Scary Clown arrives in Africa

As a proud and loving uncle, there is not much my family can ask that I won't try and do. A good example is my willingness to don a life size Barney outfit in 90 degree weather for a birthday party. Or, an Elmo, or Cookie, or even a full blown circus clown outfit. (I can hear the snickers through the web that my regular clothes can be confused with circus outfits - words hurt;). Clowns are often funny, but as parents from the Poltergeist generation know, clowns can be creepy too. And as my beautiful niece Jacqueline can attest, clowns can be somewhat scary at your 2nd and 3rd birthday even if it is your uncle!
Let me start by saying I have not been dressing up as a clown over here in Africa. However, many of the villages in which I am visiting are not often frequented by "mzungu" (translated to whites/westerners). While most of the children get exceptionally excited to spot us and scream MZUNGU as soon as they see us, one precious two year old had never seen a white person and apparently had never heard of one. So, imagine the scenario of me walking through a crowd of people and appearing on the other side to see the same horrified reaction that my niece gave to scary clown - tears and a blood curdling scream! My attempts at making her laugh at least stopped the tears but she would never come within 10 feet of THE BIG SCARY CLOWN.

Pondering the thought of my reaction to meeting a green person,

Uncle Christian