Mysterious Nationality

My nationality is always a mystery.

In America, most people just assume I am “black,” unless they are also Latinos because then they can usually identify me as one of their own. 

In Tanzania, there was a never ending guessing game; I got “Brazilian,” “Madagascar an,” “Kenyan,” “Zanzibar,” “South African,” “Jamaican,” “Ghana,” “Egyptian,” “Somali,” and “Indian” (which is a small reason why I wanted to study abroad here.)  I find it invigorating to go to a new place and be able to blend in as it is a challenge.  The most interesting one I got in Tanzania was “half-caste” which means “half white and half Tanzania.” 

In India it is also a guessing game but I have new countries to add to the list.  Apparently, I look southern Indian, which I think is really cool – I want to go to southern India to see if I blend in.  However, when we were on our environmental trek for class a family from Rajasthan asked me where I was from because I am too dark to be “American” since in general the parts of the world I have been in associate America as an “all-white country.”  They guessed: Afghanistan, Pakistani, Nepalese and South African.  Of course none of them were correct and it has hard explaining where Dominican Republic was.  They never heard of the Caribbean so I described it as “a group of islands between the North American and South American continents.”

Overall, I have 2 conclusions.  First, being identified as an individual that can blend into so many places makes me want to travel to them more.  No one can ever guess where I am from, which I think is cool because it means I have a “multicultural look” which makes me feel like a citizen of the world.  Secondly, I am proud of myself.  Few people know about my beautiful, humble, lush-green, tropical, island located in the peaceful Caribbean.  Few people know about my country but I know so much about the world and I am proud of my global awareness.  I am only 21 years old and I have been to 5 of the 7 continents and I want to continue exploring.

At the tribal village

Rickshaw photoshoot 

Me and Jinny