Misrepresented

On multiple occasions during our pre-service training, we were informed, or rather warned about the attention and harassment we might receive simply because of our status as foreigners and the misconceptions and stereotypes that influence the way foreigners are viewed. For example, Americans are assumed to be rich, or at least wealthier than people here, so as a result of that assumption, Americans are begged for money and often end of paying more than the normal asking price for goods and services. We, especially the females, were warned about sexual harassment, being called different "creative" names, inappropriate touching, etc. The sessions covering these topics were absolutely necessary, even if it was just to make us aware of what might happen and prepare us for how to deal with these situations.

That being said, toward the end of training, I realized I was starting to develop a somewhat subconscious "harassment shield" ready to fend off any rude remarks or pick up lines that may come my way. And at first, I didn't even realize it, how every time I would pass a group of men, I would automatically expect something to be said. Or how I expected most of the Jamaican men that I came in contact with, even if they were nice, it was because they were only interested in one thing. In the back of my mind was all those stories from previous volunteers about how they've been called everything in the book and I knew I had to be prepared to handle all of this stuff that would undoubtedly occur to me.

In actuality, I honestly haven't received anything that I would consider harassment. Here is what I've been called so far: empress, beautiful, pretty, pretty eyes, pretty smile, baby, and some other ones that I can't remember. Now, it is possible that I've been called other names and simply didn't hear them or understood what they said. And it also should be noted that I am black, so therefore I blend in a little more than my white colleagues. And I've only been here for about 3 months, so there's still plenty of time left to get harassed. But my point is that it's mentally draining to walk around expecting to be disrespected or taken advantage of. And I think people can sense the fear and you become more of a target than you were before. Sidenote: There's this video of a white lady in an elevator who, after a black man enters, clutches her purse and basically cowers in the corner. Then he yells "boo" and scares her. It's pretty funny. Anyways, am I justified in behaving in a similar way simply because I'm the foreigner in a new, unfamiliar culture? Or is there something slightly racist about assuming that everyone here is a potential thief or rapist? The truth is that stuff happens. Even other Jamaicans are harassed and taken advantage of. So I'm not in any way saying that I should just completely let my guard down and be carefree because that's usually when things do happen. But I think there needs to be a balance.

There's a reason why I wrote this post. This morning I decided to go grocery shopping. On my search for a place to shop, I found out that not many of the grocery stores in Mandeville are open on Sunday morning. I figured that would be the case, but I really needed groceries. Since I don't actually live in Mandeville, I had no idea what store might be open at the time. So I walked and walked and walked and at around 8:45 am, I reached a store that opened at 9. So I waited until 9, went in and did my shopping, and probably bought a little more than what I could actually carry back to my taxi stand. By taxi stand, I mean the place where a group of taxis that go through my town populate and wait for passengers. It was only like a 20 min walk. I could handle that, right? So, after I paid, the guy that bagged my groceries walked me outside and asked where my taxi was. I told him I didn't have one and that I was going to walk. He asked how far I had to walk. I told him where and he expressed shock and said that's too far for me to walk with these bags. So he took my bags and walked with me all the way across the parking lot and down to the road and waited with me until a taxi came by. He stopped the taxi and told the driver where I needed to go and even made sure the driver didn't charge me too much since it's not his usual route. He then loaded my bags into the trunk, told me to have a nice day, and walked back to the store to continue his job. Did he ask for my number? No. Was he anything but extremely nice and helpful? Nope. He went out of his way to help this poor lost American and he wanted nothing in return. This experience along with many others has helped me realize how unfair I was in my thinking toward Jamaican men. Granted, there are some bad ones, just like in any other country. But I hate when the good ones get misrepresented. And there are definitely some good, genuine, hard-working men here who probably don't get the credit they deserve. So, I would like to say thank you to "that guy from the grocery store" since I can neither remember his name or the name of the store.