“Mzungu! Mzungu! Mzungu!” shouted children while chasing an SUV pulling into the remote compound where their school is located.

‘Mzungu’ is a word many people in countries across Africa used to use to refer to anyone who was white, but now use to refer to foreigners. It is not meant as an offensive term, as one might assume.

Marines and sailors with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Africa 14.1 have been training with the Uganda People’s Defense Force for several weeks now. Recently, some of them volunteered their free time at a local school for orphans and underprivileged children.

Three Marines and a sailor handed out clothes and candy to the children at the school.

They traveled a little longer than an hour from where they spend their weekends to visit the school. Almost immediately upon their arrival, the Marines and sailor were met with greetings from the curious children and the some of the staff there.

An American from a charity organization who was also at the school introduced the Marines and sailor to the children and told them they were there to give them clothes and candy.

“Today, we handed out some clothes, some toys and some candy to these guys here,” said Gunnery Sgt. David Walcott. “We try to do this once a month … to give to the children [here].”

According to Walcott, a native of Lyons, N.Y., he feels like it is also important that the Marines take a break from their routine of training the UPDF and meet with the local population as well.

“So [the local population] know we’re not just here just to train the military,” he said. “We’re here to help as well.”

Little by little the children got more comfortable around the service members and instead of calling them ‘Mzungu,’ they asked what their names were and began to call them by that.

The service members played and ran around with the local children after handing out the clothes and candy. The curious children would ask them questions about where they are from, why their muscles are so big, why their hair is so weird and about many other differences between them.

When asked what his favorite part of the day, Walcott replied with a simple “this right here,” while pointing at a toddler who had fallen asleep on his shoulder. “It was fun, we definitely wore them out.”