In America...

I have a very friendly coworker who has some pretty hilarious ideas about the United States (and Coca-Cola). Here’s what he told me last Monday:

·   In America, your family is very rich.

·   You are very rich.

·   In America, money is no problem.

·   In America, no one is poor.

·   In America, everyone has at least $100 or $200 per day.

·   In America, only refugees are poor. No REAL, ORIGINAL Americans are poor. (This concession was made only after I insisted that poor people existed in the United States).

·   In America, everyone has food and shelter.

·   In America, it is normal for twenty-year-old women to marry fifty-year-old men.

·   In America, once you are fifteen your family kicks you out of your house.

·   Peace Corps will pay for you to visit your family in America at Christmas time.

·   Peace Corps pays your family while you are here.

·   Peace Corps pays you lots of money.

·   There is no sugar in Coca-Cola or Coca-Cola products.

·   Even if there is sugar in Fanta Citron, your teeth are strong because you are strong.

·   If you are big and strong sugar cannot hurt your teeth.

At first I was really furious about some of these assumptions, particularly ones having to do with money. It’s a constant struggle for me to smile and keep going when I get “I am poor, give me money” and “White person, I am hungry!” comments. (By the way, last person who said this was actually eating while she yelled at me).

But then I thought about the questions and concerns my friends in the United States had about Rwanda. It’s been a little better than Niger because people actually know Rwanda is a country, unfortunately most people only know about the genocide.

So it appears we have some global misunderstandings. Na cibazo. No problem. This is why Peace Corps has three goals! I’m working on it. For now, I’m setting up a little middle school science experiment to show my coworker how bad Coca-Cola actually is for your teeth.