In a sour mood, I knew something needed to change. There’s no way some lost sunglasses and cramped quarters should dictate a poor attitude. After all, this is Africa–did I really expect to have more space traveling? I pray to God, “Lord I’m sorry for this crappy mood I’m in. I’m sorry my attitude is not glorifying you.” And then I do something about it.
The last 2.5 hours from Lira to Amolatar I made up my own little game to pass time. I call it, “Who will wave to the Mzungu?” I figured, hey they’re staring at me, I’m saring at them, why not toss in a smile and a wave? For 2.5 hours I simply smiled and waved, taking note of the various responses. For the most part, the responses were simple. They either waved back or they didn’t. Every now and then though you’d get someone with a delayed reaction. You know, you can tell they’re racking their brain to see if I fit their description of human or not. Those people generally waved about 5 or 10 seconds after I did. One thing I noticed though is, it didn’t matter how old the person was, they reacted the same when they did or did not wave.
Those choosing not to wave almost always had the same look of distrust in their eyes. It wasn’t that our eyes didn’t lock when I waved; it’s that they didn’t trust me when they did. Lord, may this never be the case again. May even my eyes radiate your love to all that I meet. The people choosing to wave back were amongst the most joyful I’ve seen yet. They almost always wore smiles from ear to ear and waved so violently I thought arms would fall off! They were acknowledged and his brought them joy. I was acknowledged and it brought me joy. I would feel my smile grow bigger when others smiles at me, not simply shouted, “Mzungu,” while pointing (though I’ve soon learned in Amolotar, I’m not a Mzungu; I’m a Munu).
It’s funny the way a day can be brightened simply by being acknowledged. While leads me to my second point. As a Munu, we get treated well. We may get stared at often, but we get treated well. People want to greet us, little girls bow down while shaking our hands, and our presence alone is considered a blessing. I promise you, there’s nothing special about me that’s not special about each of those Africans. We’re all God’s children, created in His image. But no, I’m respected, acknowleged, and appreciated becaus I’m different. And it’s not just like this here in Amolotar. Really, we’ve been trated well almost everywhere we’ve been. Why? because we’re different. (Well, that and people are good contrary to the belief people are out to harm you or bad at heart but that’s for some other time).
It makes me think of the way people back home get treated. I mean, think about it for a minute. Who gets the special treatment back home? The minority? Or the rest of us? Imagine how different our society would be if we sought to show more respect, more appreciation for the different. It we went out of our way to make them feel valued and accepted. Yea, I know that I’m in cultures who have never seen a Munu before and that has a lot to do with people’s level of interest with us, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop dreaming. I want to bring back this type of acceptance with me when I come to the States. I want to smile and wave to strangers and not be afraid of what they’ll think. I want to treat the “different” like the “normal,” make them feel special beyond words. I want to speak life and truth into the very nation I live in. But until I get there, won’t you give it a shot?
