Mzungu

Our driver’s 8-year old son was killed last week in a traffic accident.  There’s a phrase that Ugandans do everything slowly until they get behind the wheel of a car.  Sometimes the streets are so packed with cars and motorcycles overflowing onto the sidewalk that the mass of pedestrians can barely walk through the jam.  Uganda only has 8 cars per 1000 people, one of the lowest of any country (compare to the United States at 797 and San Marino at 1263).  The noteworthy part is that the list excludes motorcycles.  There’s endless numbers of ‘boda bodas,’ and they are more than willing to act as taxis which can weave through stopped traffic.  There’s also ‘matatus,’ which are vans that act as jam-packed public buses.  Just like in Nicaragua, these buses have big, colorful letters painted on the windshields; here they say things like "bismillah," "trustworthy," "Manchester U," or "God is willing always No. 3."   Cars drive on the left side of the street here, meaning I run into people on the stairs all the time.

Greetings are a huge part of the Ugandan culture.  Every morning, coworkers always say “wasuze otya, ssebo/nnyabo?” to each other, literally how did you spend your night, sir/madam?  My Ugandan friends will never start a conversation with me without first saying “Hello, how are you?”.  I’ve heard that this is so important in East Africa, because it’s a region of past ethnic strife, and greetings reaffirm every single morning that one’s relationship with the rest of the community is still strong.  When I walk in the busy streets of downtown Kampala, hundreds of people might say “hello, mzungu” in one hour (mzungu means white person).  I much prefer this culture of friendliness to the excessive catcalling of Nicaragua.  Still, it’s telling that usually only men are the ones to shout “mzungu,” and sometimes from the balconies of buildings, the other side of the street, or while trying to grab my arm.  Once I was walking on the road with a lot of schools right at dismissal hour, and I was mobbed by kids wanting to follow after the mzungu.  Street vendors will shout out “Sister! You’re welcome please!” meaning “come see my wares!”  Uganda English puts “please” and “ehh?” on the end of most things said.  They also talk extraordinarily quietly.  And to be understood when asking for tomatoes, you have to pronounce it the British way.

Some new phrases for me are:

• What are you called? What is your name?

• Where do you stay? Where do you live? Very different from where are you from?  Most Ugandans may live and work in one place, like Kampala, but they are from another, and that village or area is known as ‘the place they will be buried.’

• When are you going? When are you turning?  In context of asking someone’s birthday.

• When do you swallow? What time to do you take your pills? Learned through watching patients receive counseling on their antiretroviral drug treatment.