The Good Aunt

On Saturday I took 3 of roughly 7 niece/nephews to my house. The oldest one, Abdoulaye, who is called Boi (like 3 other people in the house - don't ask me why Malians insist on calling people the same names) had been asking me when he was coming home with me. Boi is a funny kid. He is a smart kid. I first met him on my first trip to Mali -when he was about 1. By the time I came back to Mali in 2003, he was already living with my in-laws. Drissa left Mali in 2004. About a year after Drissa was in the US, 4 year old Boi picked up a cell phone and handed it to my father-in-law. He told my father-in-law to call Drissa and tell Drissa to tell me to buy him a bicycle. About 30 seconds later, Drissa called his Dad who was laughing and passed along the important message. To this day, I still can't get my head around his young/acccurate conception of time and space and people. Ironically, work brought me to Mali in 2005 and I brought a bicycle with me in my suitcase. In greeting me, after 2 years out of the country, Boi simply said "Where's my bicycle?"

Boi's new request is to come back with us to the US. It's not so much a request as an order. "Yama, when you go back to the US (Ameriki), we are going back together." When I went to the US this summer, I had to carefully explain that while yes I was stopping by the US, the bulk of my time would be spent in Accra at a conference. Now, everytime I come to visit my in-laws he insists that he is coming back to my house with me. I guess coming to visit me in Magnambougou is a step closer to coming to the US.

Boi is strategic. Whenever I make food, he gobbles it up shooting me a sideways glance as if to say - yeah whatever you throw at me, I can handle - I am ready for the US. It's not that he is particularly fond of me; he likes me well enough, but doesn't climb all over me or ask me for things. He has a secret agenda that I will never fully understand. When he speaks to me - he does it clearly and directly, without begging or trying to be cute. He has a kind of stoic determination that I have never seen in an 8 year old.

On Saturday, I took Boi, and two of his younger sibilings (Mohammed and Saouda - actaully called by their real names) with me to my house. I think the highlight was the car ride in which they were yelling and pointing and giddy. Saouda, who is typically silent, was babbling away in the back.

After running outside and on the roof and through the house with Rex, I coaxed everyone to the table to do some drawing/coloring (I had purchased some color pencils for the special occassion). It was clearly their first time holding colored pencils and I had to arrange their fingers and draw some pictures to try to get them started. I think the exercise was overwhelming for Saouda - who was mocked by her older brothers - "She can't draw anything." In a fit of frustration, she drew some loud bold loops onto the paper - to which I tried to tell her looked awesome. The boys, perhaps cause they are older, caught on quickly. Mohammed who is quiet and introspective - did some cool rothkoesque swatches of color on paper and then tried to draw some chairs and houses. Boi drew all kinds of stuff - dogs, trees, my purse. He was super excited when I wrote out his name and had him copy it underneath. I was shocked and saddened that at 8 - he can't write his name yet. However, he copied my writing quite well and thought- hmmm in a week together I bet I could teach him a lot of stuff.

I had pre-loaded some disney videos on youtube. When I brought out the computer, quiet Mohammed got super animated, and started attacking the keyboard with his fingers and trying to move the mouse with the finger pad. I had to fight him off and explain that we were just watching a video (not playing a computer game). From color pencils to typing in 30 seconds. They got the youtube concept instantaneously. After the Mickey Mouse cartoon ended, they saw the suggested videos pop up and were really excited to pick what they would watch next. Then they asked for dog videos. We looked at big dogs, White german sheperds, and ugly dogs. Then they started chanting for crocodiles. Intially hesitant about what kind of violence might be associated with films under the heading "crocodile," I decided that Malian kids - well familiar with the cycles of life - could handle videos of crocodiles bringing down water buffalos. These films were a hit. They screamed and cheered for the crocodiles - then for the escaping water buffalos.

During the video segment, Saouda had been chanting that she wanted to go home. I enlisted her to help me make pasta and sauce (Look at me already replicated gender roles). She obliged as long as I held her and she got to taste test everything. We made pasta with vegetable sauce. I set it down a large container and the kids sprang into action ready to attack it. I tried to cool it off, but they dove in - probably burning their hands as they devoured it. Saouda declared that she was sleeping at my house.

After mealtime, I was tired. I packed up the kids and their drawings and sent them back home. The luxury of being an Aunt. I am going to recharge my own batteries and invite the next shift of kids over once Drissa gets back.