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Look, I am become a diplomat

"You speak very good English, where did you learn?" a person I just met asks.

"In Kenya, in school…" I calmly reply.

"Wow! You speak English in Kenya?" He continues.

"Oh yes, we do …" The conversation goes into how we do (not) live with lions as pets and how I don’t run like "all" other Kenyans they've seen on TV. If you are wondering, this is an actual conversation I have had with persons I have met here in the US. This is not to say every conversation I have had goes this way. On the contrary, in the greater Washington metropolitan area where I live, this is the exception.

Any time I have to field questions about Kenya, however, I feel as if the responsibility to represent Kenya and communicate its brand is upon my shoulders. This is despite not getting any training on this aspect of my travel experience. Some other well-meaning people have said, once hearing I am from Kenya, that they visited Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana, South Africa and a multiplicity of other obviously non-Kenya countries. To keep the conversation going, I have had to link it all to Kenya, one way or the other. About Uganda, I have said, "Oh, that's Kenya's neighbor to the west." About Botswana I have said, "I had a friend who knew someone from there…" You get the gist?

Now, with a rapidly changing world, and the anti-globalization movement picking up the pace, these conversations are becoming more important. A student in a foreign country is not just a student, but a representative of their country, its ideals, its culture, language and vision.

I believe therefore, it is in the best interest of each nation to send students who are prepared about their roles as informal diplomats. Kenya for instance, should render a crash course of its history (known or hidden) and the values that students are expected to uphold. In order to make it even more compelling, a list of possible conversation threads to expect may be shared with the learners. It is important to let students be prepared, but not to appear mechanical in their responses, perhaps ruining the trust of their host counterparts.


All this should happen even as nations begin the process of revising their identities, as they look inward to redefine what they care about, what their role in the world is, and how they are going likely to interact with other diplomatic actors, ditto United States. As these identities change, so will the conversations. As conversations change, moving ultimately to virtual interactions over Twitter, Facebook and other social tools, so will there be a greater need for prepared student diplomats to continually mediate estrangement between their changing home countries, a responsibility every country should take seriously.
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