I'm gonna getcha!

There is a fear of white people here among some of the children. It is not uncommon for children in Africa (or even the U.S. for that matter) to cringe in fright at the sight of me. This morning I was riding my bike to school and a little boy probably around 7 saw me and was absolutely terrified and began running. He kept running and looking back, running faster and looking back. I probably escalated the situation by letting out a sinister laugh and slightly changing my direction toward him. He eventually caught up with his friends and his fear dissipated.

This reminded me of a story one of the volunteers here told me. He is currently on his 3rd Peace Corps assignment. In addition to The Gambia, he's been in Niger and Kenya. He was posted in a very remote area of Niger where it wasn't uncommon for someone to have never seen a white person before. He was on a jog one day when a kid began running away from him screaming. He soon approached a group of villagers holding clubs and machettes. He didn't think much of it at the time, but he later found out that those people thought he was the Devil and they planned on killing him. Fortunately for him, one of the villagers recognized him and said to the other villagers "Oh, that's not the Devil. That's just a new teacher here." He moved to another village after that incident and the next village thought he looked like Jesus because he had long straight hair.

*Update/Clarification: The majority of children here come running and screaming "Toubab! Toubab! (white person)" like you're Blinky the Clown when they see you.. not cry. For better or for worse because of some European tourists throwing out candy and soccer balls when they come through some of the villages.