We Forced our Kids into Being Racial Minorities

They hate it… which gives us hope for the future

One of the oft-hidden treasures of travel is that the more you get to know complete strangers, the less strange the world becomes.

Nowhere is this more evident than in watching our four boys interact with the world around them today.

Here in Rwanda, they are, for the first time in their lives, the visible minority. Often, the idea of just walking down the street for milk seems too heavy a task, as each passerby pausing to watch the odd “Muzungo” (light-skin) child walk by adds a weight to their small shoulders.

This “discomfort” of being different has prompted a number of meaningful exchanges on what it means to be a minority. We’ve talked about how, here in today’s Rwanda, they might feel out-of-place, but never have they felt in danger.

Tragically, the same cannot be said of minorities in many other parts of the world today, including “back home.”

The world is filled with complete strangers, people we do not know at all.

All-too-often, we hear through political or popular influences that it’s the “complete strangers” in our lives that should be left behind, shoved out, or walled off.

Travel, however, can be quite effective at breaking down this notion of “us versus them,” leaving it about as desirable as a soggy piece of bread left in the gutter.

Why is this? What is it about travel that opens our minds to greater acceptance of the world around us?

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