Why use of the word Mzungu upsets me

By Youssef El Hamdaouy

"Nedda siri mzungu," meaning, "I am not white" and according to the use of the term, "Mzungu," here, referring to the Westerners is a phrase that I never predicated I would use when I first came to Uganda and yet I have been forced to.

Actually, it is one of the essential phrases I keep translating as I move through the different parts of Uganda.

Sometimes, I have been forced to change the "mzungu" for the "muyindi" because people seem a little bit hesitant whether to label me a "mzungu" or a "muyindi," although they surely pick one.

I have always been proud of belonging to the African culture; the culture of hospitality, simplicity, love and acceptance and I have always hated how Africa was always portrayed as the land of diseases, hunger and savageness.

However, as I have moved along Kampala streets, or interacted with locals I have kept hearing the word "muzungu," and depending on the situation, sometimes it upset me while at other occasions it was funny especially when I respond with my African voice with the little I learned in Luganda and I see the reactions in people's faces.

While some do not believe me, I have tried as much as possible to make them do. What is interesting is that when we talk about Africa, we talk about the geographical setting and a culture and Morocco is no different.

It has all the African characteristics, the negative and positive. Food is a great example. In one of the remote villages in Soroti, we had the opportunity to share lunch. The main dish was cow -feet with gonads. While some American friends were hesitant to take their lunch, I just felt at home. In fact the feet were better shaved. No one seemed to believe that we do eat feet, tongues, ears and the whole head of a cow in Morocco.

On the other hand, and to generalise the situation, people in Morocco don't seem to label themselves as Africans. When my family and friends heard of my travels, most of them were describing my destination as Africa. What do you mean by Africa? We are in Africa! Actually, most of them also held the same views about Africa portrayed by the Western media.

True in most of the African countries, there are problems of poverty, corruption, and the list goes on. And similarly, Morocco shares is included, yet that doesn't mean that the picture is black and white. The question that comes to mind after this experience is why would two African countries label themselves differently? Why am I called "a Muzungu" in Uganda? Is it that we have different colours?

Being an African does not mean you are necessarily a black person. There are different countries such as Morocco (where I hail from), Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt with people of a different colour, yet they are African countries.

At some point in the past, I had similar views until I travelled more. Nothing is mentioned about the African identity in our curriculums, assumptions are too often made. Africans should join hands and reshape the definition of who is an African, far from color.

We have shared too much in the past and we still have more to share. And besides, all of mankind began on this great continent.

The writer is a Moroccan national doing humanitarian volunteer work in Uganda with TERREWODE (a Ugandan Organisation that helps empower and reintegrate women in their communities).