Through Someone Else's Eyes

For my third themed blog I have chosen the topic: See yourself through someone else’s eyes. During my time here in South Africa I have had lots of experiences where it is very obvious that I am not South African. Despite South Africa being a country filled with many different types of people, if I am not assumed to be a foreigner due to my skin colour it becomes obvious as soon as I speak.

For the purposes of this blog entry I am going to focus on how I think that I am perceived by the residents of Nkosi’s Haven. Nkosi’s Haven regularly receives international volunteers (at the moment there are 14 here) so the residents are no stranger to Western/white people but as a volunteer one is an eternal source of interest.

I believe that the kids see me as someone who is almost always happy to see them, someone who will always give them a hug and pick them up. I think that the children see me as somewhere between a friend and an authority figure (certainly more towards a friend based on the number of times my warnings are ignored). The some children certainly also feel that either because I am white or because I am from Canada that I am rich and therefore should buy them things or give them my things. This is a perception that I have thus far completely rejected as I have never bought an individual child anything as I believe this creates materialistic bonds (as seen in other cases here). I plan to make a donation to Nkosi’s Haven as a whole upon my departure.

As for the mothers living at Nkosi’s Haven it is much more challenging for me to see myself through their eyes as they are harder to get to know. I think overall the mothers see me, and other volunteers, as someone who comes and goes but since they know I will only be here for a fixed amount of time it is not worthwhile to become more than acquaintances. At least I think this is how I would feel were I a resident here. However, I think the mothers also see the volunteers as a source of knowledge and a resource, particularly related to technology.

One example if this is recently I had a mother, Happy, come to me asking me to help her activate her Facebook mobile (Facebook on your cellphone) and a few other programs. For me this would be a simple process but for her first we had to create her first email address, then a Facebook account and then use this information to activate Facebook on her phone. Going through this process and explaining each step to her made me realize how complicated technology could appear when you have not been very exposed to it. I heard the next day that she was up all night chatting on her phone so I guess it’s working.

Overall my experiences here have made me really consider my place in the world and how I am seen by others, living in Canada for my entire life has made me accustomed to having people assume that I am of a Canadian background (which is an accurate assumption) but here I am asked almost daily where I am from and subsequent questions. Being the minority has been a very interesting experience for me and I’ve learned a lot from it so far.