Mzungu, Mzungu!

I find it REALLY hard to place people here. There are so many colours and so many different accents. And so many mixed colour marriages. And all of them are NORMAL people! There is no white hierarchy here. I love it.
It really is starting to make me oblivious of colour. For example, we (possibly) have a very cool white (and REALLY high up at the UN) swiss guy moving in opposite to us who has a ugandan wife (who is medium black) so their kids are even lighter black.... and they have been living in the states for the last few years...which is where the kids were born...and before that they were here in kenya for ages... So what the hell is the kid's nationality?!! And what colour race are they defined as? I’m sure it doesn’t bother them. Nor the parents. And perhaps in time it wont bother me. There are a LOT of families like that. And a lot of our new friends are black. Or half black. Or light Indian. Or just off white. We are going on a riding weekend this weekend with a good friend, Alex. He is very dark black. But he is the coolest, nicest guy. And his fiance is such an awesome girl. And you know when you can be good friends with a person when you dont have to make an effort? When it just comes naturally?

Anyway, I’m sure Benedikt and I are the only ones who notice colour still. But gradually I am noticing it less and less. I expect to be introduced to people of different colours all the time now. I just love the way there is no discrimination. And I guess we will get 100% used to it over time... and then boom, we’ll make a trip back to SA and we’ll get a fright!!
It's quite ironic that we go deeper in africa to become more liberal.
Although I do think this obliviousness (is that a word?!) to colour is more apparent amongst the higher income folk. The further down the ranks you go, the more colour represents a difference between people.
And something that I find REALLY REALLY REALLY funny is when we go cycling and pass through little rural villages... the kids run next to us screaming ‘Mzungu Mzungu’.... which means 'white person white person'! The one time a little girl touched me and then ran away shouting 'aaaah....' blah blah blah 'mzungu'! I can only imagine she was saying ‘I touched one I touched one’!!!! It was hilarious. One (white) guy we ride with answers them with ‘Where?’ in Swahili when they shout Mzungu!!!!

Another funny story... last Sunday 5 of us were coming towards the end of our ride. Some youths ahead of us saw us at the top of the hill so the one jumps on his bike, which was the standard black mamba, but he FACES US, and starts cycling up the next hill. We catch up to him and he rides with us up the hill, his bike facing forward his body facing backwards - so holding the handlebars behind his back. All his mates were cheering him on and lots of people stopped to watch and make noise. He rode up the whole hill, facing backwards, and KEEPING UP WITH US! And we weren't going slowly! He was a really skilled, fun guy. And fast!!

Kinjah, Kenya's top cyclist, who won a stage at the epic, and who I will stop introducing and just refer to as Kinjah from NOW on, is busy organising Kijiji races. They are going to be a series of races that are held on a circuit through a village and are targeted at these black mamba riders. Us rich folk on our fancy bikes are gonna get our asses kicked. I can't wait!!





Oh and we've got a surprise coming on Monday. SOoooooooooo excited!!

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