Emefa

 

Emefa is on the left. Children start learning to carry burdens on their heads early on. To me, though, this was just another example of how she imitates grown-up behavior. Often times, instead of playing, she would carry a toy around on her head for a while.

I looked up Emefa's name, because I knew of at least one other one. Since, in this culture, children are often named according to the day of the week on which they were born, I wanted to see if that was the case of the name Emefa. Apparently not, but the name means "Peace." Another website I consulted said that people named Emefa developed strong personalities. I can certainly believe that, based on the little girl I know!

Emefa is the little mother of the kindergarten class. Tata often asks her to help with setting things up and even with the two babies that visit. (Just as a reminder, Espoir, the son of the first grade teacher and Weena [again, not sure of spelling!], the daughter of a clinic worker, are at work with their mothers. The ladies will bring them into our class for a change of scenery.) Emefa spreads out the mats for the babies to sit on, finds a toy for them to play with and, if they start to cry, goes to the mat to hush them. She likes to pick them up and walk around with them, and usually is the one to take them back to their mothers when they get fussy. She also takes care of Ariana and Gilbert, who frequently fall asleep. She spreads out a mat and wakes them up enough to walk them to the mat. Occasionally she tries to carry them, but that doesn't always work well. 

She is so eager to help that she fights with anyone else who tries to perform the same task. She also focusses entirely on the task. So, for example, when Tata gives instructions to put away the tables, Emefa has been known to take one that is still being used, whether for eating or writing, by another child.

At the beginning of the school year, Emefa had an interesting approach to playing with toys. She would carefully gather her favorites--and there were about 10 of them--and pile them up around her. Then she would begin playing with them one at a time. Heaven help the child who thought that an untouched toy in the pile was free for the taking. Emefa would yell, chase down the other child and grab the toy back. 

Her school work is usually very good, but occasionally she is over-confident and doesn't pay attention to the directions. Naturally, she then gives incorrect answers. 

My most recent picture of Emefa, the day I was taking portraits of all the children. At least I got her to smile; some of the others would not. Several of them held their arms like that.

Emefa's eagerness to help and bossiness sometimes irritate me. But she is a sweet little girl and I will be interested to see how she grows up!