The Long Walk.

Ok, it’s not really that long…every morning we walk 15 minutes to the hospital. It should really only take 5, but when you factor in the intense heat it slows things down. What makes the walk feel so long – aside from the melting part – is that in Kintampo we scholars are mini-celebrities…

Being a brown-eyed, brown haired chick with tan skin I fit into most places I go. It’s easy for me to blend inconspicuously with the crowd, and I prefer not drawing a lot of attention to myself. Kintampo is not like most places. Here I am an oddity…the color of my skin might as well be highlighter yellow. With my unique appearance comes a lot of responsibility. I have to say hi to EVERYONE I walk by, and not in English, in Twi…otherwise I risk offending someone by not gracing them with my strange accent and skin tone.

While it’s nice that EVERYONE is so friendly, some of the attention can be unwanted. The marriage proposals, the declarations of love within 5 seconds of meeting, getting photographs of people’s wives, being asked to find white women for the townspeople to marry, the children screaming and following you, making babies cry, being told you are rich and need to give money…the list goes on. And it all starts with my 8am walk…

My glaring skin doesn’t stop attracting attention when I’m inside the hospital. While watching a woman in labor one of the nurses slid next to me and asked, “do white women feel pain when they give birth?” I almost laughed, “Of course! It’s the same for everyone!” She looked pensive and said, “I guess we were all made by the same God.” I didn’t know what to say back, so I nodded.

It makes friendships hard…sometimes you don’t know if people see just your skin color…do they care to see you? Do I look like a giant hundred dollar bill to them? Sometimes I can’t tell…but I trust the people…I think I will leave with a lot of true friendships.