White guy, Give Me One Pound

"Kawaja. Give me one pound."  This I have learned is a common greeting when a local child here in South Sudan greets a white person. In fact, today I heard it from a young man. Kawaja is the word for "white guy." Nothing surprising there - every African country I've visited has its word of choice that is used for white folks. In many places it is screamed out by children when they see you. I've finally gotten used to that. But the second part is telling - "Give me one pound." (Pound is their unit of currency).

Evidently this has become so much connected that it is almost a form of greeting - something you say when meeting a stranger that without giving much thought to its meaning. As ordinary as "how are you?" In fact, our missionary here said that he has asked children in the local language if they know what "Give me one pound" means, and they actually do not. They have just learned it is what you say when greeting a white person.

While at face value this is kind of cute, it suggests an assumption that the relationship between the western foreigner and the local person begins with money or at least something that can be given. Some of this could stem from the fact that much of the population here has spent time in refugee camps during the civil war, where they were dependent upon things being given or provided by outsiders. This has certainly been fanned by many NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) who do humanitarian work here. And even short term church teams are often known by the fact that they give out stuff.

In our efforts to help people, we need to give careful thought to how our "charity" is received and what it communicates. Does it say simply that we have stuff and are willing to part with a little of it, but that pretty much defines our relationship? Is it possible that charity done even with a good motive but in certain ways can inhibit relationship? How might we relate to people so we are first seen as a friend and fellow human rather than a source of stuff? And what must our attitude toward others first be for this to happen?

Some things to think about!