Africa Is Not A Country

Over the last two weeks I have been traveling along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coast with my recently arrived girlfriend, Kelly. This has been especially interesting with its fascinating Swahili culture and overwhelmingly Muslim population. Given the state of affairs in the world, I feel as though at least a few words should be said on this.

Until I caught a snippet of CNN the other night I had missed the story of Pope Benedict's inflammatory comments on Islam and almost forgotten about the quagmire of Iraq. All this despite the fact that I was traveling in the Islamic world for the first time. The reason for this is simple: it is totally and completely peaceful here.

When I arrived on the island of Lamu I was told that there was no crime here since everyone was Muslim. The same proved true for the much larger and more chaotic Zanzibar. Yes, it was nice that it was safe enough to walk at night, but more than that, it was actually peaceful. Things move nice and slowly here -- even the touts pushing curios to the tourists seemed a little more relaxed. Indeed, people seemed even more friendly than normal, with calls of "Karibu," or you are welcome, following us everywhere.

And this in a very conservative society. Most women wear ninja's, a garment that covers all but their eyes. The men for their part don't drink or smoke, dutifully reporting to the nearest mosque for each of the five daily prayers. Residents dedication to Islam became even more pronounced with the start of the daily fasts of Ramadan. In an effort at solidarity we tried it ourselves one day, and let me tell you it is no easy task in this heat!

So when I see clips of protesters in the streets over the Pope's remarks, I can't help but wonder why things don't look like that here. Why don't I see T-shirts of Osama bin Laden or graffiti protesting Iraq (almost everyone here belongs to Sadaam's Sunni sect)? Yes, Africans tend to be more pro-US than most, but this is more than politics: I am living in a seemingly entirely different picture than the one I see on CNN.

Here is my point: the pictures we see coming out of the Middle East are not telling the whole picture. Muslims are very upset by what they see (quite fairly) as persecution by the US. However, few make their politics personal and seem to inately recognize the difference between disliking the US government and disliking Americans. More importantly, Islam is not the violent religion that our media, government, and terrorists would like to think it is. It is an easy lesson to forget, and one I hope I won't when I return home to the states and those CNN clips.