Anywhere in the world kids will press you to the brink of annoyance. Casey, another volunteers about an hour and a half bus ride from Semonkong would attest to this fact. A group of volunteers were down by the river at Casey's site swimming as a group of kids with their donkey stopped by to gawk and chid our group with taunts just to be normal kids and be silly. We started out of the water and headed up the bank. The kids were headed our opposite direction but their donkey wasn't really following. As much to mess with them as to entertain the rest of us, Casey starts to herd the donkey back toward her village, the opposite direction. This donkey was all about it running with us. I guess it was tired of carrying the 50 kg bag of corn meal on its back.
Once the kids start to figure out what is going on we are 40 yards from them down the road with donkey by the side. The kids, running in their larger-than-their-feet rubber rain boots, finally catch up breathing hard and laughing too much to catch their breath. “The white girl stole our donkey” I'm sure the kids were thinking. That must have made their week and really given them something to talk about around the fire at night!
Donkey finally sputtered off to the side of the road stubbornly giving up. Freedom was short lived for that one once the kids got close enough and turned the animal around to head home. It was excellent entertainment for all of us!