A New Experience

I’ve lived in Africa before, which definitely helped prepare me for my Peace Corps service, but I’ve been realizing lately just how different this experience is from my others in Africa.

I’m living completely on my own. I lived with host families in Senegal and Uganda, which meant that I didn’t have too worry too much about things like buying furniture, shopping for groceries, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, and disposing of trash. While homestays inevitably bring their share of awkwardness and sometimes even conflict, I’m realizing how easy it was to be taken care of. Now, I have so many more things to figure out and take care of on my own. Living alone is also offering a different sort of insight into the culture – while I have to make a more concerted effort to integrate and to see daily life, I’m also being forced to learn a lot of things I wouldn’t be if I were living with a host family.

There are no other Westerners around. When there are other Westerners around, I think I automatically judge my behavior, at least to some extent, based on what the other Westerners are doing, rather than on what locals are doing. Being the sole muzungu here has made me significantly more aware of local cultural norms and of how people perceive me and my behavior. Further, I think that, when there’s a group of muzungus doing things locals perceive as strange, they just think muzungus do weird things. Here, it’s just me, and if I do something that’s inappropriate, it would reflect on me personally and affect my relationships with people here. And, that’s particularly important because, socially, all I have here are my relationships with locals. (As a side note, my town actually has a few other muzungus – there’s two German girls with the German Development Service who live at the Catholic parish and two American guys who are World Teach volunteers at the secondary school. But, they don’t live near me, and they must not get out much, because I never run into any of them in town and people rarely mention them – which is notable, since, of course, everyone makes sure to tell me if they see another muzungu.)

I’ll be here much longer. Everything changes when you’re going to be some place for an extended period of time, and two years is a long time. I’m learning more, building more relationships, and gaining a deeper understanding of the culture.

I’m trying to be a change agent. A big part of being a Peace Corps Volunteer is working with people in your community and trying to address problems and create change. People don’t want to work with or listen to muzungus they don’t like and respect, so it’s extra important to be aware of your behavior and form solid relationships.

I’m more integrated in the community. Because of all the aforementioned factors, I’m much more integrated here than I have been anywhere else. Being part of a community is a very different feeling than being an visitor. Nyagatare is starting to feel like home, and it feels great.

I’ve realized just how much people here talk about muzungus. As my Kinyarwanda is improving, I’m hearing it for myself more and more. Plus, several of my good friends here say people talk about me and ask them about me constantly. One of them says he always knows where I am because every time someone he knows sees me, they tell him. (Constant updates of, “Jen is walking down the street,” and, “I saw the muzungu buying phone credit at that store” must be fascinating for him.)

Being the only Westerner around and living alone is making me more aware of the culture, helping me build more meaningful relationships with locals, and giving me an experience unlike others I’ve had in Africa. This experience is more personally and socially challenging on a daily basis, but, while I think my heart may always be in Senegal, I’m finding it to be the most rewarding yet.