The president came to town today, but that's not what this post is about.

A very small child was standing alone on the porch of his house, and when I passed he said, "Amayi, azungu," (Mom, white person). The mother came out and greeted me and we both laughed. Babies are always staring at me, and it is funny and kind of cute because I may well be the only azungu they have ever laid eyes on. Who doesnt like being the subject of a baby's attention, anyways? But often, the attention I get for being white, though rarely sinister, is aggressive and not so funny.* Especially when it comes from adult males.

Because of such encounters, I sometimes get the feeling,walking through town, that I am an animal on display at the zoo. So for times when my celebrity starts to get under my skin, here are

5 Things that remind me I'm a person:
1. A conversation with a student that was something like, "when we are learning biology, we are proud," an other similar conversations.
2. My fellow teachers when they debate in English, just to include me. They want to know my input. They accept my vastly different world view, not always as correct, but at the very least, as important to consider.
3. My fellow volunteers, who assure me that their experience is just the same.
4. Reading books.
5. My neighbors, four self-boarding girls, who have embraced me as an opportunity to enhance their education, and who have become some of my favorite Malawian friends. They come to my yard to teach me Malawian games, or chat about our cultures. They ask me over for help during study sessions when they can't figure out a problem. They laugh when I am trying to be funny, and only sometimes when I'm not. They laugh at themselves too.

I ran into two of them on campus the other day, and in the open room where they were doing math problems on the chalkboard, they had found a dead bat. We examined it together. I showed them how it has four fingers and a thumb, and explained how it is blind and uses echolocation instead of sight. They played with it, examining it from every angle.
"You know, some people eat these."
"Eww, no, seriously?"
Laughter.
"It looks like a mouse and a bird."
"Feet like a chicken."
"Nose like a pig."
"Ears like a dog."
"God is wonderful."
"God is wonderful."
I don't know any American teenagers that would come to the conclusion, "God is wonderful," by examining a dead bat (or many girls that would touch a dead bat for that matter), but it was quite sweet. I did, however, tell them to wash their hands before eating.

*Note: as an American, it is hard not to see this as racism, but I want to emphasize that their remarks are not derogatory; however, it is racial discrimination, and even within Malawian culture, the educated will tell you that it's very rude.