Criancas

What is a Crianca?  They make you smile.  They make you scream.  They greet you on your way to school.  They meet you at your gate when you return home.  They stand outside shouting your name for over an hour.  They are not content when you tell them you can't play today.  They stare and watch you exercising in the morning.  They ask for everything and anything.  They are the ones who can totally brighten your day, if even just for a moment.  They are Mozambican children.

Mozambique, and Africa in general, is known for its huge population of children.  In fact, over 50% of Mozambicans are under 18 years old.  It's a staggering percentage to try to imagine, but while walking around and seeing the vast number of children, usually totally on their own, without any adult supervision, it becomes a statistic that is not so surprising.  It still shocks me when I see a five year old carrying her five month old sibling on her back or when that two year old is just walking down the road by himself. While, admittedly sometimes, criancas can be frustrating such as when they throw rocks on your tin roof and don't want to leave you alone or when the baby next door will not stop crying, but most of the time they are hilarious, so cute, always full of energy, resilient, and extremely entertaining.  I can't help but smile each morning when my four year old neighbor Selema and her little brother climb the ladder in their yard to look over the fence and greet me, "Bom dia, Sara."  It's a great way to start the day as I walk past the group of children my way to school and they excitedly shout my name when I pass by, "Sara! Sara! Ta-ta! Ta-ta!"

Here are a few of my favorite crianca photos from my time here in Murrupula so far.  I'm sure there will be plenty more to come!  Most of the pictures are of the group of children that regularly come to my house to visit.  Hope they make you smile too!

Following my prompt to smile

The mistake of letting them braid my hair.
Took over an hour to get all the knots out!

Models complete with make-up

Building houses with some extra bricks.

These girls love to model!

making dolls out of fabric