Baby Mamas

At the University, there are women who set up little stations selling water, groundnuts, juice and oranges. One of our first days, I walked by an old woman selling oranges who was holding a little boy (maybe about 20 months). I smiled at her and the baby. She motioned me over and handed the baby to me. I was so happy. Older children will run up to and grab your hands and shout "Toubab" (white person) at you, but I had never yet had the chance to hold a baby. He was a sweet, fat little thing.

The Orange Lady (as we've affectionately dubbed her) spoke a little English, but not much. She said something in Mandinka (one of the local languages) and motioned for me to lean forward. When I did so, she put the little boy on my back and wrapped cloth around me so I could carry him the way the African women do. Talk about a high point in my day. I thanked the woman profusely and we bought several oranges from her.

The next day I was walking with my housemates and the Orange Lady saw us. "Come! All of you come!" she shouted at us. "Follow! One by one!" Then she began shouting at us in Mandinka. We had no idea what she was saying, what she wanted or where she was taking us, but we all followed her meekly and obediently, in a single file line. She lead us across campus to a small room, all the while chattering to us in Mandinka.

The room she lead us to was a sort of make shift nursery. There were mattresses on the floor and young women (Gambia College students) sat cuddling, nursing and playing with their babies and their friends babies. The Orange Lady pointed at different babies and insisted that we hold them. It was wonderful. I've been back a few times since. There's the fat little boy that I first held, this darling little girl and a teeny tiny three week old baby boy.

There are always girls hanging out, sometimes nursing, sometimes napping, sometimes just talking and laughing. I'm sure they're incredibly amused by us. I'm probably older than many of them, clearly baby obsessed, yet I have no husband, no children and am years away from having a real job (they're all in training to be teachers).

Most of the girls who attend University don't have children (I can't think of any that do), and I know that in the United States there are girls my age and younger who are married with children. Still, I feel so young and so incapable of being responsible for another tiny life.