In Setswana, Motseletsele wa ‘O Tswa Kae?’: “Potso, Karabo le go Ganwa“
Ever so often, I meet a non-African who has been to Africa, or has met an African, and a very strange social dance happens: they ask where I come from, I respond ‘Botswana’, then they proceed to tell me of OTHER African places they have been to, or worse, tell me of Africans they happen to have met or know. I politely listen as though I – my person & my personal experiences – haven’t just been rejected. They have met enough of my people, and learnt/experienced enough of where I come from, they do not need to know me or of me.
This slight always starts with an almost child-like curiosity, and is presented covered in such a harmless, cotton candy style wrapping, it becomes difficult to address it. However, no matter how widely acceptable it is, a rejection is just that: a rejection. And after a while, meeting new people becomes difficult.
