Me Rwandese, Me Play Joke

I have said before that the word “Mzungu” means “White person.” I have heard this many times while I have been here. People point at me and say “Mzungu! Mzungu!” as if I didn’t know I was white. I have gotten very use to it and usually reply back, “Rwandese! Rwandese!” It is a lot of fun seeing the response from children.

Baby’s cry when they see white people. Usually when they are about 5 years old or older, they like seeing the white man, and they ask for candy and things like that. When they are under 5 years of age, seeing a white man usually makes them cry. I was told that an old Rwandan folktale says that the White man catches and eats little Rwandan children. Kids tell their little brothers and sisters that even today. I can understand why the kids are scared; that is a horrible story!

Usually when I go out into the rural areas, I scare the children the most. They are out of touch with civilization and still use the old methods of agriculture and medicine. They have very limited technology, and folktales run ramped. They have never seen a camera before. When I, or one of the other students, take their pictures, they never smile. When you show them the picture they laugh and scream like it is some sort of Mzungu Magic. I guess to them, it is! Children love it the most. They always want their picture taken.

I was using a video camera for an American couple that wanted video footage of themselves working with the kids. When I showed the kids the video footage, they asked if I was going to put them in an American movie. Some of the children walked around like movie stars and put on the Americans’ sunglasses. I know that those kids will remember that moment for the rest of their lives. The day the Mzungus came and video taped them. It was a big deal for a small town Rwandan child.

The funniest thing that has ever happened with children was on a ride home from one of the Rwanda rural areas. Usually as we ride home, children shout “Mzungu” at us from the roadside. We have gotten use to this, so we usually don’t pay much attention to it. We just wave at them.
Yesterday, the children were yelling something different. Our driver, Martin- an English speaking Rwandan, started laughing at what these rural children were yelling.
I said, “Martin, what on Earth are these children screaming! It isn’t ‘mzungu.’”
Martin was laughing so hard he could barely answer.
“They are yelling ‘The Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming!’”

Martin said that they had never seen white people before and that they thought we were Chinese.

So I can now quote the words of the famous Gus Chiggins in truth when saying:

“Well I’ve been called crazy, goofy, smelly, spooky, shifty, and Chinese, but never dumb!”