Walking down the street in Kenya and Uganda these past two months all you hear is Mzungu! Mzungu!
Which in Swahili means, “White person”. From little kids mostly but even up to the grandparents you will hear it. It’s the most hilarious thing. Everyone on our team answers to it with a smile on there face.
Children will usually run up to us. I’ve had quite a few kids run up to me, hold my hand and walk with me the whole way wherever I was going.
They don’t know us at all but yet they come to us like they do.
The other day a few of us went to the park (dirt field) and played Frisbee for about an hour. As we were walking there kids just came and followed us. While we were playing there were around 50+ kids from the neighborhood watching us throw a Frisbee around. When we left they followed us and chanted “Bye Mzungu’s, Bye Mzungu’s, Bye Mzungu’s!”
It’s funny to think that 7 random “white” people would bring such a huge smile on many peoples faces.
We haven’t even been in the most remote areas either. Last month in Kenya we were 20 minutes outside of Nairobi and this month in Uganda we are about 40 minutes outside of Kampala. But we do still stay in towns where white people come ever so often.
This month in Uganda where we are staying at, my team and I will typically be sitting in the living room with the windows and doors open. We’re usually reading, playing games and even just talking. Not doing too much. As people walk down the street we tend to grab their attention by us being a different color. They look at us and keep looking at us until they walk out of our sight. The kids will usually stop in the middle of the street to look at us. They will stand there and stare at us for quite some time. Usually smiling and yelling Mzungu!
Sometimes they even come up to the porch and yell inside the house “Hello Mzungu!” and run off laughing. Or they’ll come to the porch and stay at the door and watch what we are doing.
I find it amusing that we can bring so much joy to the people in the community we are in by just us being “White”. At times it feels like we are famous people. Kids will come running out their house and follow us and touch us, and parents will walk out their house or place of business and just watch us with a smile on their face.
What if all it took for us to smile, was someone of a different color to come by. Imagine how joyful the world would be. So I challenge you. Share a smile with everyone you come in contact with today. You never know, it might brighten up their day.
Smiles are contagious. So SMILE! 
