societal mold that I dare not escape.  Being over here has allowed me to not only step out of the mold, but reshape it so it is pleasing to ME first, not others.  So who cares if some people think it is socially awkward to do X,Y,Z alone?  I’m learning to think otherwise.  Why let others keep me from my happiness?

I encourage you to think about your assumptions, and if you know in the pit of your stomach that you want to go abroad, seek out concrete evidence on them.  Don’t be your own hindrance.  You could be living your dreams!  I know I am.

Purpose and Passion: An Interview with Dr. Nicole Monteiro

By:  eternitysojourner

Several months ago, I met a new friend on a mothering forum.  Both residing in the Gulf, we began chatting about our mutual love for travel and the excitement of being new mothers.  The more we conversed, the more I realized that the humble soul I befriended is a seasoned traveler and accomplished psychologist.  Go figure! 

In this interview, Nicole shares her adventures abroad and experience of mental health on both sides of the hemisphere.  Her experiences left me so spellbound that at times I dropped my pen to simply listen!  I hope that you, too, will enjoy this glimpse of life as a mental health professional abroad. 

You describe yourself as a “world traveler, global observer, and culture connoisseur”.  Please explain.

Well, I guess those are the threads that connect both my personal and professional travels.  I’m a clinical psychologist, and I’ve been traveling since the age of 13.  Travel is a way for me to explore other cultures, people, societies, and individuals; so it’s a way to connect all of my passions which include studying the human mind, human development and human relationships.  I do a lot of international consulting work and I sought those opportunities because of my love for travelling and how important I believe it is in my field to understand the range of human behaviors and cultures.

In your profession, how similar or different is health care abroad when compared to the U.S.?

I earned my doctorate in the US and, much like American mainstream culture, the western philosophical tradition of psychology is rooted in individualism.  I did my dissertation research in Ethiopia and saw a different approach.  I was there for about ten months and observed a more holistic understanding of the individual and how psychological or mental health is defined.  That’s because the society is more communalistic.  There’s a spiritual understanding of the causes, contributions, and most aspects of health.  I found the same to be true when I was in rural Senegal and when I worked in Haiti after the earthquake of 2010.  If you don’t acknowledge spirituality or religion in your conceptualization of mental health, you won’t get far in most places around the world.

At the same time, I don’t want to romanticize the situation because you also notice that many mental illnesses can go untreated due to the stigma and limited health care resources.   This is a downside because, for example, when a mental breakdown is attributed solely to spirit possession there may be cases where the individual and family are ostracized and there aren’t alternative treatments options available to address their suffering.

More and more women of color from the West are getting out and seeing the world.  What unique opportunities and challenges does this reality pose?

I think that whenever you’re in the forefront of a movement, you encounter numerous opportunities.  When I applied for fellowships or jobs abroad, people were really interested in me, my stories and experiences more than, say, those of a white male.  You can really sell yourself as having a unique perspective and understanding of diversity.  As far as the challenges- people don’t exactly have an accurate perception of women of color and assume, because they don’t know anything about us or have been misinformed by skewed images, that we are promiscuous or uneducated.  Folks have said some crazy things to me!  However, this means we have an opportunity to enlighten and open that conversation.   

Last year you added yet another credential to your CV…you became a mom!  How has mothering changed you, your view of the world, and traveling in it? 

I notice a lot of responses, reactions, and projections that my daughter receives as a young, black baby.  Most of them are positive, some neutral, but I’ll also get negative comments about her complexion or hair, even from my own friends and colleagues.  Having a baby with me abroad has elicited so many responses.  At first, I found it annoying and irritating but now, I look at it as another opportunity to understand people’s anxieties, conflicts and biases.  I had to take these comments towards myself and baby as my responsibility to enlighten.  It also shows me that I need to equip my daughter to be able to operate with confidence and openness- to be so comfortable with herself that other people’s misunderstandings won’t shake her or cause her to retreat.  Also, I’m going to Botswana next month, so I have to think of my daughter’s safety in terms of vaccinations, access to health care, nannies, babysitters, etc.  These are matters that I didn’t really worry about before. 

Can you share your most fascinating experience abroad?

