What Does It Mean To Be A Global Citizen?

Intro

How To Be A Global Citizen (While Also Running From Militias In Cameroon)

By someone who runs on airline stroopwafels and a lack of sleep

Let’s be honest, when someone says ‘global citizen’, one typically pictures someone with a reusable tote bag in their hand, sipping their fair trade coffee from Ethiopia, nodding their head along to the international headlines, all while retweeting a post claiming that we are destroying trees in the Amazon rainforest. While cute, I think we might have lost the plot a little bit. 

I never learnt what it meant to be a global citizen in a lecture hall with a smartboard and someone referencing Foucault at 9 o’clock on a Wednesday evening. I learned it by chatting with a kid who was part of the Mundari Tribe in South Sudan while his older cousin explained how they used to walk to school every day before their huts became part of the frontlines of the war. I learned it in Syria, devouring a plate of Lamb Kofta as a middle-aged man who fled from the country 15 years ago told me that he came back in hope of change. Strangely, I learned it in a nightclub in Yangon, dancing under the starlights with locals who just wanted to have a sense of normality, while the Junta ran wild, launching drone strikes. That’s global citizenship, it’ll never be about having the right answers, but when to know to sh*t up and listen. 

Most people probably have the idea that being a global citizen usually entails launching a nonprofit by 18 and solving the water crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa somewhere between morning Pilates and Brunch. My view is no. Just show up, be curious, interested, and most importantly, be respectful. Of course, you might end up walking into a cafe and talking to a chap who had lost everything the night prior in Israel. Or you might end up watching the Champions League final at some local bar in Afghanistan with someone who used to dodge sniper rifle fire on the way home from work. And most of the time, the best thing you can do in these situations is to just sit there and listen. Ask questions without judgment, sit down, and buy you both tea to share. 

Even in countries with so much pain, show up with humility and humor

University thrives on theory. At this point, I have sat through enough lectures where individuals debate the merits of Western humanitarianism, as if they were ordering it off of the menu. Heck, I’ll take a side order of ethical imperialism and maybe a dash of savior complex, and he’ll have the human rights discourse—extra vague, please. Meanwhile, I’m mentally remembering the time when our car broke down near Choum, and I had to hitch a ride in the back of some pickup truck with a group of locals handing me stale Pringles, asking me whether Americans still love cowboy movies. Honestly… The thing is, as much as we would like it to be, the world isn’t just a theory. It’s messy, muddy, and more so, layered. You can’t box it into peer-reviewed sources and PowerPoint presentations, no matter how many headers and page numbers you throw at it. The world doesn’t care about your literature review when the building next door is getting bombed left, right, and center. People aren’t, and will never be, case studies. We are people who want to love, live, chill, and potentially party a little bit from time to time. 

Sitting on the outskirts of Jakarta, I tried to say thank you in Bahasa and ended up asking someone if they wanted to sleep with me that night. Classic… Here’s the thing though: being a global citizen isn’t about being right 100% of the time, but it’s about being able to take accountability for your actions and learning. I’ve gotten it wrong countless times, whether it was on a night out in Kyiv, thinking that the beautiful lady next to me didn’t speak English, but she studied in London. Or, the time that I went into some Mozambican house and took off my shoes, only to find that I was off my rocker. We have to accept that we will make cultural mistakes, but it’s vital not to make it about oneself. Apologize, laugh at yourself, and learn to do better next time. Nobody expects you to be as culturally sensitive as a UN diplomat, just don’t walk into some sacred temple in Bhutan wearing cargo shorts and smelly socks. Just be human. 

No matter how different we are, we are the same

You hear about the DRC and probably think ‘war’. You hear about Afghanistan, and that usually entails ‘Taliban’. You hear ‘Somalia’ and maybe you might not think anything anymore because it can be too much. But if you go there, you’ll meet people who insist on feeding you until you're physically not able to move, then they’ll act offended when you try to say no to a fourth helping. “Eat,” they’ll say. “You look so skinny. Are you sick?? They’ll tell you their story because you sat there and cared enough to be present with them, treated them as equals. I once sat in Kivu sharing a Primus with a man who had seen it all. He said to me, “Everyone sees this place as just war from the outside, but we also like to dance, party, and have a good time when we can. Maybe we drink too much as well”. That is the epitome of what you learn on the ground. This is what being a global citizen means. Empathy travels to places where drones can’t touch, and laughter is displayed in places where bombs are dropped. 

Be open to everyone, no matter their circumstances

However, this is where I stop with the satire and get real. No one is the saviour. No one is the main character in anyone else's story but the one that they write for themselves. But what being a global citizen means is owning the privilege we have, as well as asking yourself, “What can I do, with everything that I own, to make this world at least a little less broken”? What this means is not necessarily donating thousands of dollars to a non-profit organization, actually quite the contrary. Whether it be calling out some stereotype that everyone seems to have some idea about, or learning about a place before you go. Sometimes it means just sitting down face to face with someone and truly listening to their story. But it also means staying uncomfortable, since the second we get comfortable as humans, our capacity for growth diminishes. 

Over the past 12 months, I have been in and out of something like 75 countries. I have slept in tents in South Sudan to luxury hotels. I’ve had more stroopwafels on planes than a proper night's sleep. However, if there is one thing that I can take away, it is not about where you go in this world, it is about how you go. Go with humour. Go with humility. Go with your eyes wide open, not locked behind typical stereotypes we hear about from others. Challenge yourself. So the next time someone asks you what it means to be a global citizen, don’t head online and quote some TED talk, be yourself! Tell them it means being the sort of person who would sit on the side of the street with a homeless man in Los Angeles and hear his story. And not because it is in your itinerary, but because it is a part of your soul.