Kanga and little Roo

In the mornings, if I am going to the school(at least four times a week) or stopping by a friend's house here on campus, I will often walk with Eli in the sling. There are so many workers on campus right now with all of the building projects. The Malawians LOVE watching me carry Eli in the sling. They all stop to point and look when I walk by. It's hilarious to me because they are not discreat about it at all. It is obvious that they think I look funny. Well, yesterday, a man flat out told me how funny it looked to him. I was walking home from the school with Eli in the sling. I was walking about 15 feet behind two men that work for ABC on campus. They saw me and both turned around and kind of laughed while talking to each other. I walk pretty fast and within a few seconds, I had caught up to them. We greated eachother in true Malawian style. Then, one man said to me "You take him like a kangaroo, it is funny". I laghed and said "yeah, I guess it is like a kangaroo. Americans like to carry babies in the front so that you can see them and interact with them more." The man replied "yes, I see. I will tell my wife to take our baby like a kangaroo, too."

It was a funny interaction, but it was kind of nice to actually talk to someone about it rather than just be pointed to and laughed at. It also accured to me that it makes no sense for Malawian women to carry babies on their front. Their daily activities are so different from mine. They walk everywhere, usually with bundles on their heads and in their arms. I use my car and Eli rides in his car seat. They work the fields, fetch water from wells and do a lot of cooking. If I were that busy, I would want Eli to be out of the way, but still close enough to me while I worked. Keeping babies on the back is the perfect way for Malawian women to care for their babies and get all of their work done at the same time. Most of the work I have to do is in my own home where Eli can play while I check things off my list. I've also seen women who are able to breastfeed their babies when walking by bringing them to their side while still keeping them tied at the back. It is actually pretty amazing. Malawians are great at multi-tasking.

Either way Eli is held, he loves being close to me (and Christina and Happy) and I love having him close to me, too. I like to think he doesn't have an opinion on the issue as long as he isn't left behind.