Reflections on being a "toubab" in Africa (written January 18)

I referenced in my last post that two different foreign donors visited our village in the past week. The Gambia has a long history of "toubabs" (white people) coming to the country and handing out everything from money to candy to school supplies to medicine. Sometimes the people doing this are well-meaning philanthropists and sometimes they are tourists here on vacation (and sometimes some of both). Unfortunately for us, in addition to perpetuating probably the least sustainable and effective form of "development," this has created a very strong expectation in the local people (especially the children) that every white person they see has a lot of money and can be convinced to give them hand-outs if they are persuasive enough. Not surprisingly, volunteers working here really struggle with this mentality. This is really the first major experience we have had with people making completely wrong assumptions about us based on our physical appearance, and while frustrating, it does provide a valuable window into the experience of minorities in many places around the world.