I have just finished the long CBT stay of 15 days and we are back at the center for the next week. We are having a bit of schedule changes because 50+ francophone presidents are coming to Senegal the day we were supposed to swear-in as volunteers in Dakar. Things have been switched around and now we will swear in the 26th of November! It is so soon! In the next few days we have counterpart workshop where our counterparts from the villages where we will be permanently come to Thiès to learn about Peace Corps. Then I'll go back to CBT for a few days, say goodbye to my family (Koomba and Jaitu in particular) and then we swear in and it's off to Botu I go!
But, in the meantime, this past two weeks was filled with lots of different things. A few days after we arrived Jordan and I were about to soak our seeds for our tree nursery in hot water when we were called to the Almami's house (Iman) for some big event! It would become clearer later that the important person visiting was a Calif of the Khadri (one of the brotherhoods in Senegal). These brotherhoods are not like the Muslim Brotherhood that we hear about in the States. These brotherhoods are different groups of Muslims in Senegal who choose to follow certain Khalifs based on miracles they performed. These Khalifs also act as intermediaries between the people of Senegal and the political power (i.e. Macky Sall) and so in fact these brotherhoods help to keep and maintain the peace throughout Senegal. We were brought into the almami's compound and were made to sit upfront right next to this very old man. He blessed us in Bambara or Wolof (not quite sure which language) and we spoke in French and Bambara to his assistant/driver who spoke French and English and Bambara and Wolof. At one point the call to prayer came and all the women got up and left to go pray in their homes and then some of the men went to the mosque to pray and we left thinking it was over. But after we went home and pre-treated our seeds, my mom was getting ready to go to the Almami's house and so we went back. We sat more towards the back this time and slowly women went up to this mori (marabout/Khalif) and brought their kids to receive blessings. There was some more singing that was in Arabic and then at one point, the dugutigi (village chief) brought in a sheep which I was convinced they would slaughter...After it was all over people got up and linked hands and created a path of Arabic singing to guide the mori out to his car, which by the way, was the newest black SUV that I have seen since here in Senegal. He got into the car and drove off, and as the car passed in front of me I saw the sheep strapped to the top of the car. It was apparently a gift from the village to him. I learned later that he was a regional Khalif and that he was 90 years old! It was pretty cool and obviously a big deal that he came to Karamoho So. He was apparently half Bambara so I'm sure that's partly why he came to our village.
Then, last Saturday there was a wedding in our village. I'm not sure if it was the bride who comes from our village or the groom. Anyways at the Si compound there was a big dance party (mostly women). We went after dinner and there were drummers (tam-tam) and the women had made a dance circle. There was one woman with a stick who was slapping anybody (mainly children) who dared to enter the circle. When a song started, the women would start dancing together and as the music speeded up, the dancing got faster and faster and eventually it became a competition between the women about who could dance the fastest. It was amazing to watch their feet move so fast. Even some of the older women can dance faster than I could ever imagine. It was so much fun, I joined in for some with my host mom and some of my aunts and even my Maman Musso (grandmother)! It was lots of fun. I asked my host mom at one point where the bride was and she brought me to the porch area of the house and the bride was there, watching the dancing happening. Apparently the bride isn't allowed to come out in public for a while. I don't really understand the weddings here but it was a lot of fun. Exhausting, and eventually I went to bed and as I was brushing my teeth, sirens, lights and a bunch of motorcycles came into the village, doing papawheelies and it was all of the men who had been elsewhere during the dance party, showing off and tooting their horns. It was quite the experience!
The other big adventure was on Sunday, Koomba (my host mom), Jordan and I went to Thiès so that I could get some fabric and clothing made for swear in. My host mom brought us to a Malian fabric store where they spoken a bit of Bambara and some French. I wanted a dark purple fabric just like my mom had for Tabaski (and luckily she was wearing it when we went to Thiès too!). I paid a bit more for the fabric but I could tell that some of the fabric was nicer than others and I decided that I would only wear it occasionally and I would be nice to have something fancy. I also wanted some waxed cotton for some basic wrap skirts because my clothing is falling apart already and it took awhile but I managed to find what I wanted. Then she brought us to the tailor that she uses and the tailor measured me, I paid him for the work and I'm supposed to pick it up today! I'll wear it for swear in on the 26th so look for pictures soon after!
I'm going to write a blog post sometime in the next few days about what we have been doing in terms of technical training so that y'all can get a sense of what I've actually been doing! Pictures to come as well, I'm really getting good at portraits, mainly I think because the kids are stunned by the camera itself!
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| Baba and Mohammed, u be yelekan ka ca (they laugh a lot) |
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| My host sister in red bissap (hibiscus) |
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| Mamawa |
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| Our Moringa bed |
pappawheelies? what the heck is that? Do you mean, by chance, they pop a wheelie? As in, pop the clutch (releasing it suddenly while the engine is racing) causing the front tire or wheel to pop up into the air? One ‘pops a wheelie’ one does not do ‘a poppawheelie’ unless one inadvertently ran over one’s father.
ReplyDeleteI should clarify that this comment was from a friend of mine and the words are his and his alone.
ReplyDelete