The Embassy of Cambodia

For the first time, Fatou sees someone leaving the Embassy of Cambodia who looks like they could be from Cambodia. Fatou is particularly interested in the woman’s clothing, “which were precise and utilitarian […] just as if she were a man, or no different from a man” (19-20). The woman carries a bag from the same grocery store Fatou shops at for the Derawals, and Fatou is surprised that someone from the Embassy of Cambodia could shop in the same place she does. She assumes that people from Asia are extremely self-reliant based on a Chinese company coming to her hometown to take ownership of a mine. No one ever saw anyone from the company, leading them to believe they made other plans to provide for themselves without using local resources.

The more Fatou looks at the woman’s grocery bag, the more she begins to believe that the woman is not carrying groceries. Fatou thinks she’s carrying either clothing or trash. As the woman walks away, Fatou turns her attention back to the badminton game.

The unnamed narrator admits that some people might be upset with the stereotypes that Fatou assumes of the woman she saw at the embassy.