Working at Muslim organization and not being Muslim myself, I have had to try and find ways of fitting in with my coworkers. Now of course considering that I met one of my female coworkers in Ottawa just before I had left for Kenya and I asked her what I should wear to work, (remembering that she wears a hijab), she said I couldn’t wear what I was wearing because it was too tight… granted I’ll admit lululemon is on the tight side, but I disagree about the shirt… Anyway, so this made me wonder, “What to wear? What to wear?”. So everyday I struggled, wondering if what I was wearing was conservative enough, if my female coworkers, (who by the way make up 90% of the staff), were secretly judging me, as they walked into work with their burkas… So I would wear longer skirts and always a scarf around my shoulders, (which by the way makes me wonder how they wear those burkas in 30 degree temperatures, because I was dying with just a scarf around me). I went a while thinking that I was doing a pretty good job of being respectful, but then the day I wore a dress, (the only dress I brought), all the women were saying, “Oh don’t you look smart today!”, (smart being good in case you didn’t get it)… And then it hit me that although what I was wearing was tolerable it wasn’t “smart”. So I realized if I wore a dress, I didn’t have to wear the shall around my body, and vice versa… I thought to myself, “Nicole, now you’ve got it”… But again I was mistaken.
This month is the Holy month of Ramadan, and Mombasa being a predominately Muslim city, has been transformed by the religious occasion. I was warned about Ramadan when I first arrived, that we would start the day earlier, (7:30 am) and end the day earlier (3:30 pm), and of course there would be no eating or drinking while at work because everyone would be fasting, (considering there are only three non-Muslims in the office including me)… By the way no one said to me that I couldn’t eat or drink at work, but I didn’t want to offend anyone, so I too have been attempting to fast and let me tell you its probably the worst thing I’ve ever had to do… In the morning you feel fine, but by mid day you are starving and by 3:30 pm all you can think about is food and water, your head hurts, you feel weak and tired… The point is that I know I won’t be able to fast everyday while at work, so I tried to think about what else I could do to be respectful during this holy month…. So I decided I would cover my head with a scarf everyday for the entire month, (now I’ve added my own flare to the style of how I wear the scarf, which is much less conservative than how the Muslim women cover their heads)… Let me tell you, the response has been overwhelming, my coworkers love it! And it’s even given me some street credit with the Muslim community. More Muslims strike up random conversations with me on the street, I started getting better service at the canteen owned by a Muslim man, and I’ve even received a few marriage proposals to become a second wife. My only fear is that I don’t know the power of the head scarf. One of my female coworkers, who I socialize with daily, warned me that I needed to be careful now that I am covering my head. She said, “The Muslim men are looking at you thinking that you must be Muslim, and they will want to take you as their wife”. This of course seemed ridiculous to me as I have yet to see one mzungu, (white), Muslim, but I think she might be right. So I warn you, you think that you’re wearing clothes that make you look “smart” and garner approval from your coworkers, but you are also altering the way people see you altogether. As my female coworker says, “Covering your head is the first step to become Muslim”.
