Oyibo

Bernice needs to go out several times a day to do her "business". There is a designated area next to the basketball court for the dogs. Jeremy and Elizabeth love to go outside and take a walk when Bernice has to go outside. Next to the basketball court, is the staff quarters. The staff quarters is divided off from the basketball court by a huge cinder block wall. ( I will write more about that in future posts.) Sometimes, you can see the hands of the staff's children poking through the cinder blocks to touch Jeremy and Elizabeth. Since the kids are outside so much when Bernie goes to the bathroom, Jeremy has gone over to the wall a few times and talked to some of the children. It is really interesting, the Nigerian children love to put their hands out and touch the "white"children. It is almost as if they don't think that light skin is real until they touch it. They will yell through the fence to Jeremy and Elizabeth ( and to Guy and I when we are out there), "Oyibo! Oyibo!" The literal interpretation of this term is "peeled one". It comes from the idea that "white" people have somehow "peeled" off their dark skin. It is really funny to watch the kids talk together. I can hardly understand what the other children are saying, but Jeremy seems to understand just fine. It is really heartwarming to see them interacting together. Yesterday, Jeremy and Elizabeth went outside with Guy to take Bernice for a walk. When Jeremy came back inside I asked him if the other children were outside behind the wall. He said, "Yeah." I asked him what they said. He said, " They didn't really say anything. They just said BO!BO!BO!" I started laughing. It is so funny to see his innocence. He had no idea they were calling him "Oyibo".