Si umuzungu= S/he is not white!

Cultural and language  barriers are dark curtains that are always hanging between a guest/visitor and hosting community. Throughout my career working in multicultural working environment, I have witnessed the challenges that dark curtains cause and the amazing experiences that happen when the curtain is rolled up and people start seeing each other.

Tool to Remove Cultural Barriers 

Si umunzu= She/he is not white 
The easiest way I have seen curtains rolling up very quickly is the use of  basic local language. Many times, I have seen kids in Rwanda calling (yelling) white people= Umuzungu ( white person) but when the person greets them in Kinyarwanda suddenly the kids shout " oohh ntabwo ari umuzungu= she/he is not white". 

To the kids, someone is only different when  they can not understand him/her and the person can not understand them but the moment they notice that the person can actually speak their language then the barrier/ curtain is removed and they start seeing the person as  member of the community. 

Learning a local language is not only important in being able to get what you want ( buying stuff, getting around etc...) but it is a great tool to integrate into and identify with hosting community. That is why we have basic Kinyarwanda classes in our cultural orientation packages.