How i met africa

In Europe, we are generally very unaware of the situation in Africa besides some horrific stories we hear from the media. African culture is not as widespread as the Asian one for example. Multiple restaurants serve sushi's, Chinese food, Vietnamese and so on. But apart from a handful of store, only a few serve traditional African foods. I personally don't know so much about it. That's one of the reasons why I'm very curious to know more about this culture.

One of the many times I was waiting for a bus, I was sitting on a bench reading a book under a street light. It was late at night, it was very dark and there weren't many people around. One guy approached me asking for a cigarette. I didn't but we started talking anyway. We were both waiting for a bus. He was an immigrant trying to reach Germany. He was from Kenya if I remember right. Anyway, he told me one sentence that I will never forget:

"When I arrived in Europe I had 20€ in my pocket. The first thing I bought was a sandwich, the second were cigarettes and the third was an Italian book. One to eat, one to relax and one to learn the language of my hosting country"

His priorities stroke me. He could have kept this money to buy more food in the coming days, but he didn't bother thinking about the future. He was truly enjoying the present moment.

Another time, I was travelling by Blablacar, which you probably already know about. It was full, no place left! I was sitting in the back, next to two women. Both had very interesting stories to tell.

One was working for an association that was helping minor migrants with their integration in France. There is a law that protects any child under 18 years old on the French territory and the association uses this saying to get the best education and general help from the country for them. Most of the children she is taking care of are Africans, and most of them are from Guinea Bissau or Ghana. Each carer has approximately 70 children to look out for which is a huge amount of work. The woman was talking how sometimes they just can't care for all of them at the same time as much. At the same time, it's really rewarding because the youth is highly motivated and wants to work so badly! Most of them find jobs in restaurants, in barber shops, in various store. And once they grew up with the society they are fully included.

The other woman already went many times to Senegal, main reason being that her husband was form there. I don’t remember asking her where they met, but when they did, he didn't have the French nationality. To make any process of travelling to France with an African passport was atrociously complicated. To give an example, when his wife was pregnant in France, just about to give birth, he couldn't get a visa to come, even when at that time they were already some years together. He had all the papers proving he had a job in Africa, proving that he would get back. They didn't let him.

Another time that I was waiting for a bus, a man approached me. We started talking about where we were heading, what we were doing there and so on. Quite basic. But then we started talking about his country, which was the Democratic Republic of Congo. He told me about multiple facts. For example, that they have two totally different seasons: dry season and rain season. It doesn't get particularly colder or warmer, it just gets wet or dry. To me it was a new way of thinking. In the past, besides Europe, I've been to Australia and Brazil in which they both have mostly temperature-based seasons. From what I've heard also some Asian countries have a similar season pattern as Africa. Since he was from DRC he also told me about people in his country. There, apparently, appearance is very important. Most people take good care of how they dress and how they look in public. He said that they have the most beautiful women in Africa. But doesn't everybody is proud of their women? Anyway, he explained with an example of a French singer Maître Gims, who is from the same country as him. He sings a song where the lyrics go "sapés comme jamais" which literally means "dressed on fleek". And at that point he started singing and dancing.

Topography of Africa - Katapult magazin

During my stay in Brazil, where I did an internship, I met three guys from Benin. At first glance they were the best friends on earth, laughing a lot, picking at each other, making jokes. They were also some of the friendliest people I ever met. They were taking care after one another. I have a lot of great memories with them. Part of it was when we were at the end of the day meeting up with some friends singing and dancing to our own music. We were in the middle of people just having fun. Some strangers were joining us. It was so freeing and joyful. One time they invited me and a friend to an African party. Oh, do I have to tell you it was the hell of a night! When we arrived there, already so many people where dancing, cheering, drinking. Some typical foods were served on a buffet, mostly manioc based, and cooked altogether with various things I don't really remember. It was delicious anyway. And once you'd eaten and drunk enough, dancing wasn't an option. The party was lit and various music styles came up. The smiles and laugh at this party were omnipresent, it remains one of the party I've had that is the most positive feeling. Waking up the next morning was only hard because I had sore legs from all the twerking and going low.

I can't wait to discover more!