When I rotated through Paediatric Oncology during my elective, I had some trouble. Remember how I wrote about the incredibly late detection of tumours – well, that is largely due to the fact that the Eastern Cape has a large rural population. Also, a lot of these children are first taken to traditional healers and only once these measures fail do they approach so-called “Western” doctors.
On the first day in the ward, things were a little haphazard and I wasn’t really introduced to the ward. Tired of standing around, I decided to show myself around. The children had had breakfast and were playing games or watching TV.
I walked into one of the larger rooms…
A child looked around, his eyes as big as saucers, his cheeks turned ashen.
And, running to his mother, he screamed,
Mama! Umlungu!
Which is Xhosa for, “Mommy! A white person!”
I blushed, and the other doctors and interns laughed. It turns out a lot of these children, who grow up in the deepest rural Eastern Cape, have only ever seen a “white person” from afar.
For some hilarious “Kids say the darndest things”, check out Trisha’s latest post here.
Whispers Unto the Aether 
Too funny!
Thanks for sharing my post too!
When I was in Uganda, the kids there had a similar name for me, and they would follow our van shouting “Muzungu!”. I learned quickly to keep my sunglasses on – the kids grew to accept us (very) white people, but my blue eyes really scared them.
Really? That’s so interesting, and funny! I suppose it makes sense that blue eyes might have scared them. So cute!