Cooties

Kids are the same, regardless of where they grow up, where they live. I was walking to work today and there were two primary school aged boys walking in front of me. Suddenly, they started walking faster, kept glancing behind them, and almost broke out into a run. At first, I thought they were running away from me! I know mzungus can be scary (heck, I even made a baby cry once), but we're not all that bad. So I turned around behind me, and I see three primary school aged girls, shouting at the boys, running towards them. Those boys looked at each other, said "let's go" and broke out into the fastest run I've ever seen. Regardless of how the boys may feel about girls in the future, at present, they still think girls have cooties.

african gym class

there is a government run primary school in town right next to the grocery store. every morning when i'm driving by, i'll see little boys hacking away at the seemingly endless weeds and grass that grow on the compound with a machete. and i'll see little girls ho-ing it away, planting maize seeds and other vegetables. when i walk by at lunch time, i'll see a different set of kids working it in the field, sweltering in the sun. and when i drive by after work, yet another group of kids, hacking and ho-ing as fast as their little arms will let them. it's almost as if there is a certain quota of grass/land the kids must chop/till, and if they don't fill it, they can't go home. this is taking child labour to the extreme. this must be the african version of gym class.