mzungu-land

I was walking home the other day, up a hill in the suburbs of Kampala, when some kids spotted me. They started chanting together, "mzungu, mzungu, mzungu!" [white person]

Me: "Siri mzungu. Mzungu ali wa?" [I'm not a mzungu. Where is the mzungu?]
Kids: "Mzungu?" ... confused looks.
Me: "Siri mzungu. Nze Anna." [I'm not a mzungu. I'm Anna.]
Kids, chanting again: "Anna, bye-i, bye-i Anna!"

I walked on with a smile. These kids are cute, but imagine this kind of conversation (mzungu!) happening countless times every day, almost everywhere I walk. The anonyminity that one might expect in cities has evaporated into cries of mzungu!

But my Luganda language skills are coming back and it's fun to surprise people with the little that I know. These kinds of random conversation, while sometimes frustrating, make every day an adventure. I never know what's around the corner (literally -- could be cows in the road or burning tires or a roadside markets).

I begin work at the Daily Monitor newspaper tomorrow morning and am really excited. More to come!