Gaining a New Perspective

So... I still cannot get over the fact that I am traveling around the world for the next four or so months of my life! In the Bahamas, prior to boarding the ship it hit me that I was not going to see my friends or family until December, but I had not yet acknowledged the fact that I am going to cross every ocean on my global map! It is truly unreal and I can say that I am TRULY blessed because as a child, I NEVER would have imagined that I would be the one in my family who, not only is the first to graduate from college/university with honors, but who also traveled around the world on a ship in addition to completing school! Once I boarded the ship it started to sink in that our voyage was going to begin soon! Watching other people say their goodbyes to their family members was not so bad because I was more excited than anything!

Soon enough, I began to meet all kinds of people from many different backgrounds and its like we hit it off immediately! I met my roommate and she turned out to be great, and my professors REALLY seem to be just as excited as the rest of us students. Over the coarse of time, the ship has really began to be a microcosm of society back home at Georgia State too! I also feel like this entire journey thus far has been a 24hour learning lesson in that I am constantly being exposed to academic work, challenges, and expectations that are also applicable to the shipboard community and relevant to the countries we are visiting.

Initially, the journey to Brazil was tough. The adjustment was kind of easy, but took some getting use to. Between the sea sickness, and constant drowsiness, I just wanted to GET THERE ALREADY! But Salvador, Brazil was the first port and I must say that it was absolutely fabulous! I loved the people, music, some of the food, culture, Samba, and CAPOEIRA! Overall, I thought the city was beautiful and I loved the way the culture, and historical heritage of the Afro Brazilians is tied into their everyday lives. I did kind of feel that as a result of the American habit of "doing things our way" that some things were unnecessary in preparing for our disembarkation, but I soon found out that the staff and faculty only wanted us to be safe and only people who didn't follow the rules ran into problems with locals. I was also very happy that no one got left behind, and everyone returned back to the ship safely only having returned with a new cultural perspective!

The journey to Namibia, thus far has been very trying! I felt very...emotional because I felt that it was extremely important to acknowledge the fact that I am an African American woman who chose to board a ship that is going to Africa. I did not realize it at the time, however, when we began to cross the Atlantic Ocean I felt some kind of way...I realized that I was traveling back to AFRICA ON THE MIDDLE PASSAGE, which brought on a host of unfamiliar feelings! I did not know whether I was hurt, angry, happy, sad, indifferent, numb, and couldn't describe the mixture of emotions I felt. But I did know that it was not pleasant to say the least! I was happy that the organization created which I joined (People of Color at Sea) allowed me to have an outlet that I could safely voice my feelings, opinions, and emotions. It turned out that a good majority of the "browns"(as we call ourselves) were feeling the SAME WAY! It was amazing how much emotion was felt at our meeting this time around! Almost everyone in the room was crying because for a lot of people on this ship, we are their cultural experience in that they have never met black people before! I think it is bizarre but VERY unfortunate for them. Some people also felt angry that people on the ship complain about the food or small things when we are all so privileged especially considering that we are going into countries where people literally have nothing! I personally had an issue with the reality that I have my own biases towards people who abuse their privilege or who feel they are better because of it, but a lot of the people in the countries we visit are going to view me in the same capacity that I view those people. This kind of makes me feel like I need to give other people a chance who complain, because I am certain life could be worse for myself and I think that dissatisfaction is relative in that it ties in with our perspective of what presently "should be vs. what's not". In that respect I feel that Namibians, for instance, would most likely think that the little things I may express discontent with are trivial. I also felt like complaining about the motion sickness and food, on my part, was unnecessary. (This was during my reflection of what my ancestors suffered during the middle passage.) That would be far worse than any motion sickness I experienced with or without Dramamine on this ship! Today, I really appreciated the march and tribute to our ancestors because it really put this journey into perspective for me. The significance and implications are monumental, but it BLEW ME THAT SOME PEOPLE WERE SO.....SHELTERED....that they HAD NO IDEA what the MIDDLE PASSAGE was! That was really sad, because it showed me that sometimes you can't fault ignorance, especially if people have a desire to learn about things. Also, it was confirmed that sometimes cultural insensitivity is not malicious, people often just don't know. Educating them is more often than not, the way to solve many problems and make you feel better about the situation. I did feel the "ouch" though, when talking to one of my collegues, who happened to be Hispanic, and he asked me "What's the middle passage?" But I took the time to educate him and he was receptive to everything I said. I have learned that the easiest way to cross cultural barriers and to contradict stereotypes is to confront them head on and to be real with people. They most likely will sense your sincerity and will be genuine in their responses.

Now that we are going to be on African soil in less than 3 hours I am looking forward to creating memories with the people I am going to see the world with!