Below are words to remind us why KCC Africa Mission Team are here in Uganda, Africa and that is to allow the holy spirit to help us reflect on why God allowed us to be here.
- Encouragement
- Think of Others
- Service
- It's All About Jesus
- Empowered
Each day of the week we have a special word that we focus on as we experience our journey here in Uganda, Africa. God's love surrounds the people of Africa. In the midst of their poverty I'm amazed at how joyful and happy they are when they see the muzungus! When we first passed by the road to the Gospel of Light Church, the people are so excited to see a van full of mzungus including the adults. One lady said it like singing and the kids are running after the van shouting, "mzungus, mzungus, mzungus" over and over waving their hands with this big smile almost laughing faces.
There were discussion about who are considered the mzungus. Is it a term for "white" only or is it for everyone who is not from Africa. Here's what Wikipedia says:
Mzungu (pronounced [m̩ˈzuŋɡu]) is the southern, central and eastern African term for a person of foreign descent. Literally translated it means "someone who roams around aimlessly" or "aimless wanderer" (from the Swahili words zungu, zunguzungu, zunguka, zungusha, mzungukaji, meaning to go round and round; from Ganda okuzunga which means to wander aimlessly). The term was first used by natives of East Africa to describe European explorersin the 18th century.[citation needed] It is now commonly used in most Bantu languages of East, Central and Southern Africa, especially in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.
In Swahili, the plural form of mzungu is wazungu.[1][2][3] The possessive kizungu (or chizungu) translated literally means "of the aimless wanderers". It has now come to mean "language of the aimless wanderers" and more commonly English, as it is the language most often used by Wazungu in East Africa. However it can be used generally for any European language. Wachizungu, Bachizungu, etc. – literally "things of the aimless wanderers" – have come to mean the Western culture, cuisine and lifestyle.
In Kinyarwanda and Kirundi, European people are also known as rutuku which means "red" (after their skin color). The word English has been loaned into Bantu languages as kiingereza in Swahili,chingeleshi in Bemba or lungereza in Ganda.
| Language | singular | plural | possessive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swahili in East Africa | Mzungu | Wazungu | Kizungu |
| Luganda in Uganda | Muzungu | Bazungu | Kizungu |
| Chichewa in Malawi | Muzungu | Azungu | Chizungu |
| Chinyanja in Zambia | Muzungu | Bazungu | Chizungu |
| Kinyarwanda in Rwanda / Kirundi in Burundi | Umuzungu | Abazungu | ikizungu |
| Bemba in Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo | Musungu | Basungu | Chisungu |
| Sena in Mozambique | Muzungu | Azungu | |
| Shona in Zimbabwe | Murungu | ||
| isiZulu in South Africa | Umlungu | Abelungu |
By the end of the day yesterday, I finally figured out the names of the staff at Living Hope Medical Centre.
Director: Pastor Chris Nkusi
Administrator: Bonnie
Physician: Dr. Alfred Wakoba
Nurse: Glad
Pharmacy Tech: Estella
Lab Tech: Harriet
When we first arrived at the hospital our medical team did not have a clear understanding of our role. The staff were very happy to see us. As we handed the medical supplies their faces remind me of children who receive candy treats. It took half of the day before we figured out what would be the best way to help them. I said what would be the most efficient way but Dawn, our medical team leader does not believe the word efficient is appropriate in this setting. We huddled and discussed about the process from triage, to initial assessment and who will follow who. At first both doctors are together in one examination room. Laura and myself stationed with Glad, the hospital nurse at the triage area. Mark is our all around staff running errands to get more medications to playing with the kids and giving them trail mix treats. Alba took the responsibility to arrange the pharmacy and labelled them by drug classifications.
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