I can't hold on
on Rose Hardman (Rwanda), 07/Jan/2011 07:06, 34 days ago
One of my colleagues had a baby recently so we all piled round to her house this evening baring fanta and bananas. All was going well despite me having to take off my shoes. Having not realised we were going to visit my colleague I hadn’t worn socks and I was a little scared about gassing the baby but all seemed to be well. The baby doesn’t have a name yet as apparently babies are not named for about 9 days after being born. Within that time all the friends and family come and visit and suggest names.As always at a Rwandan event, melange was available and we all tucked in. Once we had finished the baby was produced and they started passing it round the visitors. When it was my turn to hold the baby I panicked. It was wrapped up in what seemed to be about ten blankets and I couldn’t even see the baby for all the padding. In addition, I’m not big on babies and I can’t remember ever having held one. I didn’t think it would be good for colleague relations if I dropped the baby (I just had visions of me holding the blankets and the baby having slipped out the bottom!) However, the look on my face when they tried to pass the baby to me plus the fact that my hands shot in the air as though someone was threatening me with a gun, and not just asking me to hold a baby, caused much amusement with my colleagues. As they all burst out laughing, I couldn’t help but join in. Only, it was the kind of laughter where no sound comes out, you just shake with mirth and so after a couple of seconds of this one of my colleagues asked if I was shaking with fear at holding the baby! Which cracked everyone up again. As the baby was passed round again (avoiding me!) my boss announced- your culture is very different to ours! I didn’t explain that it wasn’t our culture- just me!Whilst this is a particularly unflattering photo of me I had to include it as it shows the fear on my face and the laughter in everyone elses!