Bye Muzungu

I hear this greeting a dozen times a day when I'm out walking. Usually it's the children who use it. "Bye Muzungu" means bye white person, but it has no derogatory meaning. Muzungu can also be translated as English or European. The children don't always put hello and good-bye in the proper context so I get bye when they mean hello.

While it's not my favorite greeting, I don't take offense to it. However, Bry'Chell gets upset when her classmates refer to her as Muzungu. Rightly so, she's not white. Her classmates don't seem to get it. There are other kids in her school the same complexion as Bry'Chell, but only she gets called Muzungu. She handles it by ignoring it. She only responds to her name.

What I'm less comfortable with than Muzungu is when people--women and girls only--greet me by genuflecting or getting on their knees and pressing their forehead against the back of my hand. While I might genuflect in church, I don't greet anyone else by genuflecting.

One girl, whose school fees I paid, thanked me by the usual genuflection stuff. I told her to stand up, look me in the eye and shake my hand. I told her that's the American way of doing things. She's a smart enough kid that she knows when to kneel and when to shake hands. She shakes hands with me.

No man or boy would ever do such a thing. That's part of why I don't like it. Of course, I wouldn't like it if a boy or man genuflected to me. It goes against my American sensibilities of equality and dignity. Obviously, that's my interpretation, but this is one of those times when I don't plan on adapting.