Malawi Life: Being an 'Azungu'!

"Azungu! Azungu!"


I instinctively look up to smile and wave at the children who gleefully greet me as I walk past.
I am getting used to being known as 'Azungu', meaning 'white person', and have almost started responding to it as though it were my name. It's a strange phenomenon - almost like being a celebrity!


For obvious reasons, my fellow volunteers and I stick out pretty obviously as foreigners in Malawi. Usually this means people greeting you with curiosity, and coming over to ask questions. This morning I was approached by a few university students as I waited for my bus. They were super friendly and asked many questions about who I was and what brought me to this particular little African neighbourhood.


However, just because you're a bit of celebrity doesn't necessarily mean getting special treatment. For example, you may need to do a bit more haggling when you go to the market. Although some sellers are quite honest, a number of them will raise their prices unapologetically when they notice your strange accent or the color of your skin.


I find the whole experience to be quite surreal. Never in the UK would you hear people excitedly shouting 'foreigner' at strangers and waving to them as they walk down the street.
After all, I am many things.


Back home I'm a Baha'i, sort of nerdy, artsy, goat loving, tree hugging, drama student, who always makes a point of ticking the 'other' box so she can write 'world citizen' on census forms. And here in Africa, I suppose, I still am.


But for the first time in my life, I'm also a minority.
And its written all over my face.


There are so many different ways we categorise each other. By the clothes we wear, the colour of our skin, the way we speak, how much money we have... And I'm realizing how easy it is sometimes to let these things distract us, as they are the first things we see. But at the end of the day we are all human, all unique and all doing our own thing on this planet we call home.


I've always believed this on some level, but to live in a country where my race is such a significant part of how I'm seen and the way I'm treated, my eyes are being opened to a new experience entirely.


I am here now, and as for how my identity has been influenced by life in Malawi, I feel that there are a few things I need to add to my list...


Foreigner, host daughter, team member, sister and friend.