Saturday 6 December 2008

I have touched on the use of Vaseline in Africa before, in the blog "The Colour of my Skin". Kids seem to love being greased.

But if you are a bit slow, they will set about it themselves. My friend's daughter, Faith, who is about 2 years old, decided that Mama and Baba were too slow and decided to Vaseline herself.

Now, Abigael, having four kids to look after, doesn't mess about with the little jars we get in England. Oh no, she has a 500ml pot. Faith found it. And she plastered herself.

We had to scrape it off her - the picture is after we had got the worst off her!

She was not happy.

-oOo-

When I was in South Africa in the late 80s, I fostered a few street kids. The first two, a pair of 12 year-olds loved the swimming pool, despite the fact that it was mid-winter.

When they dried off, they asked for Vaseline for their skin. I didn't have any, but I did have some Johnson's Baby Oil.

The first kid coated himself with the oil and was quite pleased with the result and was admiring himself in the mirror when the second child came into the room.

"What is this stuff?" he asked, turning his nose up. "You smell like a white kid!"

I wasn't sure how to take that.

2 comments:

Wamuhu Mwaura said...

LOL. Lotion can go the same way as vaseline, I know. My son emptied an entire bottle of lotion once during his nap time. I'm guessing he thought his time better spent moisturizing his skin. As for my daughter, shortly after having her bath, while awaiting her bottle of warm milk, she slathered herself with gobs of vaseline. I'm guessing she thought my use of it on her was much too sparing.

BabaMzungu said...

WM
I have a picture of Faith with a massive lump of Vaseline on her head. I will try to find it and post it.
Watch this space.