"The · darkest · thing · about · Africa · has · always · been · our · ignorance · of · it"

Games I Play With My Host Siblings:

Itsy-Bitsy Spider: I taught them this one, although when they sing it, it sounds more like:

Di izzy bizzy pider wenup da wad again

Down came da rain and wash da pid again

Out came da soon and dwied up aw dagain

And di izzy bizzy pider wenup da wad again

(“Again” is the one word they seem to have latched onto, so they insist on ending each line with it.)

Patty-Cake: Also taught them this. The oldest kids are almost able to recite the whole thing coherently (and can clap as well). The youngest kids just sort of clap at random (or hold their hands out for me to clap) and let me do all the singing til we get to the hand motions. Then they jump in on roll it, pat it, “mas it wis a b”.

Thumb War: Taught them this as well, although the younger ones seem to think of it more as a funny handshake. A couple of the older girls get the concept of the game, though, and one of my sisters, Mama, can even beat me fairly.

Mama Saw: This is a patty-cake style handgame that they play here. It sounds as though it was originally in English and has been passed down from child to child for so long that it’s virtually unrecognizable. Does anyone know the original rhyme? The distorted version sounds like this:

Mama saw, mama saw

I saw baby, it’s cool baby

I taa kang, naa kang (In Mandinka, this line would mean “you’re going, coming”)

*indistinguishable line*

E one, E two, E three, E four (and so on til E ten)

Ten koom bah tens plus, ten koom bah tens plus

Any ideas?

N Jiige: In Mandinka, n jiige basically means “help me get this down”. So when I return from the pump with a 20-liter bidong (jug) of water off my head, I have to call out “Ali n jiige” when I get to my house. (Ali means “you all.”) Then whichever of the women is closest or hears me first will come help me lift the bidong off my head so I can carry it inside. The kids like to joke that they’re going to help too, so once the bidong is off my head, I take the rolled up piece of fabric that I use to cushion my head from the bidong (it’s the rolled up fabric that’s the secret to most of that amazing head balancing you see African women do!) and put it back on my head. Then I kneel down (so they can reach) and call out “n jiige” to either Bemba or my toma (the two youngest kids in the compound, ages 2 and 1½). They’ll waddle over, and carefully remove the fabric from my head. Bemba will then just hand it to me, but my toma likes to either hit me with it or put it back on my head so the game repeats.

The Spanking Game: Once I’m done fetching water and the rolled up fabric is off my head, I usually start whacking the kids. They gather around me most days after I’ve fetched water, waiting for it, so then I unroll the fabric and whack someone. It becomes a big game, with them gathering around me in a circle and shaking their rear ends at me (if I forget to whack someone, they get upset). They’ll try to get me to chase them and a few of the youngest will even start pulling their pants down if they feel like I’m not whacking them enough. (Gambian kids are always pulling their clothes off, especially with the heat, so this isn’t any sort of new rebellious behavior I’m inspiring.) Beating figures heavily into Gambian play (and Gambian punishment), with people always threatening or pretending to beat kids, just in case you think this game makes me sound like a total weirdo. And speaking of beating games:

Don’t Beat My Toma Game: The kids came up with this one. They tell my toma (my namesake, i.e. her name is Jula just like me), “m be i butee la” (I’m going to beat you til you cry!) then pretend to beat her. (Yes, there is a special Mandinka verb for beating someone til they cry.) Then my toma, giggling hysterically, waddles across the compound as fast as she can over to me, and I grab her and pretend to shield her while yelling, “i kana n toma butee!” (Don’t you beat my toma til she cries!) Apparently for my toma, the running/waddling is a big part of the game, because even if the kid pretending to threaten her is standing right next to me, my toma will run halfway across the compound, then turn around and run back to me for shelter, rather than just taking 3 steps over to me.