Nasara Meow, Nasara Bonbons

This is Danny.

I met him at a friend's house in Ouaga.

The little girl behind him is his very shy cousin.

Danny would run into the room where I was eating my plate of african spaghetti and fish, come right up close to me, say “meow, meow, meow”, giggle and run away. Every time he ran out of the room he would meet up with all his friends just outside the door where they would whisper and giggle. Then one of them would peek through the curtain that separated our rooms. If I tried to smile at or talk to the friends on the other side of the curtain they’d disappear. It seems Danny, was the only one brave enough to be in the same room as the nasara(white woman). Although, at one point one of Danny’s friends came into the room and to tell me Danny was speaking chinese to me. This made a lot of sense (knowing meow isn't french and seeing as though I didn’t recognize it as a part of the mooré vocabulary) and I appreciated the tip. I remember referring to Danny as a ‘petit bandit’ (little rascal-I intended it as a compliment) after leaving his house. And he was; he was adorable, spunky and I think he is going places.

While Danny's friends seemed more shy than afraid of me I wouldn't have been shocked if they were afraid. Here, in Canada, children hear stories of the boogey man. In Burkina the stories are about the nasara. Some of the stories revolve around a nasara that comes only to steal children. With this understanding it is not all too surprising too witness a child running and screaming in the opposite direction of a nasara.

I felt badly about how much I terrified little ones: no matter how much I smiled, or tried to speak in comforting tones, often children feared me. Once I sent a child running away from his village entirely and left hoping he would muster up courage to return home once he'd investigated and discovered my absence.

In smaller villages children see less nasaras and are most likely to be afraid. In Yako once children are a little older they tend to stop fearing nasaras and start to call out to us when we pass. They call out 'Nasara bonbons!' (white person, candy!). It's so common in fact, that Nasara Bonbons became my second name while in Burkina. Or, depending how you look at it, Nasara Bonbons became my name and Brittany was my second name. That may be most accurate.