Winning Over Suleiman

I finally did it, my 2 year old brother Sulie likes me! It was quite the challenge, I must admit. He had never seen a white person before, so when I arrived last week he shrieked in terror whenever he laid eyes on me. Mama and Baba made an effort to have him around me and show that I was okay when I interacted with them, and referred to me as his ‘dada’ (sister). By the end of last week he was firmly indifferent. He no longer cried at the sight of me, but if it looked like I was going to be touching him he would lose it. I turned this into a game and would giggle whenever he’d be afraid of me touching him, which helped him feel like he was in control. Once he was okay with me laying my terrifying white paws on him I did a lot of singing and dancing. He loves the song ‘Waka Waka’ (how does everybody here love that song? I thought I was the only one who was obsessed!) so I’ve sang it hundreds of times since I’ve arrived while bobbing his arms up and down in mine. The final step of my plan was to carry him to his favorite place, the beach. The cousins and I go there almost every day, so on Monday I just picked him up like it was no thang and by the time he realized I was the one carrying him we were on our way to the beach so he had nothing to complain about. Since then we’ve been bonding all the time—I showed him pictures of his mama on my laptop, more singing and dancing to Waka Waka, and mama even had me help feed him dinner last night when he was being fussy and wouldn’t take food! He’s gone from crying at the sight of me to crying when I left for the hospital this morning; I’ve finally won over Suleiman!

Showing him pictures of Mama on my laptop

Baharini (at the beach)

My buddy!