Good friends

This morning I woke up sick and was kind of bummed about the idea of spending the entire day in the house, so I took my grass mat out to our yard and curled up on the rocks with my blanket. Within seconds, I had a bunch of village kids surrounding me, asking me if I was sick and what was hurting. They’re so good to me.
One of the girls tucked my blanket around me.
Another two were petting my head and my arm.
As more kids came to play (we love to play), the kids who were already there would quietly explain, “Ongwe Ibedja” (“Ibedja’s sick”) and tell them not to be too loud. Then they’d tell the stories of the things we’d done in the last few days and laugh.
I love, love, love these quiet moments with the kids.
A week ago, I sat on the rocks and showed them pictures of my friends from home. They loved to look at them and find where I was. It became a bit of a game. “Ibedja! Ibedja!” And they even worked on getting to know the people’s names and would find them in other pictures. I was really impressed. They think my mom is really pretty. “Elehamen hotonye hoi bino!”
Sometimes the little ones sleep beside me as I read. Sometimes we all just sprawl out for a nap. A lot of times, I’ll be reading and they’ll be picking through my journal (praise God they don’t read English) or my books. Or they’ll play with my hair or study the hair on my arms or my finger- and toenails. They like to compare our skin. They’re not at all shy about the fact that I’m about as strange as an alien from outer space… and might as well be one.
Kibaki, this really adorable little one who is a bit of a princess in the village, just laid on my stomach the other day, trying to figure me out.
Everywhere I go, they want to race. And it’s not just the kids, it’s all the men. But the kids and I have made a bit of a track around the outside of my house and we run and run and run.
There’s a certain compound I pass most every day that the kids always come streaming out to greet me. I made the mistake of swinging one of the kids one day, so now they come out, arms open wide, ready for the great swing. They love it when Daniel and I come by together, because they know we’re both suckers for kids. It’s funny because my roommate Kim and I look a lot alike, so sometimes they’ll ask her for a lift. Today we were both there together and they came at her, arms open wide. She simply took their shoulders and rotated them toward me, haha. She’s not as fond of the kid attention as I am.