Volunteering abroad is funny thing. When taking the plunge to go abroad, our assumptions on difficulty are often corporeal, things like pit toilets, unbearable car rides, etc. But I’ve found that the real trials we international volunteers face here is social.

Recently, I was at the market with a fellow volunteer who asked the price of grapes. “Whiteman pay 500 for 1-1 grape.” Many Cameroonians have a way of seeing us foreigners as money bags. They assume we come from our palaces in the...