racism from fear, giggles form rapport

Sure the kids point at me and shout ‘tibabo’ (white person- equivalent to the N-word) when I walk by but they also shout ‘Bonjour’ from 50 meters behind me; their friendliness is so extensive that they don’t have to be in my line of sight to acknowledge me and welcome me to the day.

It didn’t happen when I was in Mali solo but now when the group of us whities walk around the suburb there seems to be one child every kilometer who runs screaming and crying at the sight of a white person. Often their mothers will drag them over to us intent to squash their fear and have a good laugh in the process.

I feel honored that I can do the deed of quietening their fear of the new unknown. Partly because I know others wouldn’t be so genuinely kind and care so personally about these children exchanging their terror for inquisitiveness and there tears for giggles. That they develop tolerance and have a positive out come to facing a fear head on.

I think it’s the first step in opening up to become a more worldly person and in that allowing so much richness and beauty to rush in.

No matter how old, the screaming kid’s reaction to being dragged towards me was always the same intensity of terror and powerlessness to do the one things they wanted; to break free and get as far away from me as quickly as possible. While it was quite a sight I always restrained myself from taking  a photo- I knew how they felt. Their terror was the same as mine on my first meeting with Santa Clause...

This photo is clearly from the 80’s but still every time I look at it I can hear the terror in my scream…although it’s funny to me now. It was almost bizarre how in a short space of time and without a common language the kids could go from being completely terrified of me to giggling and tackling me. The human capacity for adaptation is phenomenal when lent to presence, openness and honesty.