Such a sweet kid …
1:40 First thing he does when he arrives home : He drinks a glass of water and then he peels off his clothes. It’s so damm hot at this time of day.
For lunch, he can eat anything except … vegetables ! It is a pain in the neck to make him swallow some fibers. He hates vegetables. I told him many times that vegetables will help him grow up very quickly. His father is very big. He doesn’t care. ‘I wanna stay small’.
His favourite dish is Chicken & Rice or Rice & Chicken. He doesn’t even care for French fries, whereas millions of kids in the world love to eat them. This guy is a complete mystery to me.
But he can eat fruit to a certain extent. Another good thing, he loves sucking baobab fruit. Just like me. Baobab fruit are those little white grains. They look like piece of chalk. Put a handful of these white grains in your mouth. Then suck them. Swallow the bit sour juice but don’t swallow the threads and the black stones.
3:30 Afternoon school.
5:30 School ends. He goes on foot back home. It is no longer hot like an ape. A pleasant little breeze caresses our skins. It’s like a beautiful spring time in America or in Europe. It’s nice to go home at leisure, saying hello to all people one meets. But he never forgets to fight against his peers. Even against girls who are twice his size or his own weight.
6:30 He jumps on his pogo stick to flex his muscles, has a drink and some bread with chocolate and nuts.
7:20-10:30 PM Studies. On certain days a bit longer 11:30. Then he gets some food. He washes himself for the night. Shortly after having stretched his limbs under his mosquito net, he closes his eyes and a light breathing can be heard. Sweet dreams, little boy !
Same thing next day. Only on Saturday afternoons he is allowed to play with the other kids till very dark. Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays he sleeps as long as he needs. Some days till 11 am.
Sunday afternoons, he learns from 3:30 till 10:30.
There are 61 pupils in his class. He was among the 10 worst pupils. On the phone I heard his MAYDAY. He understood that if I show up, it was not for fun since he did awfully at school. He said OK.
After two months of an amazing willingness on his part, excellent cooperation and much hard work, he could raise the bar very high, showing to the world that he’s got the power of a Big Bull.
My stay in Africa was not made of swimming-pool cocktails or disco dancing. Nevertherless, it was a fairy one : I could see how a wonderful magician transformed a big zero into a huge ten. I could see how proud the kid was when he told me about his excellent school results and how he danced to show me his happiness.
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Tags: africa, ambitious, discipline, hard, lazy, learning, little boy, school, senegal, success, willingness, work
