We are still bizarre…three months in.

Sarah and I are the only two white women living in Pleebo, and though we have been there for three months, we are still shiny new toys to many of the children here.  That being said, walking by our house every day on the way to school is a must for any child in the near and not-so-near area.  While this is fine, it is also obnoxious.  They will walk by our neighbor’s homes, and then once they reach near ours, they start screaming hello at us.  You may think I am exaggerating, but that could be further from the truth – they are quite literally screaming at us.

We have become very good at ignoring them, and this seems to work most of the time.  Some still do not get the point, though, so we have to go through our spiel with them.  “Move from here” or “We are not your picture show” have become sayings that our neighbors hear from us plenty.  Some children, or pekings as they are called locally, do not get the hint, and we have to resort to “I will flog you-o!” or something equally as threatening for them to move.  Sometimes, we’ll even act as if we’re going to come after them off the porch before they move. 

Some children think that they can just walk circles around our house and we will not notice it.  That is the most amusing, simply because it is as if they think we are absolute idiots who do not notice them walk by, screaming hello, fifteen times in fifteen minutes!  For these times, our neighbors come to our rescue.

First of all, there is Regina’s husband.  He spends a lot of time on their front porch, which is very near our back porch.  I can only imagine his inner dialogue when these kids are around; before our arrival, his life was quiet and calm…now, it is noisy and full of kids screaming at the white women who live next door to him.  When he is finally tired of the situation, he will come off his porch and yell at them, asking them if they’re stupid or if they cannot hear.  Sarah and I just laugh when this happens, because, really, what else can we do?

One of my favorite memories, though, has to do with Robertson.  One day, these girls would not leave the corner of our house, continually spying around the corner and laughing at us.  Robertson was doing some carpentry work in his shop in front of their house, and I yelled over to him, “Robertson, the children are being foolish!”  Immediately, he dropped his tools and started running over to where they were.  “Move from here!” he shouted.  “I will tell your mother and she will beat you.  Leave the women alone!”  Shocked, Sarah and I again laughed about the situation.  I told him thank you, and he just shrugged it off.  It’s obvious he thinks the same thing – we have been here so long…  Why are they not used to us by now?

The entire situation just reminds me again and again of how we have the best neighbors in all of Liberia.  PCVs here, you can argue that sure, but we will win time and time again :)