Latest / Babes, how did you get here / 'My Skin Is The Greatest Sin I Could Have' — A Black Woman in Asia | BEST OF
Transcript
- 0:00Abigail is a proud journey who traded in the Caribbean sunshine for a Southeast Asian adventure.
- 0:05She has lived here in Cambodia for the last three years, navigating cultural shifts,
- 0:11finding her community and shaping the minds of young people along the way.
- 0:15I am so excited for this conversation, bringing in those Caribbean island vibes to find out exactly
- 0:22what her life looks like here, so far away from familiar shores. But also how her Caribbean roots
- 0:28continues to shape and guide her every step of the way. But first, babes, how did you get here?
- 0:35Friend, I don't know. I went on Google and I was like, hmm, what I've always wanted to get
- 0:42come to Asia, always wanted to come to Asia. And I went on Google and I googled the easiest place
- 0:47to get a job and a visa in Asia. Cambodia came up, I booked my flight and I came. Literally.
- 0:54Simple. Did you know anything about Cambodia? I did not know a thing about Cambodia,
- 0:59other than like the genocide they went through in the past. So my family was very skeptical
- 1:06of me coming here. Are you an only child? Do you have something? I'm the oldest. You're the oldest.
- 1:10I'm not the rock of the family.
- 1:15We're dropping new episodes every single week. So make sure you subscribe. You don't want to
- 1:20miss this, babes. And leave a comment and tell me what do you want to hear out of my next conversation?
- 1:25Your support really helps this community grow. And if you know someone who's quietly been thinking
- 1:30should they take that next big leap? Babes, send them the podcast.
- 1:34Ceget that my parents breed. How old are you when you came to Cambodia?
- 1:39I was 23. Okay, so you tell your parents I'm leaving and is it indefinitely at this point or
- 1:47is it just I'm going to test it? Oh no, it was like indefinitely. It was like I'm leaving.
- 1:52I want to live outside. Trinidad is a wonderful place, but it's so teeny tiny and small.
- 1:59I just meant for something bigger, big country, a big continent.
- 2:03And before you came, you already had the drum? No. So I came here and I did a Tefl certificate
- 2:08in order to teach English. So I did one month living in Seattle and doing this Tefl certificate.
- 2:15And then they promised to help you find a job. Okay. And whereas they did send up my CV and stuff,
- 2:21all my jobs I've gotten it on my own. Oh really? Yes. They did try their best, you know, but
- 2:28me I have a standard for myself. So I'm going with that standard, you know, I have my education
- 2:33and stuff. So I'm going for a certain type of school because here in Cambodia, you can teach
- 2:38without a degree. Okay. But it's not the best of schools, you know, so I know I have my education.
- 2:44I want to make sure I'm at a good school, good benefits, good everything. Yeah. So the offering that
- 2:50they were giving wasn't matching where you needed to be. Yes. Was it hard for you to find your own
- 2:55job independently? So in the beginning, it was not very hard. Now it has become a lot more
- 3:01stricter. Okay. But in the beginning, it was not hard, but my first job was not a good job.
- 3:07In what way? In what way? In like these terms of benefit, salary, these kind of things. But
- 3:12come in into Cambodia, I came on a tourist visa. Okay. And I will have to find a job that is
- 3:18willing to give me the paper work. So I could fly out of Cambodia to what I went to Thailand. I
- 3:24went twice. Okay. I went to the border with one school. They denied me my visa, the border,
- 3:30the, the, um, and point pet. Okay. So I had to come back in on another tourist visa that school
- 3:36did not accept me again. So therefore I had to go to another school. When I went to that school,
- 3:41they graciously gave me the documents. And I this time I flew to Bangkok and I paid express.
- 3:48Okay. Express to get the visa. So I got it done in one day. But now it's not like that.
- 3:52Now you have to wait three days. Okay. There is no express service. It has no express service.
- 3:57So I've actually done the procedure in Thailand with myself. And then I've helped one of my friends
- 4:02go to Malaysia. And I did it with how I Malaysia to get her visa. So I'm an expert. No.
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- 4:20guests. I really cannot wait for you to help me shape where this podcast goes.
- 4:25He said young people. I said young people's music. I said, okay, cool. Let's try another angle,
- 4:29right? So I said, you watch Olympics. You ever watch running? And he said, I said, okay, cool.
