Last night I told my daughter's music teacher that she would miss three weeks of music lessons before/after Christmas, because we were going to Ethiopia to adopt her younger brother. She said "Wow, that's great!" then, looking from Chinese-featured Giggles to European-featured me, asked "Are you from Ethiopia?"
My response: "No, she's not!" (Question seemed to be more addressed to Giggles than to me.)
To which teacher replied, somewhat sheepishly, "Of course not!" and proceeded to tell us she'd lived in Kenya for a while. So of course she knows Ethiopians are dark-skinned!
Though there ARE Asians and whites in Kenya. But most Kenyan "Asians" are of East Indian origin (and most people of East Indian origin in Africa live in Commonwealth countries, of which Ethiopia is not one...).
So perhaps not quite as silly a question as it seemed at first blush. But still... not an obvious question, either!
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4 comments:
My daughter was teased for the shape of her eyes this week, by a schoolmate. Her response floored me - "Well, where are YOU from". The teaser responded with "Canada". My daughter responded by pointing to her own face and saying, "Well... THIS is WHAT CANADA LOOKS LIKE!" Have I mentioned lately that I love being her mom?
That's a great come-back, Justice! Great kid you've got.
may i add that your daughter is a delight as well, friend! sk
I think sometimes people don't know what to say so they blurt out whatever comes to mind first.... and this time it was a little odd. Good way to handle it, though.
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