Mzungu - Turn, turn, turn

The word Mzungu, used in modern Swahili to refer to anyone of European and/or non-African descent, is quite possibly the word a volunteer or tourist can expect to hear most - next to pole (sorry) and asante (thank you) - shouted by small children who want to hold your hands and touch your hair, by women selling items in the market trying to get your attention, by (ok, at least for the females among us) overexcited young men who somehow think that yelling your race in your direction is going to make you irresistibly attracted to them. However, unlike most similar terms in the US, Mzungu is not a derogatory term in and of itself - it is categorical, used almost as a pronoun. (Don't get me wrong, it can be irritating to be called Mzungu by people who really, really should have learned your name by now.)

The origins of the word are a little murky, but it appears to come from the Swahili verb "kizungu," meaning to spin. One explanation for this is that the word originated during early trade with Arabs and others, as the mzungus "spun" around the world. This would explain why an African American, Jordanian, or Asian might as easily be considered a mzungu as a white girl from Connecticut - that the term originated from lifestyle, not race specifically.

Ninazungu nyingine kilu siku - I spin more every day. Today I booked my one-way ticket to London on September 13th, to start LSE the following week. I also booked my ticket over December break to go back to Tanzania, December 11th to January 7th. I am excited and nervous (not to mention broke) - to start studying International Development seriously, with faculty and students who will challenge me and make me better at this work that I've wanted to do for so long. To be away from my babies for these long months, but to now have that light back at the end of the tunnel... I'm scared and excited to see how big they will be, if they will remember me at all, who they will have become. I want them to thrive, and also I want them to stay exactly the same until I return. I want Z to progress in leaps and bounds, and also to stay the same precious, sweet, tiny baby I remember.

Don't ever change. Except, please grow and change and keep becoming the incredible people you are going to be. What, I just want to disrupt the flow of space-time a little - and while we're at it, can I get a teleport up in here?