I am Bruni

If I am going to be honest, sometimes I really Really REALLY hate being a bruni.

Bruni means foreigner (or white person but anyone who isn’t black can be called a bruni). I’m tired of being noticed for the color of my skin. I’m tired of being pointed out and singled out. I’m tired of the assumptions that come with being white. Usually I like being different and I honor the differences between individuals, but here I would prefer to be like everyone else. I would prefer to be black. I would prefer to know how to cook every Ghanaian dish. And I would prefer, above all, to speak the language like a local. At least if I could speak the language, my white skin might not glow so bright.

I can’t even begin to imagine how Black Americans, Latinos, Hmongs, Indians, and so on feel living in America surrounded by white people who are told not to be racist, but inwardly harbor such sentiments and outwardly show it in some hostile or demeaning way. Or worse. Because at least the type of racism I experience here isn’t detrimental to my well-being.

The more I experience being a bruni, the more questions I am asked, or facts I am told about myself or where I come from based on my skin color, the more I think of the Regina Spektor song, “Ghost of Corporate Future”:

People are just people. They shouldn’t make you nervous. The world is everlasting, it’s coming and it’s going. If you don’t toss your plastic, the streets won’t be so plastic. And if you kiss someone nice, then both of you get practice. The world is everlasting, put dirtballs in your pockets and take off both of your shoes because….

People are just people like you.

Please remember this. There might be some things that are inherent to certain races, such as skin color, certain diseases, even certain practices and beliefs based on culture and tradition, but in the end people are just people like you. We might not be able to understand everything about each other, but we all love, and lose, and feel pain, and laugh. We all eat, and shit, and have sex like the animals we are. And we are all individuals with our own realities, so generalizing doesn’t do much good. Just because you're a certain color and someone else is the same color, doesn't mean you'll understand them, feel solidarity, or get along with them any better than you would with someone who is a different color. In fact, I am white but I am utterly confused by many white people in America right now. I may be able to speak the same language, but I have no idea what you are saying when you speak racial slurs or commit hate crimes.

You know? Life should be sweet. We are all people, made of the same cells and atoms. We are all trying to get by and survive, because even though there is beauty in our flesh and five senses, living in the flesh can be a struggle. So why the hate? This is something I don't understand. If your small mind can't comprehend the difference between you and someone else, that doesn't give you the right to ostracize that person. Open yourself up, set aside what you think you know is true, be a part of a different culture, try to understand. And if you can't, learn some respect or tolerance. Because it is our differences that make the human species beautiful.

People are just people like you.

Notes on Healthcare

Afterthoughts: All I have to say is thank god for Sampson. And for Justin. When you’re sick the last thing you want is to go it alone or have some stranger help you, especially in an unfamiliar place with an unfamiliar language. So thank god for my friends. Thanks to Sampson for everything he did to get me to the hospital and back out. And thanks to Justin for taking care of me until Sampson came.

Healthcare in Ghana has its shortcomings (like many healthcare systems). The places and clinics I have been lack the shine and modernity of developed America, but in some ways I find it more responsive and proactive than what I'm used to back home. And the system lacks the crazy maze of red tape and paperwork that wastes so much time and resources in America. Which I don't understand at all because we use computers and many clinics in Ghana do not...how does that work? So, kudos to Ghana for that efficiency.

The only other healthcare system I've experienced was at Otago University in New Zealand. And even they score higher on my healthcare rating scale than America. So, if you find that I am in the hospital again, please, rest assured that I am being taken care of. Maybe the nurses need to work on their bedside manners and listening to their patients, but the doctors are knowledgeable, there is good medicine, and frankly I like being fed fish soup with rice for a hospital dinner more than I like being fed some microwaved airplane meal with jello at a hospital in the midwest.

The only thing that hasn't changed from all the places I've been is the waiting. Unless you're dying, you will always have to wait.