Letting Walls Down

Hi everyone,

Over the last week I have discovered something that has been missing in my life – a little kid that wants to touch all my stuff. This little girl, who like me and basically everyone else is called Bake (Bah-KAY). She is visiting the family that lives in the concessions around me. She showed up one day, trailing my 11 year neighbor behind her, and just started rattling on in Bariba (regardless that I don’t really speak it) and singing and dancing and wanting to look at all the things. Since then some of the boys in my concession (Jean-Marie, Sarre, Phillipe, and Giael) have felt more comfortable coming into my house and hanging out too.

Honestly, it’s kind of a welcome change. When I first moved in here, the kids were old enough to be a little bit shy and to respect my space. At first I really appreciated that. It was good to have the privacy and security. Over time I have gotten to trust my neighbors more and more, through positive interactions, and especially since they have watched my cat Jack a few times. I think that it’s always good to be aware of your stuff, but I am at a point where I feel comfortable opening up a little more. And frankly it can be a little lonely having all that privacy!

Now Bake will often come in at some point in the day and I will give her paper and a pencil or a magazine to look at. One of the first times she and a few boys came in, they asked, “Do you have cards or something we could play?” As it happened I did have Uno, still in it’s plastic wrap from training. Apparently the kids recognized it from a previous volunteer back in 2008-2010 and they were excited to get to play again. We have set up an informal schedule of playing a couple rounds before lunch and dinner every day.

The kids sometimes come in and tell me that the floor needs to be swept and start cleaning it before I have a chance to respond. Sometimes I tell them I am going to go get water from the well and they take the bucket out of my hand. All the hanging out has been great for my Bariba, and great socialization for Jack too.

Of course they have lots of questions about all my weird fancy American stuff. I had been dreading those questions, but actually, it’s felt good to be honest and get to share some of that stuff (though I haven’t unveiled the laptop yet!) It has lead to some funny conversations like “What’s this?” “Sunscreen, it protects my skin from the sun.” “What’s this?” “Mouthwash, it helps make your teeth stronger.” “What’s this?” “Sunscreen.” “What’s this?” “Actually, that’s also sunscreen.”

I decided to be brave and show them my digital camera. They love it and they are even pretty good about not touching the lens and all that. I am happy to have a team of photographers to take the pictures of the concession that I was too shy to take. However, they do really like taking pictures of my shelves, bike, and frog wall calendar. I don’t think those pictures will hit Facebook.

Amidst the newly discovered socialization, there has been some work getting done. With the help of the secondary school administration, I picked a scholarship girl. Her name is Adiza (Ah-DEE-zah) and she is very shy, but wrote a good application. I hope that I can bring her out a little bit and find effective ways to support her. Almost none of the secondary school kids have cellphones and she lives kind of far from me, so it will be interesting. There’s always something to move forward with.

Besides that, we are compiling lists of latrine recipients to announce on the radio. After that I am afraid that project will be on hold until July, since it doesn’t make sense to start construction (and therefore hold information/training sessions) until the end of the rainy season. Girls Camp is coming up soon and some of the preparations and paperwork for that are underway.

I also cut my hair the other night. I am happy to say that the faux-hawk is back. I will post pictures soon. I had been thinking about it for a while, and then, like jumping in a pool, I just decided I was going to do it. I am really happy with how it turned out, but suspect there may be some uneven parts. Camille is coming over this afternoon, and hopefully she will be able to help me out if need be. My neighbors haven’t said anything about it. I don’t know if it means they haven’t noticed, they don’t like it, or it just doesn’t seem like it needs to be commented on, that could be a cultural thing. With hair braiding, people’s hairstyles often change dramatically over night. Anyway, I chose to play it casual and not really mention it, and they seem to have followed suit.  

I have to say, getting to interact more with my neighbors, really feeling confident that I know their names, getting to share my life a little more, it really makes me feel like I’ve ‘leveled up’. I’m in the second third of my service, and the new volunteers will be arriving in a little more than a month. How crazy is that? I am glad to be here. Glad I’m still learning, and glad I get to share all of this with you!

As always, thanks for reading,

With love,

Lauren