Wazungu

I'm used to being stared at here. There's just no way to blend in when you're in Africa! And staring doesn't seem to be rude here the way it is in the US. So I smile and wave, and then I ignore it. White people are called wazungu in Chichewa, from the word 'to turn in circles'. I've heard that is from the days of the early explorers, as they were constantly lost in the jungles and turning in circles to find due-north!

So I'm used to the staring. But the other day we stopped at the side of the road a ways out of town to let the kids climb on some rocks, and I stayed in the car to feed Isaac. Within minutes I was totally surrounded by about 25 kids, all with faces pressed up against the car windows. I was beginning to feel like an exibit at a zoo, as they started tapping on the glass, and I wondered if they were going to try to feed me, too! But it was just too much when one little girl picked up her baby sister, held her to the window, and said, "Look, a wazungu!"