He then said ‘So you’re Nigerian?’

Last week, I stepped out of a building on Orchard road in Singapore and approached a blue colored cab parked at a taxi bay. I was on my way back to school to attend a 2pm class. I had come to Orchard road to attend an appointment for a Cambodian visa application. The conversation that occurred in that cab was one that I wasn’t ready for. It hit me hard. Barely a week into my 2-month exchange program in Singapore, I was about to experience some bluntness in an unexpected environment.

Cab Driver: Where are you going to?
SassyFunke: 1 Ayer Rajah Avenue
Cab Driver: So what do you do in Singapore?
SassyFunke: I am studying here
Cab Driver: Where are you from?
SassyFunke: Nigeria
Cab Driver: So you’re Nigerian, can I be honest with you?
SassyFunke: Sure
Cab Driver: When I saw you, I thought you were a call girl and initially didn’t want to pick you up because you were African
SassyFunke: Wow
Cab Driver: It’s not you, it’s just that there are a lot of Africans in Singapore here that are call girls and on Orchard road, they tend to be in numerous numbers in the evening and you know I have been approached too etc.

The conversation continued pleasantly into how he lived in Nigeria and worked for Virgin Nigeria in the aviation industry etc. and how he loved the culture and life there. He said he knew the way he had thought was wrong and that he shouldn’t have judged because I was of African descent. I will stop with my story telling here.

To be honest, I wasn’t angry at his openness of what he thought I was. I was sad, sad not because he offended me (I have learnt a long time ago not to be affected by people’s opinion of me #IfYouDontPayMyBillsYourOpinionOfMeIsIrrelevant *Inside Nigerian Joke*) but sad that people still thought this way and were prepared to make decisions based on such stereotyping. I was also glad he said it as he was able to admit that his way of thinking was wrong. Perhaps I am naive but I refuse to see color or race in the world or make actionable judgements based on it. But this moment really was a eye-opener into how much potential damage stereotyping stands to have in our world.

I remember the story I read in the paper of Oprah going into a designer shop in Switzerland a few years ago and when she asked to see a bag she liked and the shopkeeper responded with ‘No, it was too expensive’.

It hurts to know that the world still has a lot to learn. The world needs to know that stereotyping doesn’t deserve a place on our planet. We stand to lose a lot more from it than gain. I personally am in love with diversity, oddness and differences as it see them as opportunities to learn and develop and see the world through different eyes. I don’t understand why anyone would ever rob themselves of this remarkable joy.

“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves.” – Gandhi

Till next time

#SassyFunke