Vanuatu

Palestine vs. Pakistan

I'm sure I've written about the entire "no, where are you *really* from" situation I have to go through on a daily basis. It's only annoying when other volunteers or wealthy tourists display the narrow-mindedness; I don't mind when the Ni-Vans ask this, since they will still say the name of their village of origin, even if they've lived in Vila for a good 8 years or so.

But, it's a bit confusing on how to respond when, on being told that I'm originally from Pakistan, people think that I'm referring to Palestine. First few times I tried explaining, in my broken-Bislama, that Palestine and Pakistan are two different countries, even though violence is present in both. But that they probably heard about Palestine in the news, and not Pakistan.

But, things get a bit tricky since confrontation or aggression is strongly disliked in the Melanesian culture (or that's what I've been told); so, any form of overt disagreement amounts to agression as well. So, if you spend too much time explaining the details and explaining your personal political opinions, than you are probably coming across as confrontational. But, if you don't correct the misunderstanding, than you are loosing an amazing opportunity to explain a major difference and tell them the other side of teh story that is not broadcasted on television news.

A lot of times the dialogue ends up going like this:
Other: You blo wea (where are you from)?
Me: Originally, from Pakistan, but I'm here as a Canadian volunteer. So I've been living in Canada with my family for 7 years.
Other: Oh, Pakistan!? I gat fullap fighting! (Pakistan! It has too much fighting)
Me: *nodding head with slight resignation* Yes, fullap violence.

Have to say though, it took me a good month to figure out the fact that people were confusing Pakistan with Palestine; imagine my bewilderment before then, when receiving the "fullap fighting" commment.

posted by faa-T @ 11:57 AM