In Luganda (the predominant language spoken in Uganda… among the other 51 tribal languages) the word "mzungu" means “white person.” Every day walking from our house to the town, all along the way little heads appear around corners bursting “Mzungu! Mzungu! Bye Mzungu!” A few really zealous ones make it a point to shake each of our hands no matter the size of our group walking through the dirt road neighborhoods. A few will take your hand and then kneel, a cultural sign of respect. As of late we have instituted “Bonga!”- the American equivalent of “Give me some bones” (bumping fists) instead of shaking hands for sanitary purposes (can’t shake that public health influence). And it is quite incredible to see this same song/dance that kids all over the town spontaneously do- they’ll start chanting “A mzungu… a mzungu…” with accents in the hips and hands in the air to the beat of the chant. So fun. I wonder what it will be like to go back to the states and no longer be a rock star each time I walk down the road.
However, on the flip side… I have found that I have this gift for making kids cry. Seriously! My first real day here, the Mayor took us to this mostly lovely little isolated village atop a hill overlooking the sugar cane fields to discuss possibilities for income-generating activities with women there. Probably very few mzungus have visited there. I past by a mother holding a little 6-month old baby- the baby took one look at me and seriously shrieked at the top of its lungs and then started crying. It was as if she’d seen a ghost (which is probably what I looked like to her- probably the first mzungu she’d ever laid eyes on!). And this happens to me more than any of the other HELP volunteers. I think it is because I make the googly animated baby faces, which kids love in the states… not so much here. And actually, today was a double whammy, as this little baby boy in the marketplace took one look at me, started crying… and wet his pants. Yeah, that’s what I do.
Call me crazy, but seriously, it has started sounding like the roosters (which begin at about 6:30am- a perfect alarm clock) are saying “M---zuuu---nguuuu!” Check it out next time you hear one. Or maybe its just me…
Hey mzungu! Perhaps when you come home people will be calling you "hey brown girl"...(whatever the correct Uganda terminology will be for that) since you'll be so tan (I'm assuming)! How's your chaco lines coming?
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny to me about making the kids cry and them seeing a ghost. I laughed tons! Seriously Meliss...he wet his pants cuz you scared him so bad...haha! Isn't is amazing how you can feel like a rock star one minute and not the next...kids sure have a way of doing that to you! But don't worry, you'll still be a rock star when you come home, I'm sure of it!
I laughed out loud......I'm glad you're enjoying yourself!
ReplyDeletestop scaring the children...
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