Okay, let me see…honestly, it would have to be when I went to Haiti in May 2010, four or five months after the big earthquake.  I volunteered as a psychologist and led a mental health team.  So, to have confidence in the fact that we were able to help and had something concrete to offer was really something.  When you’re out in the world, you can feel so insignificant but in Haiti, though it sounds cliché, all of the medical volunteers were really like a global community working for the greater good.  I interacted with a people and culture that are so resilient.  Even though there was so much sadness, a collective trauma, and limited resources, the faith and spirit of the people was so strong- it was humbling.  It was a learning experience that really helped me as a professional. 

What about your most frightening experience abroad?

Riding on a small ferry boat for an hour-long trip across the Atlantic Ocean between two islands in Cape Verde (Fogo and Brava).  The ocean was rough, the boat was unstable, people were getting sea-sick, I was by myself and I didn’t speak Creole/no one spoke English.  I seriously thought the boat might capsize.  Obviously, it didn’t!  But during the ride, I made subtle eye contact with an older man on the boat who had clearly made the trip numerous times.  We were able to communicate with the few words I did know and he rubbed my back and comforted me as he saw my motion-sickness and the shear fear on my face.  I couldn’t help but imagine the horrible journey our ancestors made across the Atlantic during the trans-Atlantic slave trade!

What advice would you like to offer a young woman of color, setting out for her first experience living or traveling abroad?

I would say just tap into your inner strength and the essence of who you are. Be confident and be open.  I would also say not to put up barriers; use the opportunity to explore and learn.  Why travel half way around the world if you’re not going to engage with others. Also use the time to learn and develop yourself.  It’s like the saying goes, “no matter where you go, you always take yourself with you”.   Don’t think you can escape all of your problems just because you travel or move abroad.

I also think that traveling builds your confidence.  There aren’t many situations that can make me give up or make me feel helpless.  A smile and a nice tone of voice go a long way.  Learn how to build relationships with people.  Be confident, be open, and…be charming.  J

Read more about Dr. Monteiro’s travels and insights at Global Insights and Neneh Fati.

Being of color in Georgia

It is important to do research and network with others that have or currently live in the country that you are considering moving to especially as a woman of color. Speaking with past and present teachers that are of color, as well as, the intercultural training that my program provides about the reactions of Georgians to people of color was quite helpful. Georgians don't see people of color often, so here are some things I've experienced living here.

Curious stares: Most of the locals are curious about seeing people of color for the first time in their lives, so everywhere from my village to the town and even the capital city I have experienced this. For the most part, people simply stare and/or slow down as I pass while others (especially children) may smile and say hello. The staring can be a bit much sometimes, but I usually don't pay attention to it. I think in any place where locals see an unfamiliar person they will be inquisitive; on the other hand, Georgians do seem to be the most obvious with their gawking. To say the truth, it's as if no one learns that it is rude to stare at someone. Sometimes I'd stare straight at them to give them a taste of their own medicine and they would look away quickly. Since I've become quite oblivious to the stares, my friends that are not of color are more bothered by it than I am.

Pics and more pics: Everyone wants to take pictures with me from children to adults to even my colleagues at school. I've even had the pleasure of being in a few bridal party pictures while visiting a few historical monasteries around the country. I don't really mind so I just smile for the camera for the most part. 

Invitations: In my village, neighbors are always stopping by my host family's house to greet me. Neighbors and teachers invite me to their homes often especially for Georgian dinner parties known as 'supras.' The funniest thing is that some people in my village continue to look at me as if they have not seen me a day in their lives and I've been here for 3 months.

21 Questions: People always want to know if I like the village, Georgia and the culture. They also ask about my nationality, age, family, profession and even marital status (always trying to marry me off to a nice Georgian guy). Questions galore!!! 

Although people of color get many stares, Georgians are always hospitable and happy to have us as guests. I have visited with a few Georgian families including co-teachers and friends and they are always been ecstatic to have me as their guest.

It is quite interesting how much they like Rap/Hip hop especially Tu-Pac! They also love Whitney Houston. By the way, some teachers of color got condolences and bereavement days off from school when Whitney Houston died! 

Many teachers of color have some interesting stories about living in Georgia, but we simply take it as a part of the experience and not let it bother us.