TIA

My town, as my friend Shannon puts it, is like a jenkyass beach town. All the boys have on board shorts and YMCMB (=Young Money Cash Money Billionaire, Mom) hats when they don't have their school uniforms on. A lot of the girls look like they're on spring break in Miami. All we would need is an ocean and a legit beach, and we could easily be somewhere near the shore of a random American beach town.

 As soon as I found out what town I'd be in, I received constant shit about it. I've heard quite a few people say that because I live in the town that I do, I'm "not really in Africa". People also say "TIA" (=This Is Africa) when talking about one of the downsides of life here as compared to back home. There are a couple problems with this, and I don't think people realize how malicious that comment really is.

It's akin to someone saying "you don't really live in America because you live in the projects" - you know, because in America chocolate flows out of faucets, and everyone wipes their asses with gold tissue. Pretty absurd, right? You caricature life in America, and you flatten out the experiences people have. Saying "you're not really in Africa" is actually worse because Africa is a continent with dozens of countries. Is it not "really" Africa because there aren't mud huts in my town? Is it not "really" Africa because I have electricity and hot water? Is it not "really" Africa because many people I've met here aren't poor? Whatever the answer, you're pigeonholing the lives of millions of people into categories that you delineate in a pretty insidious way.

Yes, Sara and I make salsa with the fancy schmancy food processor I bought. We also have a toaster and a hand blender that makes delicious smoothies. There are some wealthy folks here, but most of our students are in extremely poor living situations. Soooo, not really the same sort of experiences across the board. That's Africa, folks.