Daudu

Our Daudu with the neighbors

I don’t know when it happened but a some point in this month of fasting, our youngest became the most popular member of the family, or more correctly I should say Daudu (what local islanders call him).

“Daudu! Daudu!” comes the singsong call to the door.
I come to the door to find one of the neighbor women. “Is Daudu up yet?”
Our youngest crawls up behind me and I pick him up.
Our neighbor holds out her hands and says, “Come.”
He goes willingly and quickly points to the street, seemingly directing his friend where to carry him. Then off goes my baby boy.

There are a number of reasons why our neighbors like our son.
One, he’s a cute baby. Who doesn’t like cute babies?
Two, he goes to them willingly and doesn’t cry. They sometimes try to coax either of our older kids to go with them, but usually they refuse to go without us (an instinct we don’t want to completely discourage). Our youngest however needs no coaxing.
Three, some like to show off the fact they are carrying around a white baby.
Four, he has an “island” name that they can remember and pronounce easily (our older kids' names don’t roll off an islander’s tongue as well). 

David with the neighbors

It is actually nice for my back and for my morning chores to have someone else watching our baby, but when the chores are done and his morning nap time approaches I go out to check. Now usually he is just on the street with the women who sit around, but I don’t see him right away. “Where’s Daudu?” I ask. “Oh, he went out,” says the woman who originally took him, as she gestures down the street. I look down the street but see no one. I’m not really worried, but it is weird not know where or exactly with whom my baby is. They are not going to do something dangerous with our baby. If anything they tend to baby him more than we would. Maybe they’ll feed him something strange or too sugary, but that’s probably it. If he starts crying or has a dirty diaper, they’ll bring him back to me.

What can I do? My older kids call for me, so I go. In a little bit I hear, “Ma Daudu!” from the street. “He’s back,” they tell me. I go down and our youngest quickly reaches out for my arms. I make some small talk, thank them and head into the house to put him down for his nap.

Beautiful sunset from our roof

Sometimes it feels like a test…"Are you one of us? Do you trust us with your baby?” Am I just a foreigner living nearby or am I part of this community? They seem to half expect me to clutch my baby to my chest and refuse, proving myself a complete stranger. It is in these moments that I realize that we are in this work as a family, and when our youngest jumps happily into our neighbor’s arms, he’s sending a message for the whole family, a message that we are happy to be a part of this community.

PRAYERS ANSWERED
We are very thankful to have such a loveable little boy. Our youngest turns one on Friday, August 9th! The month of fasting ends this week. We’ve been surprised how quickly it has passed and how easy it has been (usually it is a long, hard month). We killed the rat that was menacing our kitchen!

PRAYERS REQUESTED
Our youngest has been teething and pretty miserable the past couple days. Pray that he (and we) will be able to sleep well. One of the houses that we thought was a winner, ended up not being an option. Pray for endurance as we continue with the house hunt that our decisions would be easy and that we would be directed to the right houses. Pray for the end of this fasting month and that we would respond well when we have opportunities to share. Pray especially for the big holiday (that should be on the 8th) as we will have a chance to interact with all our friends, neighbors and connections. Pray that it goes well and that we make the most of the holiday to reach out to everyone. Continue to pray for Megan’s back- we continue to wait for complete healing.