What kind of message are we sending to the future generation of women?

Several of my friends are headed to Tanzania, East Africa Thursday. They are traveling with the same Prof. that I did this summer and will be visiting many of the orphanages and baby homes that I had an opportunity to spend time at this summer. I'm so jealous that I can't go back. I know its crazy, but I just feel at home in Africa. It's such a different world. Sadly, the bank account simply can't handle 2 trips to Africa in less than a year.

So, in preparation for their trip I wanted to buy a gift for this sweet little girl I met this summer. Her dad is a friend of my professor and drove us all around Arusha. He was such a blessing. This is name is Solema. Isn't she precious?


Because the last couple of weeks have been super crazy for me, I waited until the last minute to buy her a gift. I just assumed that I could run by W*lm*rt and pick up a baby doll for her on the way to school. I was SHOCKED to find that out of all of the baby dolls, there was only ONE black doll and the box was totally beat up. A lady that worked there saw me bewildered standing by the dolls. She asked if she could help me with something. I said actually yes, I would like to buy a black baby doll but all you have is this one doll. She apologized once she realized that out of an aisle full of baby dolls there was only one black doll. I settled for a Princess and the Frog Barbie (thank heavens this movie was recently released) and a magna doodle.

This experience REALLY bothered me. (1) It bothered me that there were a lack of multicultural dolls and (2) it bothered me that I had never noticed this before.

Is America a melting pot? Or are we simply imposing our standards of beauty on everyone else? What kind of message are we sending to the future generation of women?

I want my little girl (one day) to have dolls of different colors, shapes and sizes.