- 4:35So the fastest man in the world. So I bring it up because I'm like, no, man, this man knows
- 4:40something about Jamaica. He don't know that. No, but no. So I bring up I bring up both on the phone.
- 4:46I show him my man just shook his head. I have never I'm not exaggerating. I've been to many
- 4:52places. This is the one. It happened this morning in the talk talk except I didn't go through
- 4:56the whole thing again because I've gathered that they don't understand. So my point is is that when
- 5:00you come here from Trinidad, no offense, but babes, it's them don't know Jamaica. They don't know
- 5:05Trinidad. They don't know Trinidad. Are they then perceiving you as being from Africa? And if
- 5:13that's the case, does that kind of change the dynamic because there's not a great representation
- 5:19of African people here? I have worked my way in this country. They know where Trinidad and Tobago
- 5:26is now. They know no. Right? I showed it when I go back home. I have to go and talk to the
- 5:32prime minister, Ms. Kamala, Ms. Adbi Sasser and say excuse me because I please be the unofficial ambassador
- 5:40for Trinidad and Tobago in Cambodia. Like literally because I have worked so hard. When I first
- 5:46got here and I was going to Thailand for the first time, we needed visa still only this year,
- 5:50you know, only this year last year, we got free visa and treat the Thailand. This woman
- 5:56watched me in the Thai embassy and she was like, which she watched my passport. She was like Trinidad
- 6:01and Tobago. I was just watching her and then she pulled out her people. She had a list of countries
- 6:08African countries that cannot go into Thailand. She watched the paper. She watched it up. She
- 6:13watched it down. I just watched it now because I know she's not going to find Trinidad name on that
- 6:17passport. I'm on the paper and then she was like, which African country you from? I say,
- 6:23Ms. I'm not from Africa. I'm from South America, but we are not South America. I just say that
- 6:28because it's the nearest source. Yeah. You know, and she was like, you show you not from Africa?
- 6:36I just watched her because what do you mean if I show I'm not from Africa? I know I come from
- 6:43my passport is blue. That means it's a strong passport. Put some respect on my passport name.
- 6:50You know, so like I have really worked in this country to make a name for Trinidad and Tobago
- 6:56through social media. You know, even when I post videos and they go viral, the government
- 7:03social media pages have reposted my videos using my name Trinidad and Tobago flag.
- 7:09You know, so now it's much easier, but of course, the local people still don't know. But when I go
- 7:15to immigration, the last time I left and I came back and I'm smiling because I smile at the
- 7:20immigration officers. Hi, pal, how are you today? And I tell them we're to stamp in my passport.
- 7:25Okay, because don't be going on stamp on a new page. Right. Don't do it. So I literally said,
- 7:30let me go to Jamaica from England because it's nine and a half hours. And let me then come back
- 7:35to England, spend a little week. And then because I was like connecting about three times,
- 7:41who is doing this? So what I did, I flew from here to Guangzhou, China. Okay, we're China
- 7:48southern. And town goad for China's southern. They do some overnighting.
- 7:54Some hotel. Yes, three breakfasts. Really? And go in. The plane was practically empty. So I had a
- 8:02hole for myself. That was three hours. And then from China, I had a 18 hour leave over. So
- 8:08free hotel for any any leave over more than eight hours. Okay. Right. You just sign up before
- 8:15hand. And even if you don't sign up beforehand, you just go by the desk and they put you in a hotel.
- 8:19Amazing. Right. And of course, I reached nine o'clock in the night. So I made friend with my roommate
- 8:25because they put us in a, like a hotel girl. Okay. They put me with a girl. Sure. And she was
- 8:30young like my age. Okay. We went out and Guangzhou. We went out. We did the most city
- 8:36content hours. Walk the, the food street. We did, we did the most. Then I came back and slept.
