Mzungu (White person spotting!)

Random Stories that might make you smile

As we all know, stories are the things that make life and our individual experiences interesting.  Here are a few of mine from the last few weeks.

Mzungu

So, unsurprisingly, there are parts of Tanzania where it’s uncommon to see a person who is a different race.  Frankly, this has been everywhere I have been thus far.  Now, the term for foreigner in Kiswahili is “Mzungu.”  This is not meant to be insulting, but basically means that you are a foreigner and doing well enough financially to come all the way to Tanzania.  This means that many places that all PCTs go, there are whispers or shouts or comments of “mzungu.”  In the case of Morogoro (the town where all us education PCTs are doing training and staying with homestay families), the size of the town means that there are more foreigners here than in rural areas for example.  But we’re still an oddity, and many people stare at us or say “mzungu.”

            Which brings me to my smiling moment of the day.  One of the PCTs that I live close to is named Charles.  After a group of us visited his homestay family, we were walking back towards our own homes.  A little girl, probably five or six years old, saw us and started dancing about on the spot, singing “Mzungu!  Mzungu!  Mzungu!  Mzungu!”  She literally did nothing else but smile, dance and sing, her excitement and happiness making all of us laugh and smile.

            Charles laughed along with us and said that the girl does her Mzungu Dance every time she sees him—generally twice a day.  One time she wasn’t out when he was walking by, but her brother saw Charles.  He must have run to get her, because she came barreling out of the house, skipping and singing the only word Charles has ever heard her say: “Mzungu!” 

Though many foreigners get annoyed at being called by the word, it hasn’t bothered me—yet.  I know I stand out and I know that there is a chance I’m the first white person some people have seen in person before.  And let’s face it, I’m pretty much translucently white, so I stand out that much more.

I have to say though, that my homestay family seems more bothered by me being called “Mzungu” than I am.  They’ve told me how to say “I’m not a Mzungu, my name is Amy” and they’ve said it for me sometimes when we are out walking.  My Dada Ava will take my hand while walking and basically scold kids, emphasizing what my name is.  It makes me feel like they consider me a part of the family.  Score Team Amy.