Playing the ‘Mzungu Crazy Card’ in Zanzibar
Travel Blog • Eva Holland • 09.29.08 | 10:53 AM ET
In the Ottawa Citizen, Rebecca Hall muses about the “incredibly freeing” nature of being an outsider in Zanzibar. She writes:
I called it the Mzungu Crazy Card (mzungu is the Swahili term used to identify, varyingly, white people, foreign people, Europeans and magicians). As one of a handful of expatriates living on the Tanzanian archipelago, Zanzibar, everything I did incited laughter. Everything I did was “crazy,” and treated as such. I haggled for a mango in the market. I asked for tea without sugar at work. Crazy! I asked for tea with sugar at work. Still crazy.
Terry Ward 09.29.08 | 1:48 PM ET
Thanks for posting this, Eva. I loved it. I play that game with my neighbors (who I would barely recognize if they slammed into me somewhere other than on my street) every day.
Eva Holland 09.30.08 | 11:14 AM ET
Glad you liked it, Terry! I can definitely relate, too.