PSSST!!

Harassment.

Where are you going? Where are you coming from? What are you doing? Where are you from?

Will you be my friend? Will you be my correspondent? Let's keep in contact. Let's exchange ideas. Let's exchange information.

What, no hello? What, no good morning? What, you don't even greet me? What, you don't stop to shake my hand? What, you just leave, like that?

Stop your bike. Stop right there. Stop. Hey. Come here. Hey, HEY come here. PSST. PSSSSSSST. White lady! White man! White men!

My friend! My darling! My auntie! My love!

Hello! Hello... HELLO! I am GREETING YOU!

These are things that usually men but also women will shout at you from any distance - simultaneously with other "friends" or one by one - as you move through the streets of Ouaga, Bobo, or any city in Burkina Faso. It doesn't matter if you are alone or with someone else, if you are turning left at a traffic light through three lanes of multi-vehicle traffic, if you are looking up, sideways, or straight ahead... People will touch you, grab your hand or arm, move slightly in your way while you're moving on a bike... They will pull their motorcycle up alongside you or stop on the side of the road. They will run across the street to hail you. They will waggle their arms like fous.*

And this list does not even take into account those who have a reason to be yelling at you - those who are trying to sell you something, trying to get you into their cab, trying to pull you over to look at their pagnes or their silver jewelry, to buy their tomatoes or sesame cakes... It also excludes the men who are trying to marry you, who want a white woman, who want you to bring them to the States...

It excludes kids incessantly asking for gifts and or money. You don't have a gift for me? You don't have a gift for me? You don't have a gift for me? Or kids calling out white man, ca va!? Even when you're a white woman. It excludes those not-rare-enough adults asking for gifts and/ or money as they go about their daily chores (particularly in touristy spots).

Let me be clear, there is no escaping it. And sometimes you want to rip your hair from its roots. But don't worry about me, you know that I know that the people here are great. (Heck, I am currently trying set up a third year!) Just not when... you're biking through downtown Ouaga during rush hour in the middle of the day's heat with a bag on your back, a man chasing after your bike, a moto sidling up beside you, a woman yelling at you across the street and a man screaming to know what aren't you greeting me?!

P.S. This blog message only applies if you are white.**

*A fou is a crazy person. Plural: fous.
**White is label used here to identify anyone who appears to be from Europe, America or anywhere else besides Africa. Light skinned Africans, rich Africans or African-Americans also risk being labeled white.