im chinese!!

hello IV!

hope everyone is doing well! here is a reflection i wrote on being asian in South Africa. hope u find it interesting! miss u guys!!

Rows and rows of primary schoolchildren neatly dressed in blue sweaters and dark slacks or skirts lined up in the parking lot outside their school, waiting for their teachers to lead them back inside. Our vans were parked in this lot, and we walked right by the children on our way to the van. The children seemed friendly and curious, and several of us waved and called out greetings: “Molweni bhuti! Moloweni sisi!” I made eye-contact with several of the children, and they looked quite surprised when I spoke to them in Xhosa. They giggled and waved back and whispered amongst themselves. Several of the boys pointed at me and made martial-arts style moves and “kung-fu” sounds. One brave young boy, one of the main karate experts, sidled up to the van and shyly responded to my queries in broken Xhosa. By the time our van pulled away, my new friend and I were giving each other thumbs up and waving enthusiastically until we could no longer see each other.

The schoolchildren’s reaction to my race caught me off-guard, but it was not entirely unexpected. Asians aren’t very populous in this African country, and Xhosa-speaking children in primary school can’t be expected to have had a wide exposure to other cultures. The kids most likely grew up in black townships where there are even fewer Asians than in Capetown in general. The kung-fu moves and karate sounds that would have been offensive and racist in America were borne more out of ignorance than anything else. It would be safe to assume that the only exposure the kids have had to Asian people has been through the media, and the only representation of Asians in mainstream media is in martial arts movies. Most Americans can’t even name an internationally famed actor or actress not named Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, or Jet Li. The kids, then, were simply repeating what they saw on TV, as kids often do.

To their credit, the children weren’t afraid to express their curiosity and engage with me in the short time we had together. The little boy who closed the gap between the ranks of school children and our vans was bridging a gap to a culture that probably seemed worlds away to him. Through our simple conversation in Xhosa, we forged a connection that was evident by the energetic waves and smiles that continued long after our van pulled away. Although I was still the stranger, the pale woman with straight, dark hair and laughable Xhosa, I was no longer just a kung-fu move or martial-arts fighter. Most of the karate boys continued to throw pretend-kicks and punches at the van, but my new friend gave me the thumbs-up and smiled and waved good-bye.

This experience was one of the first encounters I’ve had in South Africa where I was specifically singled out because of my race. While our SIT group of Americans usually attracts attention wherever we go, I alone was picked out of the group by the children. When I first saw the “karate moves” and sounds, there was a split-second of discomfort, a moment where my smile fell and my hand faltered mid-wave. I have rarely in my life been confronted so forcefully with a stereotype of who I am, of the fact that I am Chinese and different than everyone else around me. But while this confrontation was sudden and disturbing, I also realized that these kids did not mean to be hurtful and racist. They were mostly seven or eight years old. They have not been exposed to Asians and Asian cultures, and I was just very strange and new to them. I felt then, almost a responsibility to show them I was just another human being, that there was more to me than kung-fu kicks. I can’t say with any certainty that I made any effect on their conscious perceptions of Asians, but I do hope that my short conversation with the little karate expert gave him one personal experience, one human connection with a person who happens to be of Asian descent, that will contribute to the breakdown of Asian stereotypes in South Africa. For my part, I learned not to be too sensitive to potentially racist stereotypes and to understand it more as lack of knowledge and ignorance, ignorance that I feel compelled to help change.