- 8:43So got up the next morning. My flight is 12 hours from Guangzhou to the UK. Okay. And I bought
- 8:49a wrong trip. So this is how I cut down and I spent only $1,500. Okay. A wrong trip from,
- 8:55wrong trip from Cambodia to the UK. Right. So, and then the middle seat was empty. So thank the
- 9:02Lord. The middle seat was empty. So me and this other Chinese lady, we, they are sharing the middle
- 9:07seat off. I slept. I got to the UK. I learned and hit you. First time now, I had to go and take
- 9:14train and London. Ask me if I could take the train and London. The only train available now is
- 9:19the Picadilly line. Right. Slow. Oh, Jesus. So when you reach home, when I reach home,
- 9:26after two, what is the two years and seven months? Yeah. Tell me how are you feeling? How are you
- 9:31being received? Tom, I've been received. The disrespect I got to the immigration when I land
- 9:36and I teach and I go five or six places all over Asia. And I have told these people where to
- 9:43stamp in my passport. Very pleasant, very nice. Right. You know, not, was always met with a smile.
- 9:48Okay. Snap. Right. I reach home and my immigration in my country. I said, hi, Mr.
- 9:54Excuse, you could just stamp here? No. I'm like, I'm like, okay. So she gave me a
- 10:02dish back attitude. You know, I said, okay. Then she flipped through my passport and she realized
- 10:07I have a lot of stamps. Okay. And she was like, why this page? It was next to the Chinese
- 10:12one day visa. Right. Because you could get some a little visa. Okay. Right.
- 10:19She's like, why this page? I was like, well, it don't have to be this page. If you find another
- 10:23page that have some space, you could put it. And she was just like, and she gave me my passport.
- 10:29I was like, thank you. Then now I collect my bags for this carnival time. Okay. So they
- 10:35were busy. I went outside time to see if you have anything to declare. I come home in two
- 10:42years and seven months. So you know my bag. So the man, no, don't go to meet a nice man. Okay.
- 10:49He was like, what's he having this bag? I was like, me? I don't have a thing in this bag. He was
- 10:55like, were you coming from, he looking through my passport. I said, coming from Cambodia.
- 10:59Were you doing quite that? I was like, well, I chose to live in Asia and you ain't bring
- 11:05home nothing for your mother and your father. I said, nobody, send me out there. No, I choose to go
- 11:11there by myself. I said, bring home one tissue for my mother. One tissue for my father.
- 11:14One tissue for my sister. One tissue for my brother. And he was like, that's it. I was like,
- 11:19of course, he left and he's like, go ahead now. So what did you actually have in this
- 11:23suitcase? I had about a billion thing. There's a traditional scarf called a chroma. Okay.
- 11:30I pack about 15. That's in my bag to give out for gift. Oh, that's nice. Then my mom, I had
- 11:35carried three outfits for her Cambodia traditional outfits. One for my dad, one for my brother.
- 11:42And then you know these, she was big up here. Okay. And I didn't like this woman for all the
- 11:48tea in China. And she didn't like me. I used to get this one beer problems. Really?
- 11:55No, I was good. I was good babes. I like doing well. I was good. I would push boundaries,
- 12:04but in a way that was reasonable. And the thing I loved about my high school, it was a small school,
- 12:13which I think is relevant in the sense that you can kind of have more room to find your
- 12:18personality when it's a small school. I'd been to another school, which was a lot bigger. And I
- 12:22just find that when it's a lot bigger, you can't really test the rules, right? You can't really see
- 12:28how to navigate spaces because you're just one and only. You kind of have to fall in line. But
- 12:32this teacher, this principal, sorry, when we had been one of our vibrant classes and the teacher
- 12:38felt that it was a little older control, his punishment was you needed to go cut grass with
- 12:43the scissors. And I'm talking like a field. So I'm sending everybody with scissors to cut grass,
- 12:52right? And so I said to him, unfortunately, I have migraines and I can't be old in the sun.
- 13:01So I appreciate that you need to discipline the class. But for medical reasons, I just don't
- 13:06think it's an appropriate punishment. And come to think of it, I don't know how he put up with me,
- 13:12but I didn't, I didn't get the punishment. I sat down. I sat down and I watched the rest of the
- 13:18class. I would make your cone stones. I'm super like talking about it. No, I'm surprised that he
- 13:23didn't give me some minutes to do. But I didn't. I just sat there. And the reason that's relevant is
- 13:27because I feel like at high school, it was where it taught me how to kind of not weasel your way
- 13:34out of things. But I think I learned how to get my own way in life because it was a small
- 13:40enough school that I could have those one-on-one relationships with. Whereas if I went to like a big one,
- 13:44I don't think I would have been able to do that. But yeah, they definitely didn't get away with
- 13:48things. I think also because I was good in terms of academically. I remember one time I was in a
- 13:53class and I was tired. And I said to the teacher, do you mind if I just put my head down? I don't,
- 13:58like, for the class. And I'll do the homework. Whatever you're doing in class, I'll bring it tomorrow.
