THE AUDACITY OF KNOWLEDGE Debanjan “Joy” Datta If you were to ask me who the president of Sierra Leone currently is, I, like most Americans, would not know and be unable to answer the question. As a matter of fact, like most Americans, I would probably classify the continent of Africa as a country. Most Americans, when confronted with the term “Africa,” would probably have visions of wild game animals running about, tribesmen in their villages, and jungles teeming with exotic plants. Almost all of my seventh grade students refer to Africa as a country instead of a continent. What they fail to readily understand is that Africa is an extremely diverse continent. It has a multitude of languages, countries, ethnic backgrounds, units of money, religions, physical geographic features, and a host of other categories too numerous to mention. On my recent trip spent in Guinea and Sierra Leone, I most readily noticed the incredible knowledge people had of American culture, politics, and geography. In Guinea, I was fortunate to meet with an individual who spoke fluent English. Salim was Sierra Leonean and lived about eighty kilometers from Kan Kan. He was in the eastern city of Kan Kan making arrangements for his brother’s funeral. As I shared a Coca Cola with him, I became very inquisitive and wanted to know everything about him. He began by discussing his situation and later segued into how American society would one day bring about the downfall of Western civilization. He was convinced that his god would one day punish all Westerners. I continued to listen with an impartial ear. Salim felt as though women in America were too independent and that spiritual guidance was missing with most of them. I briefly imagined telling my wife and daughter that they were too independent. Then I briefly imagined my wife punching me and tagging my daughter’s hand so she could finish the job. I very briefly imagined the scenario. In addition, Salim stated that American teenagers seemed disrespectful towards adults and always immersed themselves in materialism. I told him that I did not disagree with the materialism comments, but I noticed most of the young people in Guinea walking around with cell phones, mp3 players, trendy clothing, and sports equipment. Although for the most part, this man made many faulty generalizations, the fact that he had a decent concept of American culture was astonishing. Early in our trip, an image of Sierra Leone that stood out the most is that of the multitude of “Obama 08” posters scattered throughout Freetown and the Obama buttons that many people wore. I realized that these people would not be voting for Obama, so why the fascination, I asked. Like many Americans, many Sierra Leoneans embraced the simple fact that someone of African origin was running for the most powerful office in the United States, if not the world. An African-American…president of the United States…unimaginable…an historic occasion…Someone pinch me. Is his election going to happen in my life time? One Sierra Leonean I distinctly remember is Gabriel Scott, founder of the Freetown Normal School. Not only did he proudly wear his Obama t-shirt, but he was also sporting four Obama campaign buttons. He discussed at length how American policy towards African nations might change with the election of Obama. I quickly reminded him that President Bush had done more for Africa in the form of humanitarian aid than any other US president. Gabriel just smiled and said, “…but he [Bush] is not of African origin like Obama.” As I visited schools in Guinea and Sierra Leone, many of the students were engaged in activities dealing with political and geographic concepts. Whether the students were in primary school or at a university, most were correctly able to identify the geographic locations of their own countries, as well as questions pertaining to Russia, China, Japan, India, and the United States. Their geographic knowledge of the world seemed astounding. Several university students that I spoke with talked about the United States as if they’d visited. They freely and accurately rattled off cities, states, and physical geographic features, such as the Rocky Mountains, with ease. Unfortunately, when I was their age, there would be no way I could possibly even locate Guinea or Sierra Leone on a map. The chasm of knowledge that the American students have of Africa will hopefully one day inch closer towards the knowledge Leoneans and Guineans have of the United States. It would be extremely unfair for me to categorize my travel in Guinea and Sierra Leone as an in-depth voyage to Africa. That would be like someone from abroad visiting the New England region and bragging about visiting North America. I fully realize that the experience and knowledge of Guinea and Sierra Leone is but a mere scratch for me in the world’s geographic and cultural surface. Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to say that I have visited, gained first hand knowledge, and learned in depth from the people and geography of what I perceive to be the most misunderstood continent in the world, the continent of Africa.