Our ride to the main town, Jinja, is a 30-45 minute drive depending on how many cows are in the road and if we get behind a trailer overloaded with sugar cane. As we go, we must also dodge the chickens which dart across the road in front of oncoming vehicles. But the most endearing part of the trip is the many children who start to jump up and down when they see us coming. They begin to wave with huge smiles on their faces! "Mzungu! Mzungu! Mzungu, bye!"
Mzungu in their language means "white person." Yes, our white skin stands out and can be seen far away. Sometimes we think that the word gets out that there are Mzungus coming even before we get there, for there will be children watching in expectation just to see the bright white skin coming.
2 comments:
How do you pronounce mzungu? I hope it's not like Czech where every syllable is pronounced.
It is sort of pronounced moo-zoon-goo. The first syllable (m) is actually sort of muffled. It's not "moo" because it's just an 'm' but we mzungus have trouble with that. The 'm' is a separate syllable. Maybe "muh-zoon-goo" is a better rendering, but that still allows too much emphasis on the "m". You have to hear it to understand it, I think!
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