- 14:04I just feel quite tired. And so she said, and she was known for being really strict. And so she let
- 14:09me put my head down. And so a next boy raises his hand and he's like, and before he speaks, she says,
- 14:16if you think you are going to make that request, I would suggest that you rethink your position.
- 14:22Him don't talk yet enough. And him just look at me. I just smiled. You're not April babes.
- 14:29So you're not going to get those privileges. And honestly, you have to get the grades,
- 14:36right? I just too know the noise. Once you do it, my world, I don't have a problem with you.
- 14:40Yes, because you're five, four, three, you know, two year olds, bear cry. You were with two
- 14:46year olds, two years old, two and three year olds. Really? Yeah. I will never.
- 14:56And now I'm teaching primary kids. Okay. And my kids, so I'm teaching seven, eight, nine, ten.
- 15:03Okay. Right. And these kids, they don't speak English. Zero English. I'm Chinese, Vietnamese,
- 15:10Taiwanese and Korean. Okay. So all of them in one class and best believe they play, you know,
- 15:18and they cut and they communicate. I love it. No, no, no, no, no, go, go, go, go, go, you know,
- 15:24but they're very active. And I think because of the language barrier, the thing they can push with me.
- 15:30Okay. So when I punish, I punish like stand up in a corner, but I realize that some of them
- 15:37enjoy standing in a corner. So now I have to make them. I'm going to implement like writing lines.
- 15:42Okay. You know, and then you have these kids, these kids, these days are so actively always want to
- 15:47up and stand up. One boy, he loves to start up and do his work. Okay. So I let, I allow him to
- 15:53stand up and do his work because he's so smart. Sure. You know, he gets away with stand up and do
- 15:58his work because he come, he's slow to complete his work. But when he does the work, it's correct.
- 16:04Right. You know, one of the class sizes. So I have had 25. Okay. 20, 23 now 11. Okay. But not,
- 16:15of course, the 11 will grow because it's now the beginning of the school school year. Okay.
- 16:20So more people enroll their kids. Is that how it happens? Mm-hmm. Okay. It'll have a year
- 16:26wrong enrollment and like more schools and parents are getting different contracts. They're
- 16:32like while they not all come in at the same time. Like Cambodia is such a hub for experts. Okay.
- 16:37That people are always coming and going. Coming and going. Right. You know, so people are always
- 16:42leaving. They leave. They take their kids to another country and people are always coming in.
- 16:46So they have to find some method for their kids when they're working here. You know, and then when
- 16:51you leave a country like China, some more times these kids don't know any English. Right.
- 16:56And they realize that to live abroad these kids need to learn English. Right.
- 17:01So they put them in an international school where they would learn English
- 17:05interact with different kinds of kids. Right. You know. So yeah. Do you prefer teaching
- 17:10the kindergarten kids or do you prefer teaching the primary kids? After three years of kindergarten,
- 17:14I am so grateful. Like I get to teach primary right now. Really? I'm tired.
- 17:20Yeah. She's like, yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead towards it. She's like, yeah. And I'm there like,
- 17:28I was like, tell her sorry now. And we're in the playground. I was like, tell her sorry.
- 17:32Did she understand what the middle finger was? Maybe she never understand it. They understand
- 17:35them. Turn smart. I have one bear curse. And then Michael has really. And I'm there like,
- 17:42Michael me a standing corner. And he's in the corner playing because the corner is enjoyable.
- 17:47Right. You know, these kids are so smart. They don't know how to do the school. But they know
- 17:52of course, but yeah. You know, these kids, you know, sometimes I just laugh with them because
- 17:59they're just so funny sometimes. Even in their bad behavior, I put one to stand up in our corner
- 18:05and we go in truly funny. So I answer my hand. I answer my hand. And we reach the tea.
