I love you, give me your phone number

- Do you have a boyfriend?
- Yes I do.
- Is he mzungu like you?
- Yes he is European.
- You should switch him to an Ugandan man.
- Why is that?
- Because a white woman and a black man produce more beautiful babies than two whites.

Before you continue on reading, keep in mind that this text contains generalizations that do not apply to everyone. Each country has all kinds of people and stereotyping is just entertaining.

Where ever I go I get attention from local men. They do not seem to be any interested in my personality, but want to access wealth and gain social status by dating a mzungu. After telling them my standard answer - I am married - they quickly move on to ask if I have any single friends. One boda driver actually got mad at me when I refused to provide him with my Finnish friends' email addresses.

Sometimes it is difficult to make friends with Ugandan men, since after hanging out just for a few moments they except you to be deeply in love with them. My Danish friend met a fashionable looking young man at a church event and chatted with him on the way back home. After that he kept confessing his love for her, first cheerfully and later desperately, by visiting her house, writing poems and calling her tens of times a day.

I guess it is no easier being a mzungu man here. While women receive just verbal attention, men get actually grabbed at certain bars. Ugandan women also except to get gifted, be it either breakfast money after a one night stand or a dress after a handful of dates. Another friend of mine dated this pretty lady until he saw photos of her engagement party posted in Facebook. Apparently she had kept her options open for a more desireable (e.g. mzungu) man until the last minute.

So, instead of picking an eager local guy (or guys, as faithfulness is not that strictly expected around here) for an immediate relationship, I prefer to date mzungu men. They play the games I know; pretending hard-to-get, sending mixed signals and making you analyze every exchanged look and text message. However, an exemption makes the rule. I just spent a lovely evening with an internationally oriented Ugandan athlete, and at the moment I am waiting to see if he really meant it when he promised to teach me his sport...