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.
Barefoot Whispers 
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!