Sticks and Stones may break my bones
but words can be exhausting!
 |
| Like a stick bridge over stinky water! |
And by “us” I mean foreign people who are obviously not native to Ethiopia, i.e. white folks and Asian folks. Now, I have to clarify that even African-Americans are also called some strange names here, but I would imagine far less often, because most local people would automatically assume they are habisha. While habisha have seen, via western media, that there are indeed non-white Americans for some reason they have a hard time believing it “in real life” even when they are face to face with one, like my pal Audley for example. He has a whole other set of problems because of it. I’ll get into that subject another time. My focus here is to inform you of the things I have been called, and am still being called on a daily, or more like a minute by minute, basis. I’ve done my best to list them in order of how frequently I hear them.
1. Ferenji (or variations such as Ferenj, Ferenjo, Ferenjio)
I learned something recently about the word “Ferenji”. So, it turns out, and it’s quite obvious now, it originally came from the word “French”. Just in case you don’t know, the French had an interest in taking root in Ethiopia some time ago. Under the influence of local accent, “French” became “Ferenj”, which then came to define any foreign person, even as the Italians tried to move into the country.
2. China
“China” is well on it’s way to the same sort of fate as “Ferenj”. China has fairly solid relationship with Ethiopia right now. Someone recently admitted to me that they believe China has ulterior motives for befriending Ethiopia. Again, lets save the conspiracy stuff for later.
Anyway, Chinese workers are sent here in droves to work on infrastructure. Now, in my opinion they should be using local folks for labor, as unemployment is outrageous here, but that’s my opinion. At any rate, Chinese workers have made their way through town after town. A lot of local people don’t care much for the Chinese because, and this is according to locals (NOT ME), they have “bad behavior.” To give you an idea of what sort of bad behavior, I have been told that while the Chinese road workers are in town the bars get lots of business and there are several children in a certain district that look quite closely related to our Asian brothers and sisters……but I’m not making judgments. Please keep in mind that I have no first-hand experience, and I’m sure there are far more Chinese folks doing good things here than there are doing not-so-good things.
To make a long story longer, many folks, from less educated areas, fail to make the connection between the fact that they are Chinese and the fact that they are called “China” because they are from China. So, for most people, “China” is just another word for “Ferenj”. On the other hand, some people might call me “China” thinking that I actually am Chinese, because I’ve had a few kids come up to me and start making sounds like they’re speaking Chinese. For these few children and/or adults, every foreign person must be Chinese.
3. Nech (white)
4. Kayu (red)
White people have two colors, white, and red. I admit that when I first heard this I was dumbfounded. But, if you think about it, it’s true. I’ve seen myself after I’ve been in the sun for too long or I’m blushing. My complexion tends to stay on the pink side anyway.
5. Mister
6. Youyouyou
7. Hey guys
8. Okayokay
9. Yes
10. Wushia (pretty girl)
11. Hey baby
12. Sexy sexy (cringe….I blame western media)
13. England (or occasionally “English”)
14. German
15. Japanese
Eek! Interesting (but sad) to hear all the crazy things you get called. I was once asked by an African man (I assume actually from somewhere in Africa, he had an accent) in Boston if I was American. I said yes and he told me he didn't believe it because I was "too white". That was a strange day!
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you so much for your letter! It was my first ever letter from Ethiopia!
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Ethiopia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Ethiopia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia,39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez