You are Western...right?

“You are western, because you are white,” said T one of the missionaries here in Cambodia to me as we rode along on a tuk tuk (the Cambodian equivalent of a taxi).  Granted, in this picture Steph (one of my IVCF Coworkers) and I are roughly the same color, but this is one of the few times in my life that I’ve been called white.  (The other time was in a St. Louis DMV where I needed to check an ethnicity box and the choices were “black” or “white.”  The DMV lady said I should check the white box.)

Just to bring y’all up to speed, IVCF recently has sent a team of four of us to Cambodia to see how viable it is to create cross-national partnerships between our universities.  So we are seeing how American-friendly and open the campuses and the country is.  We’ve been meeting missionaries and lots of local people throughout Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. 

T is originally from Indonesia and is an OMF missionary here in Phnom Penh.  Her experience, I imagine, is drastically different from that of an average American.  Largely because most westerners, plus Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese are seen as tourists.  One of Cambodia’s largest rising industries (on paper anyways) is tourism. 

But despite T’s statement, the consistent question that both Cris and I get asked is where are we from even after we say that we are from America. This is a constant reminder that as ethnic minorities in America we often are unable to own our American identity.  This has it’s advantages and disadvantages here in Cambodia.  For example, when I’m with Steph or Howie(My white coworkers), the sales folks usually bombard them rather than me.  Yet there is a desire to want to claim who I really am.  I am associated with China only secondarily, my life and my influences have been largely American.  However, I am continually prompted in my prayer that my deepest truest identity lies not in my country but rather my allegiance to the one who has made all the difference in my life—Jesus.  That this should be my core when I am travelling and this is where I should live out of when I interact with others.