The Little Guy

When all else fails, or is just boring, the five year old will keep things interesting. His name is Ausubuhi, and he spent a few months in the United States last summer having skin grafted on his infected scalp burn. He now stays with our neighbors, so I see him all the time.

When I first got here in October he was hyper all the time, even in the house. He barely spoke English, just a few key words. His main language is the tribal language, Luo. At school he is learning Swahili, and at the neighbor's house they speak English. I found out quickly that he understood most things, even though he didn't have the words to reply. I also found out that he understood me mostly because of context; if I asked "What is . . . ?" he rarely understood.

Many nights I help get him get ready for bed. I brush his teeth, read to him, and put cream on the graft on his head. Occasionally, I help him take a bath, but he is pretty independent with that task and I mainly instigated him to make a huge mess, so I only do that when I really feel like getting wet.

Any time he hears me come in the door he calls for me. He can't say Ely, so he calls me Ali, like Prince Ali from Aladdin, not like Ally. One time Sara tried to teach him to say it right. She said, "Eh, eh, Ely;" his attempt was, "Eh, eh, Ali." And he got so much laughter out of us that for a couple days he said it a lot. Anyway, when I come in and don't find him when he calls, he runs in and climbs me like a tree. I would say that I instigate trouble a bit more than I should, but he's so cute.

When I returned after my two week trip home, he was shy for a day or two. Of course we were quite a large group of mzungu at first. He warmed back up though, and while the second group of mzungus were here, he always came to see me or find me.

I switched rooms when I got back, and the person in my old room said that several times he came looking for me and got disappointed when I wasn't there. In general he gravitates to me; the less I try, the more he hangs around. I felt bad because all the visitors wanted to play with him, but he eventually warmed up to them also.

After being gone for a while, it is clear that he has grown; he talks more and he understands more. One thing I notice is the longer the sentence, the quieter he speaks. Regardless, he's learning a lot, including phrases such as "just a second" and "no way."

A couple of days ago he was playing outside, and I told him he had stuff on his shoe. He said "just a second" and ran into the house. When he came back out he was wearing a different shoe, but only on one foot. So he had on a clog and a flip flop, and was perfectly happy. The clog was actually a shoe I ruined when he asked me to drag him all the way home on a long sandy road. It was like dirt skiing, and he loved it.

Yesterday he had me rolling in the grass with him. I took him outside because he wouldn't stop banging on the piano during his family's recital. We played soccer, and before I knew it, we were rolling in the grass. One thing about him is that if he doesn't smell like earth he must not be feeling OK, and he gets (needs) a bath every day!

He also walks all the way to kindergarten and home with only the neighbor child, who is also in his grade. Sometimes he gets home an hour or two late, but no one ever worries. He's so funny and makes it easier to be so far from home.