Meet Jessica Nabongo, First Black Woman To Have Travelled To Every Country In The World
A Detroit woman of Ugandan descent has broken a world record. Jessica Nabongo became the first black woman to travel to 195 countries. Nabongo got an itch to start traveling after quitting her job in the pharmaceutical industry, before deciding to teach English in Japan.
She’s also lived in London where she studied at the London School of Economics. Later, she obtained employment with the United Nations where she resided in Italy and Benin.
Nabongo’s feat of touching down in 195 countries came to fruition when she visited Seychelles, a country in East Africa. There are 150 people who have reportedly been to every country—the majority being white European men. While this has been a dream come true, Nabongo advises to dig deep and ask yourself why you’d like to travel to certain places.
“People look at a photo of me in Bali and they say, ‘That’s cool, I want to go to Bali,’” she said. “But everyone needs to ask themselves, ‘What is your why? Why do you want to do what it is you want to do?’ I hope people would be more reflective than reactive. Not just like, ‘Oh Bali, that’s a cute picture, I want to go.’”
In an effort to help fund her travels, Nabongo is a social media influencer and exchanges social media posts for swanky hotel stays. She’s also created Gofundme pages. Scroll through her Instagram and you’ll see a beautifully curated montage of images captioned with insightful information of her experiences in any particular region of the world.
During her stay in Pakistan, she reflected on visiting a Muslim country as a woman, and the misconceptions the western world has on the Middle East.
“When I arrived to check-in for my flight to Pakistan, there were only men in line and I felt slightly uncomfortable, it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with me. Fast forward and I’ve been blown away by the kindness and respect that Pakistani men have exhibited, some of the best treatment by men in all the countries I’ve visited,” she wrote. “While standing waiting for my luggage a man brought me a trolley without me asking. Men have often stepped to the side and kept a healthy distance which has made me feel super comfortable as a woman traveling solo in this country. “
However, Nabongo admits she’s experienced racism in other countries, even in Africa. “The discrimination that I faced in South Africa was ridiculous. Not only from white South Africans, which many would expect but also from black South Africans,” she said.
Still, some experiences were better than others. “Senegal, it’s amazing. You don’t see them privileging white people over Africans. They treat everyone the same. Same in Ghana.”