Being Mzungu-ed

Yesterday, Corey and I went to Nakesero market in downtown Kampala. I had been before in July with Ellen and Marina but it had been a weekday afternoon so while busy, it wasn’t horrendously packed. Arriving on a Saturday morning at 9:30am is a different story. We’ve been told that the best time to go is Saturday at 7am to get the best produce but Corey and I are not interested in being up and out so early on a Saturday morning and I am sure Apollo doesn’t want to be here to drive us that early either.

Corey has made it abundantly clear that we are NEVER going back to that market on a Saturday (or any other time as far as he’s concerned.) I find this market cleaner and the ladies in the centre aisles are much friendlier than the ones at Kalerwe but for the amount of time we spend at the market in a week (about 45 minutes) it doesn’t really matter. As long as the produce is good and a good price, that’s all that matters.

I am under no illusion that the price I pay is the same price that the mudugave (Africans or Blacks, depending on who you ask) pay. I am always given the mzungu price, hence the saying “being mzungu-ed.” When we are given a price that is much too much, we will say to the seller that we don’t want to pay the mzungu price. They always object and say that it’s not the mzungu price, there is only one price. Sometimes we can negotiate and sometimes not. We rarely ask for a different price at the actual market because 2000 shillings, or about 80 cents, for a large cup of fresh peas is not worth haggling over. And if the price is really too much, we simply don’t buy it.

Sometimes they get caught in their mzungu-ing though. Yesterday, I looked at big papyrus shopping bags. Our two bags from home were already full (we are having a hard time not buying too much produce!) and I was carrying a watermelon and a pineapple in my arms. As I was looking at the bags, one older man said to me “Three thousand!” Not a bad price for a large bag, especially as the plastic carrier bags are being offered for 5000 each. I started to walk away and the man in charge of selling came bounding after me with a couple bags for me to have a closer look. “Small one?” he asked which is still not a small bag. “Okay.” I replied. Even if it only lasted this shopping trip, it would be better than having my arm chewed by the pineapple. “Five thousand,” he announced. “Five thousand? This man said three thousand!” The other men at the stall roared with laughter. “I’m not paying the mzungu price,” I told him. There was a lot of muttering and a few harsh words to the elderly man who was still standing next to me but he agreed to three thousand shillings. At least he sold a bag and I always say that they won’t sell without making a profit. They will never sell at a loss, that does not make sense.

I expect that the colour of my skin is going to make me a target for higher prices and scams. In China, we were always asked to go see an art exhibit, just around the corner. Horror stories abound about tourists who end up in alleys and basement art shows who can’t leave until they have purchased something.

But there is something innately wrong about being mzungued by a mzungu. 

We were at Embassy, our local grocery store, a few weeks ago. Corey was buying veggies from the outside stall when I was approached by an older white woman. The first thing she asked me was if I knew the area well. I said that I knew it a bit but not completely. She then asked me about wiring money and if I knew how to do it. Apparently she had been robbed in Jinja and had lost all her money but had managed to keep her passport and airline ticket to return to South Africa. She had asked to be dropped at the airport in Entebbe to fly home earlier but the airline wouldn’t let her change her ticket without paying the $35US fee. 

“Have you tried the South African Embassy?” – They only deal with lost passports.

“What about Western Union?” – South Africa only receives Western Union, it does not wire to Uganda. That was weird because I had looked online with my phone while I was talking to her and there was no mention of that.

“The banks for a wire transfer?” – All the banks had refused.

“MTN Wireless phone transfer?” – Can’t do it.

There was no suggestion that seemed to work. She had tried it all despite only having been dropped off in Kabalagala an hour earlier.

All she needed was the $35US to change her ticket. She was going to walk into town to try to get another bank to help her. It’s about a 12km walk.

Corey caught my eye and mouthed “Scam.” The pieces clicked together. Why had she been dropped in Kabalagala? It was quite out of the way from the route to the airport. How did she manage to lose her money but not her passport and airline ticket? How had she returned from Jinja (about 2 hours away) without any money? Why hadn’t her friends/colleagues in Jinja given her a bit of cash to survive? Why were all the solutions offered already tried and had failed in the little 60 minutes that she had been back in town? Why wouldn’t her airline allow her to change her ticket without the money? Couldn’t they have called someone in South Africa to go and pay the $35 change fee for her so that she could go home? Where was her luggage?

“Sorry, I don’t know what other suggestions to offer to you.”

“If only I could get $35 then I would be able to go home. I wonder where I’ll be able to arrange that.”

“Best of luck.” We got back in the van and drove off.

Scams are everywhere, I know. But it was shocking to be the potential victim of a scam by another mzungu.

Oh well, I was able to use that $35 to buy a small backpack for Tanzania on Lumwu Street. The seller wanted 75,000 shillings and I offered 60,000. 70,000 was the best he could do and it was NOT a mzungu price, he promised. Yah right! The green one I wanted had a faulty zipper so he got me another one but it was red. “65,000 for the red one because I really wanted green.” He laughed and reluctantly agreed. 

It’s a real Camel Mountain backpack so I know I got a good deal. You know Camel Mountain right? It's not a cheap Chinese knock-off right? Right???