- 18:12And for the life of me, I couldn't remember when I was trying to smash it. Okay. And you have
- 18:19the end. And he is free. It's in the corner. He's not watching me. And he's like teacher
- 18:25when I was trying to smash it. I was like, which all of us just start a laugh. You know,
- 18:31and I say, go on. So, you deserve this. So, go on. So, you know, these kids just make me laugh
- 18:39sometimes in their little misbehaving. So, you know, they just, they bring joy to my life to be
- 18:45honest. Do you enjoy teaching? I enjoy teaching. It's not the career that I want to do. But I enjoy it.
- 18:51I want to go into marketing and these kind of things. That's what I love. Okay. You know, but it's
- 18:55so hard because they will not hire a foreigner that does not speak. Come on. Okay. Because there are
- 19:03a lot of jobs. And then there are so many Filipinos here. You know, when one person gets in,
- 19:08they help the whole country. So, when one Filipino in a position, because a lot of hotels look for
- 19:15marketing agents, right? And I have applied. God knows I have applied, you know? And one Filipino
- 19:24in, of course, they'll get the other Filipino graduate. Right. You know, so how is your
- 19:29kamae? I know you can run a market, but in terms of would you be able to work in corporate settings?
- 19:35Okay. Are you thinking about learning kamae? Absolutely not. Really? You try learning kamae and
- 19:41come back and tell me. I write one sentence. It takes me 15 minutes. You can write? No. I try. But
- 19:50speaking, I mean, I don't think that my natural tone lends to Southeast Asian languages. However,
- 20:01all I have in the couple of days that I've been here is su su dai, su su bi, kom plua,
- 20:09twins. Oh, okay. That's my vocabulary. Yeah. For obvious reasons. Obviously,
- 20:17and what is lovely, and you touched on it when you spoke about your kid, the kid in your class
- 20:22and playing, it's like, I will say, come out to the talk talk and say, thank you initially,
- 20:27and then correct myself. Before I can correct myself to say, okay, my children are like,
- 20:32you cannot say, thank you. They don't speak English. It's, okay, babes. I was, I was, I was coming.
- 20:39I can guarantee. Really? Because I'm watching your kids speak in French. How did they even learn French?
- 20:47They don't have enough friends to speak in country. Should we go to China for a year?
- 20:51Go to China for a year and bring me. Is that where you want to go?
- 20:56Ah, China. They make money in China in teaching or just in China. They pay for, they pay for your
- 21:03flight to get there. They pay for their visas. They give you a two-year contract. They pay for
- 21:07your house. And then they give you a salary. And then they, maybe the house costs the school or
- 21:13whatever. Some schools have shuttle. If you spend money, you spend money because you want to spend
- 21:18money. No, because you have to. So what is stopping you from, from getting to China?
- 21:23Oh, Lord. You see this here? Really? This is the greatest thing I have born with.
- 21:29I love my skin. Sure. But this is the greatest thing a black person could have.
- 21:38Really? If you're not secured in yourself and you come out here and you don't know yourself as
- 21:44a person, you will be shamed for having this. Is that Cambodia as well? It's just the region.
- 21:51Okay. On a whole. Really? You know? I have to be like, oh, you are so dark.
- 21:59People watch me in my face. I have a friend, one of our teaching assistants, they were like,
- 22:04oh, teacher, last year your bottom was so big. And it was not nice. And now it's nicer this year.
- 22:10And there are things with that in Vietnam, the worst thing you could say to a woman is you have
- 22:15beautiful brown skin. I was like, oh, okay, cool. So fast forward, we are in Vietnam earlier this year.
- 22:21And I'm like, oh, I wonder what the temperature is going to be in terms of culturally, not in terms
- 22:26of heat. Because I'm like, no, you're traveling with children. How are we going to be received? And
- 22:30as a black person, I think it's fair to say that we have to think about how are people going to
- 22:35receive us when we travel? Yes. What I found quite interesting is they clearly had their
- 22:41prejudices within Vietnamese culture. Because like what you're saying, I was surprised to see
- 22:45bleaching billboards in Malaysia as an advertising clinics for bleaching. I was like, okay, cool.
- 22:51Because of course, I know bleaching from a Jamaican company. I'm not saying that we don't have
- 22:56that issue. Yes, of course. But it would never be advertised. You wouldn't have a billboard.
