Pineapple on Pizza, Race & Debt: OkayAfrica Readers Share Their Experiences of Culture Shock

Community and culture

Mindbodysoulfit says, “People ignoring each other when passing by on the sidewalk. In Africa, we acknowledge everyone that passes by, even strangers, as a sign of respect for their humanity.” Kcnnwalor and Loloposh echo this sentiment, agreeing that non-Africans do not greet one another, while Lisakalu takes it a step further, saying, “Lack of community. Everyone is individualistic.”

Len.ocansey expands more on community, adding, “Back home in Ghana, any aunt or uncle can and will check you if you do something wrong in public. Everyone took care of each other, even if they weren’t family.”

“Calling elders by their first names,” Moliehip says, “even in-laws. George. Peter. Susan. No aunty, uncle. Nothing.”

Mdkl14 says, “Probably the lack of community in England... in Guinea, we cooked for one another.”

“In most countries I have been to, everything is transactional,” says Valkev1. “Africans (mostly my country Nigeria) can help without expecting anything, however, here is different. Parents expect their children to pay them back whenever they help them, likewise the children. For me, it is mind-blowing. In Nigeria, if you’re financially stable, you can assist your family extravagantly with no expectations. You can even extend your help to friends and strangers with no strings attached. But not here abroad.”

Infrastructure

“It was debt for me,” Instagram user toludustbinestate says. “Credit score, mortgage, student loan, and the whole financial institution built on debt.” Nursing homes were also a culture shock for toludustbinestate, and lack of respect for the elders.

For Niclem007, the biggest culture shock was discovering that there are more homeless people in the U.S. than in their native country.

Food

Shyroanjoroge, another Instagram user, states food wastage as a big culture shock. “I was learning to be a chef in a five-star hotel and when the guests didn’t eat all the food we put out for a buffet, we threw it out. The first time, I went to a corner and cried. My country was just coming out of a drought that had killed people. Till date, I always remember the wastage I saw!”

“Big food portions,” says Lisakalu. “A portion that feeds one person here could feed five people back home in Nigeria. People here thought me and my friend were poor because we shared meals, but in all actuality the portions were so large we couldn’t finish them.”

Turntablejazz says, “Pineapple on pizza,” while Iamghanaiangirl’s biggest shock was a lack of tasty food. “The food – everything in America was very bland,” she says. “I came to America as a young kid and that’s the part that stood out to me. Now it’s everything. The lack of community, the lack of melanin, the lack of respect and reverence for older people, the language. I could go on and on.”

Identity

For an African in a non-African country, culture shock is often intertwined with issues of race. As WagiconyoC succinctly put it in three words: “Discovering I’m Black.”

“Being categorized by race,” adds Azamzyy. “What are we racing for?”

Manifest5g notes, “The intensity of racism and how some of our own people participate to get ahead,” while Njewb says, “Getting stared at because I’m brown and African. Having strangers touch my hair without asking. Having people visibly frightened seeing me and do the startled faces in elevators. Having people move elsewhere when I sit next to them on a train. Being asked about wild animals as if we just co-exist with them daily in Africa. Always being asked if I’m from America.”