mckparis

Hello all!
I'm a young African-American woman looking to volunteer soon in either Samoa, Fiji or Tonga this upcoming Spring. This may seem like a stereotypical ethnic question but I was wondering if anyone had experiences out in the pacific islands with race relations or could give me a general idea of how native Pacific Islanders treat AAs. I would love to volunteer out there but I would hate for it to turn into bad experience due to a racial tension or issues!
Serious & honest answers only please!

northie

I cant really answer from knowledge of the topic but I would doubt whether you would look any different from many Fijians eg

tasmangirl

An honest answer is that I have no idea at all. Can you look for reviews from other people on the volunteer website? If there are problems it is often the individuals themselves regardless of race.
I have looked into volunteering myself in Fiji (particularly a school) and my impression is that any help, time or effort spent would be appreciated.

mckparis

I did a bit of research earlier on each location and was only able to find volunteer interactions between Caucasian and Asians amongst Fijians, Samoans and Tongans, which is why I created the topic. I was hoping someone would have experience or would know for sure but I'm starting to figure out not many AAs travel to the Pacific islands :/
I've done work in Caribbean nations and Central America, enough to know that although we may have looked the same, my actual background brought a bit of hostility and/or questioning. So I was wondering if that was anything I would have to arrive prepared to deal with...

thursdaysd

Was the hostility because you were American, or African American? In the Middle East I was received with much more enthusiasm when I said I was English than when I said I was American (I'm a dual national.) And would questioning necessarily be hostile?

mckparis

^That's a really good observation. It could've have been entirely because of how people are perceived as Americans...
And I viewed questioning as hostile b/c in my opinion, they were questions that came with insults...like the kind of questions that catch you off guard b/c you weren't expecting them to be so rude or "loaded". But as you(thursdaysd) said, it could've been driven by my nationality...

Bokhara2

Some people are more inquisitive and direct than others.

That can be a cultural or an individual thing. I remember my fist trip to Bali and actually now i think about it, to Fiji also, being peppered with questions like
"Where are you from; where are you staying; where is your husband; ( surprise that a solo female would be travelling in her own); how many children do you have; how long are you staying ....?"

I thought they were highly intrusive questions ... But soon realised it's just the custom and their way of "placing" someone.

These days I just tell them my 4 husbands are home looking after our 23 kids & 55 grandkids & we all have a huge laugh

mckparis

Haha! Yea, I too travel alone and have noticed that a lot of questions aren't as out of bounds as they are in America! But I will definitely start using the '4 husbands and 23 kids' idea though!