“Because from childhood I know no human being died because of poverty – everything happens because of ignorance.”
Cycling through Suru valley was wonderful as I mentioned in my last post, but one unfortunate factor, something I have talked about before as it has followed me through India and Nepal, started to ruin it for me.
Imagine that every single child you pass (dozens a day, maybe closer to sixty or seventy through populous areas), and even some adults, throw their hand out when they see you and say, “give me chocolate,” or “give me money.” No hello, no good day, no preamble whatsoever except give me, give me, give me. And keep in mind these aren’t poor kids. No, these aren’t beggars, or the homeless, in fact, often times these are the same kids you later see on their fancy little smartphones. But they have been taught from their parents (and Kevin and I suspect at school as well) that the second you see a white person pass, the appropriate response is to demand something from them.
I first saw the “give me candy” phenomenon in Nepal where the children in trekking regions, who were at one time given money or candy by stupid tourists, are especially violent with their demands. It then started up a bit in Kashmir, but got especially horrible through Suru valley where literally every single person we passed demanded chocolate or, the speciality of the region it seems, “one pen.” (Took us at least a dozen children to realize they were indeed asking for pens. We assume they learn this one from their teachers). These children don’t need pens, in fact, they probably had a few in their school bag at that time, but they all knew to say the exact same phrase when they saw us… Give me, give me, give me.
Besides being annoying, it is sad that other tourists have ruined it for the rest of us by portraying us white people as candy and money dispensaries. It’s a shame that in many of these areas we are no longer seen as humans, but as objects, and this objectification and extremely annoying harassment has made Asia miserable much of the time. It seems that only the oldest generation, such as the nice man who offered us his field (read the last post), wants nothing from us. Everyone else demands candy or money, a photo (which we always refuse), or even just a conversation purely because we are white. It’s a sad fact when having a photo of yourself pretending to be friends with a complete stranger who is lighter than you makes you cool. Being hassled dozens and dozens of times a day, every single day without fail purely because of my skin color has become the most frustrating part of Asia, and has made me realize that I have absolutely no desire to ever come back.
Now, on that slightly negative note, I will add that it may not be their faults. In this pushy and hostile culture, they may not see their demands as rude and completely ridiculous as we do, and in all honesty, it is tourism, meaning westerners like myself, who have brought this “love of western culture” (even though most people here don’t know what it entails past money and T-shirts with English words they can’t read). The fact that people praise our white skin and want a photo of us because of it seems normal in a culture where black still means servant. Though I realize intellectually that many of the things that have bothered me about this part of the world stem from cultural differences, I have also realized that in some cases it is impossible for me not to impose my own cultural views while experiencing the world around me.
