Dancing in the Minefields #9

"Tu baboo" was the chant of children when we drove into villages. It meant "the white" in the Jula language.

Sometimes the greeting would be in French, "le blanc, le blanc."

And in the northern part of the country the children's greeting for white people in the Moore language was "nasara."

It took several years before a local mentor shared with us the etymology of the word, "nasara." It is actually two words put together. The words mean "the end" and "of us."

The end of us.

Generations ago, when this African people group first saw people like me, they saw and spoke of the end of themselves.

I'm told today the word doesn't carry that connotation. It's simply the word for "white person." And it is chanted over and over and over when we travel into villages.

What a blow. Let it sink in that our presence is the end of theirs.

We cannot wave away that image. Time does not heal all wounds. We need to sit with it. Suffer with it. And move forward in a way that honors the past.