From Russia With Love.

This is not a story of how I fell in love in Russia but it is a story of how I fell in love with Russia.

Before my trip to Russia (few weeks after the World Cup) I had to google “Racism in Russia” and I found out that there have not been any alarming racism incidences during the World Cup in Russia. That didn’t stop me from worrying on what will my experience be like in Russia as a young black person.

The long stares at the airport made me even more terrified on what will my life be like in the next few weeks I was to spend there. But in a plane from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk I met an amazing Russian woman who couldn’t speak English well but still she started a conversation with me and she taught me how to say thanks, please, sorry, cheese, salt, sugar and a few other things in Russian after we talked about few things about our lives…. I had to speak slowly for her to understand and the struggle she had speaking to me was clearly seen and I truly respect her for that….. It was pure love. For the first time my curiosity about Russia was jaw dropped.

To cut the story short on the next days I met some of the most amazing people….. Yes, Russians. I met the kindest, most loving, charming and even friendliest people in the same country which the media usually has a very different story to tell about it. I was constantly struck by a number of people who would really want to have conversations with me but unluckily I couldn’t speak Russian and they couldn’t speak English, and I was disappointed because that made me loose an opportunity of more good friendships and important connections. And that made me learn the hard way the importance of learning the local language before you go somewhere.
Am not saying that you will not experience racism in Russia or all Russians will love you, but am telling you that…

Russia is a very big beautiful country, It’s an extraordinary country with extraordinary people. You’ll meet a lot of different people.

Before we go places we usually have our own ideas on how the place is and how it is going to work out, but the fact is we are always wrong, we are not fortunetellers, we cannot know what will happen in the other corner of the world, we can only imagine.

So it’s time to stop limiting our perceptions on the basis of someone’s stories or what the media says and instead be bold enough to take on new adventures. And whenever we tell stories of places or someone let us not only tell the good or the bad story alone but let’s remember to tell both stories. Even a coin has two sides. Let us not cling on single stories of someone or somewhere.

Photographs Courtesy of Lisa Kaiser and George Kessy.

This article is published in the Critical Kitchen 2018 Book by Tanzania Youth Coalition, INTERRA and MitOst Hamburg.