White Man

In Cameroon, I am an obvious minority, and am therefore a very interesting subject. For some of the children in particular, the only white people they've ever seen are on television. Therefore, when a caucasian person is spotted, they are generally greeted with shouts of "La Blanche!" or "Whiteman!" from children and adults alike. I was warned about this before, but as most children were in school when I arrived, did not get to experience it in full force until my third evening here, during a drive through the tea growing area of 'Saxonhoff'. Everywhere we went, children were shouting "whiteman" at our passing car. At one point, we had stopped to buy some vegetables, and a little girl stared inquisitively at me for a full 10 minutes. I smiled and waved, and before long, we were both giggling. Suddenly, it seemed as ridiculous to me as it was for her that I am white.