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I committed the crime many tourists before me committed...

The ever-pervading crime hoards of unsuspecting tourists commit like clockwork on their many trips abroad

By Sandra StachowiczPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
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I committed the crime many tourists before me committed...
Photo by Nicole Geri on Unsplash

I committed the crime many tourists before me committed...

Just like my fathers and forefathers.

What I have witnessed on my numerous trips to North and West Africa was extreme generosity, hospitality and kindness.

But...

Also ever-pervading GREED and a sense of entitlement.

It's almost as soon as the locals get a whiff of a "toobab" (in mandinka - the language widely spoken in the Gambia - a "white person") on the horizon their built-in radars go something like this...

"$$$!!!"

Before you know it, you turn into a walking-talking "$$$" sign

Apparently, I committed the crime many tourists before me committed.

The crime of NOT knowing.

I had the audacity of taking a picture of a monkey.

And I had to pay for it dearly.

I opened my eyes wide and just looked at the suspect as if he had 12 noses.

I frantically wiped my short-sighted glasses in a desperate search for answers.

I zoomed my surroundings like a maniac looking for any sign that proudly displays...

"Photographs $2.00"

RAGE and feelings endowed with something less than holiness boiled inside me and bubbled up to the surface.

I felt DECEIVED.

The sign seems to have been "hijacked" by the local ruling tribe or most likely, was NEVER there to begin with...

The "fine" was arbitrarily set at $2.00.

All without a WARNNING.

There were dozens of tourists taking pictures, yet I was the only "victim" of the witch hunt that soon ensued.

The CHOSEN one.

I scrambled and dug my little fingers deep into my pockets only to present the "assassin" with the coin with the weakest purchasing power.

So small that even if he had hundreds of them, he'd struggle to buy.... a set of matches.

My childhood friend, who travelled thousands of miles from the far end corner of the country on the west coast to join me on my quest in Africa, felt it was his duty and honour, to fend the offender off.

But not without resistance and putting up a fight.

The attacker uttered a few insults before turning down my "extremely generous" offer.

The equivalent of less than $0.01.

(Who said revenge wasn't sweet?!)

You see...

If you act like an entitled diva b*tch then rest assured I will not remain indebted and I will play STUPID. Or better yet, dead.

If you want me to pay you at least give me a good enough reason WHY.

Set the EXPECTATIONS right and create a level of TRANSPARENCY.

Now, don't get me wrong.

I am ALL about supporting local communities, sharing my plate and dipping my spoon in the same bowl, downing the last drop of water from the same plastic cup and adopting customs of the destination country, rather than "enforcing" my European rule.

In fact, I disguise myself so well I should seriously consider working as a spy...

I walk so briskly and confidently through unchartered territory, I'm often mistaken for a local, addressed in a dialect rather than spoken to in English, asked for directions, followed by a grin from ear to ear and uttering a sincerely apologetic:

"Oh, my bad. I thought you lived here!".

Hey, I was even once "groomed" by one of the residential "aunties".

The female head of the clan singled me out as I walked past and beckoned me. She then proceeded to bribe with freshly brewed and just as disgustingly sweet mint tea, almonds and home made sand cake. All in the hope I'd marry her rather handsome yet linguistically rather limited in vocabulary "mummy's boy" (presumably for papers after being initially completely oblivious to the fact I wasn't a Muslima to begin with!).

I'm all about fostering the community spirit, conscious tourism and travelling off-the-beaten track without leaving carbon footprint as much as possible.

What I am against is lack of TRANSPARENCY.

You complain your government is corrupt but do the same to unsuspecting tourists?

The last time I checked transparency worked both ways...

I lifted my left arm high enough to get a whiff of my perfectly groomed armpits. Pleased with the results of my rather extensive research. Only to conclude with...

"Something stinks here and it's not me!"

Now, before I get hanged by a diatribe of eco-friendly hippies for "pinching pennies" and not supporting local tribesmen hear me out...

If I knew I'd be forced to "donate" $2.00 just to take a blurry crappy photo of a monkey (that I deleted anyway!) I'd have bought a postcard of a monkey instead.

Instead, the local tribesman decided it was OK for him to single me out of dozens of tourists that huddled up to witness the show and effectively be punished for what he felt I "owed" him for years of European exploitation

(Go figure!)

Now, I wasn't fighting to get back at a man for wanting to "extort" $2.00 from me.

That fight wasn't about $2.00 at all.

You see...

If I knew I would have to pay I'd take a decent shot and happily thrown in a tip to the bargain.

I wasn't fighting the trader at all.

I was fighting for my right to say NO.

What the trader failed to do was show me why I should CARE.

What he failed to do is set the EXPECTATIONS right from the beginning.

Instead, he chose to run around like a headless chicken chasing unsuspecting tourists for what he felt they "owed" him.

It was as simply as putting up a sign:

"You want the monkey? Gotcha! $2.00 a piece"

Now, tell me...

Do your prospects know why they should pay you or are you running around like a headless chicken?

Do you know why they should pay YOU?

Most importantly, do you know why YOU should pay YOURSELF first?

Is your "open for business" sign up yet or are you just... WAITING?

Last but not least, are you 100% sold on YOU?

africa
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About the Creator

Sandra Stachowicz

Sandra Stachowicz is a narcissistic-abuse survivor, an immigrant from a post-communist country, and a college dropout raised by a single mother of five, turned into a five-time bestselling author and book coach for high-flying influencers

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