That´s what children are. It was my second day here and I needed to go somewhere besides the house and the Base office. So I wondered up around the corner of our house. I greeted a little girl who fell in stride with me. I realized we were walking toward her house. Around the corner, to my delight, I came upon a favorite play spot for the kids. A few boys with bikes were pumping the pedals down the slight incline and then doing stunts and wipe-outs in the sandy basin. A pair of smaller boys were pretending to be „voitures“ (cars) with empty bike tires they were rolling and the rest were watching from the side. My presence soon collected a posse of them and I just enjoyed their presence. I couldn´t think of any way to entertain them. Just being with them set the world back on its axis and made the mercy of the setting sun even more glorious.
They spoke very little French, mostly Haoussa, but we learned each others´ names. They passed mine around like a new item they'd discovered and were fingering.
I hope to find them there again.
Needless to say, I miss all my little nieces and nephew at home. To their parents who are reading this, please give them a squeeze from me.
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