Does it take 9 months for a white person too???

Date: 12-22-07

Friday found us heading to the market. Us being Sonya, Esther, Wendy, Cherice (1 yr. old), Caleb (2 yr. old), and myself. As soon as we stepped foot outside of the Toyota we were mobbed!!! Fifty kids surrounded us, touching Caleb, and shouting until he started to ball. We walked the 1/8th of a mile to the market barely being able to move because the kids pressed in so close, bumping us in all the places we might have money hidden. It's never been like this going to the market - what makes it so different today?? Yep, it was defiantly Wendy carrying Cherice on her front and a crying Caleb in the other hand. It's like they'd never realized that white babies exist. We surrounded Caleb and tried to keep them from touching him but somehow a hand would always manage to squeeze its way through trying to find out if the this little white moving creature was real or not. Finally we arrived at the Arab market where we get phone minutes. The Arab owner decided to take things into his own hands. He soon had out a rope swinging it widely and the group dispersed for a couple minutes and then regrouped again surrounding the shops in even larger numbers. Finally we finished with the phones and decided to take the back path to place where the lady sells tomatoes. We didn't lose any of them. As we walked back to the Toyota another man appeared with a green stick, walking in circles around us, whipping it at the kids. It kept them at about 5 feet away, creating us as the nucleus of some strange happening in the little village of Béré.

Last night Hans enlightened us as to maybe one of the reasons the white babies are such an attraction. Upon arriving at his hut one of the boys in his family asked him if it took 9 months for a white person too?? They also where amazed when Esther was able to have her surgery here. They thought white people always had to go to Europe because they were different than black people on the inside and couldn't be operated on here. And yes the reason all the babies cry when they see us is because the Arabs have spread the news for the past couple centuries that we white people (Nasarahs) like to eat little black kids. I don't ever think we will become a normal sight. Sonya and I are considering trying the Charcoal trick someday and seeing how that goes over but I'll save that for another blog!!!