Being a white man in Africa.

Ever seen a white African? Well, there are lots of Euro-Africans just like there is Afro-Americans, in that gist solve the equation. In my part of Africa, people generally are not xenophobic at all because you tend to fare very well if you are an out of towner, worse if you are white. White in Africa is associated with all sorts of cool, advancement and a higher level of smartness and incomparable beauty. White in Africa is pure, honest and untainted and above all else, not black. Stanlake Samkange in his book 'The Origins of Rhodhesia' talks about a man who led the Ndebele people in the past, Mzilikazi whom he says was in awe of white people. The European settlers took advantage of this and used that to implement their territorial acquisition plans and it worked like magic! Mzilikazi was friends with a Briton who was the Commandant or somebody close to that at Cape Town, the Boere-Afrikaners were posing a threat to his chiefdom and he sought help from the British who gave him terms in order to assist him. They told him not to allow any prospecting for gold in his chiefdom and not to allow any form of trophy hunting and no concession signing at all. He was to allow no guns to be carried through his chiefdom and if he breached these rules, he wouldn't be assisted in case of an attack from the Boere-Afrikaners. However when the Dutchmen attacked, the Britons did not live up to their end of the agreement Mzilikazi was let down by white men that he so adored.

My friend from the city of Bulawayo's aunt was married to an Irish man and he was loved by the family. At no point was he treated with hostility. He was regarded as the wisest, the cleanest and the most honest member of the family. People respected what he said and at first, he did not want them to treat him like that, he wanted them to treat him as normal as another human being but sooner that they continued, he saw an opportunity to pounce on this family and manipulate them in any way he liked. His wife, having crossed over to the other side changed her demeanor, she was a real Jekyll. If her family visited, she mistreated them the moment they walked into her house and they all would leave shaking their heads. She refused to speak her native language anymore and established a rule that only English was to be spoken in her house. Only English food was eaten and I believe she was just being a good wife, one who submits to her husband in all respects.

It is easier for a white man in Africa to make it than a black man. Say there are two companies, one is run by a white man and the other by a black man, people would want to do business with the white one. It is because during the colonial era, white people accumulated resources and have since built strong businesses, passed their wealth down to their children and their children and thus a black man trying to make it in the world of business he has to work extra hard to be even at the lowest rungs of business compared to his white counterparts. I have no idea why black Africans do not trust each other, to logic, this is pure propaganda of the White African who came up with a policy of dividing the black African so as to rule him. I mean it makes sense the least not to trust one person whom you know their ins and outs than he whose intentions at once were sinister and yes, you may say that was the past era but the DNA still remains. So being white in Africa has those benefits and more. People generally have this unfounded respect for white people no matter who they are. Tourists passing through the region have the times of their lives with black people opting to help them in some cases just to be seen with a white person, it makes them fashionable. I think native Africans have for over the past centuries assumed  the position of little brother to Caucasians, as Ndabaningi Sithole said in his book African Nationalism. I think this respect and fear is based on what the people went through during colonial times. People settle for being workers, not creators of work, however, lately there has been an interesting trend of Africans (black) rising to be the ones who regard (white) Africans   equally and of course there has been a few radical ones like General Amin and Cde Mugabe. In a way, one sees where these men's policies are coming from and their facade has a good look, its how they are implemented that is fundamentally wrong. Because of this stereo, it is regarded as taboo to see a begging white man in the region, and to serve a white man with ordinary food is not good at all to onlookers.He deserves a special diet to support his fragile self and his opinion goes and those that realize the gullibility of the black folks take it to their advantage.

Same thing in America, where the white man has some sort of superiority over the black man. I was in a queue at Walmart this day and two gentlemen were at a register opposite where I was. One was black and his counterpart was white. So as the register attendant called for the next person, the white American who had gotten there after the black American sped past him and the other man was not too happy about it. He launched a complaint. The other gentleman got incensed that he responded to him saying he had no time for **, meaning his 'race' of people. However the black man did not cower or pretend he confronted the man head-on and it was a heated argument with both men that went on and on as emotions were bared and socially explosive issues were poured out for the rest of the shoppers to hear.

White Africans have an unfair advantage over their black counterparts and who is to blame? The aggrieved I think because what happened occurred because they saw strangers come to their lands and they took them in and the same turned around and took their property. The point is Africans are generous people, sometimes too generous and their generosity to give the world all the resources has made them the same's laughing stock. Men also take it as an immense achievement to marry a white woman. It is for them an out of this world achievement to bring home a woman of a different culture and she again, would be very welcome among his people because, they are warm to strangers.

However, there are strangers to the African culture who genuinely become immersed in it with no need to bask in the glory that comes with it. For example a person that gives up the Western lifestyle for the easy-going village culture of Africa comes and establishes himself in the village and marries in the village, eats what the villagers eat, does the same chores as the villagers and sleeps where they sleep and most importantly, practices their rites and customs, that is a person who embraces Africa genuinely. He may look funny doing all those things, imagine how funny a white man looks when loins-clothes, how tanned he will look and out of place, yet the genuineness of his heart is all that is required. To be African one needs not a social security, but a heart that loves and is open to living and loving. People would laugh at a strange man speaking with an accent but will not discriminate against him, Africa is a home of wholesome love, not faked and welcomes all, I guess that is why some suggest it is the cradle of mankind.