- 23:00It's something you do on the don't know, right? And people see your knuckles and they're like,
- 23:03you know what I mean? It's not like you're just going to be, oh, I'm going to go to the clinic today.
- 23:08So I was quite taken aback also very ignorantly. I look at Asian people as being pale. So the idea
- 23:16that you were trying to bleach, I was taken aback because I thought bleaching was a black thing.
- 23:21I never knew that bleaching was such a culturally normal thing in this part of the world.
- 23:27A pair, a pair like, to me, Cambodian people are dark skin. From their ancestors when you watch
- 23:34all these ancestral things, their brown skin. And they signify that when going out and they rise
- 23:40feels like you're in the sun. That means you have a low class. But if you get to stay inside,
- 23:45then you're of a high class. Okay. You know, it's just a culture. And how does that translate?
- 23:50Do they apply those same prejudices to you? Do you feel? Yes. Okay. So like, when I went to the province,
- 24:00I, it's hot, right? So I went to Camponcinoan province because I have one of my teaching assistants
- 24:06from my previous school. Okay. We are, we are friends. We're friends now. And I'm her son's
- 24:13godmother. Oh, really? So I send money for him every month when I get pay, I send $10 or
- 24:18$15, you know? And how, how, how, how's the road floods because they're not riverbank? Okay.
- 24:26So then this time the whole river comes up. It comes up literally to the house. The house on
- 24:32still like this, right? And we are in the boat going and I am a tube top. Right? And my legans
- 24:39right because it's hot. My girl come outside with a hot long sleeve long. She's like,
- 24:44teacher, no, where this way? This cover up. You get more dark. Okay. You know, but she's saying it's
- 24:49so innocently and out of care. Out of care. Yeah. But then there are the times when you have
- 24:55encountered it where people were like social media. Um, I did a video where I went to this factory
- 25:02and it's like income would you get cheap clothes? 50 cents a dollar in these factories. Right.
- 25:09Somebody was like, go back to Africa with your black self. Africa has three clothes. No,
- 25:15not really. I read, but it does not have a tail at all. It's like a stump. I don't want to.
- 25:19It's like a stump, but it's like a family tarat. Okay. Right? And like say, this is the world for
- 25:26our house. Sure. And by that chair right there, they would come down and my parents always
- 25:30throw their food bills and stuff like to feed it. Yeah, to feed it and they come down and then
- 25:34they never any back. Here's a commenter's gone and we and he's shooting because this time you feed
- 25:42it to kill it. What kind of evil business is that? Well, we're not eaten at the level. It's
- 25:45not eaten at all. You know, we're not eaten at the day, but at one time he's from all this
- 25:50should just go because like it's a hunting gun only there. I think where it becomes
- 25:59concerning is when we're talking about young people, when we talk about people who are not
- 26:06willing participants, but are trying to survive. Yes. Right. And I think that in Cambodia, particularly
- 26:13what struck me was we move in to our Airbnb on the first night in Phnom Penh and this hasn't
- 26:20happened to me anywhere else in Southeast Asia, which is why it struck me as quite interesting.
- 26:25Within 20 minutes, my kids are literally gone to the bathroom before them even leave the
- 26:29bathroom a card slides under the door, advertising services. Okay. I'm not exaggerating within 20
- 26:37minutes of my arrival. So someone has clearly seen or know that you have just arrived. Yes.
- 26:41Let me let you know what is on offer. Yes. And I was like, damn, you didn't like,
- 26:47you didn't wait. It's clearly a known thing. Okay. Because it just seemed so quick.
- 26:53And I haven't experienced that anywhere else for me. And so I was like, wow, it must be
- 27:00quite, quite common and quite necessary, I think, for a lot of people. And then my concern is that
- 27:10are there other means, other avenues for women to find a way out of their circumstances financially?
- 27:18Or do you think that it is a real solution for so many women here that they find themselves
- 27:25having to do it rather than wanting to? It's a lifestyle here because
- 27:30Cambodia, but I don't know if you have the Central Maker, but the international education is free.
- 27:36Okay. Right. The government pays for the first degree. But here, education is not free.
- 27:41Right. No, I don't think so. And let's take it for the first degree.
- 27:43The PFA degree? Yeah, my girl. Check out the oil money.
- 27:46Here we are. Exactly. We need to find some too.