Gotta Love the Bush

The following pictures and video are from this past week in my bush village “B”.  I was informed by the ladies when I visited Wednesday to bring some American money and my camera. I also told them I would bring some American coffee for them to try.  When I returned on Thursday I had all my items for show and tell.  The first to show was the American dollar which is the equivalent of 500cfa in money here.  They looked at the picture of George and repeated numerous times, “Barak Obama.”  I repeated numerous times “No.”  I said that Obama was the president now but the first president of America was George Washington.  They asked if George was a man or woman because they didn’t understand why he had so much hair.  I didn’t know how to explain fake hair or wig in Fulfulde so that will be a conversation for another day.

Next was coffee time, or should I say a disgrace to the American coffee drinker.  I had my coffee apparatus with me that I bought from Great Outdoor and started to take it out.  They asked what it was and said that they could put the coffee in their ashai teapot.  I told them coffee wasn’t made the same as tea.  They finally understood and let me make it.  I pressed the ground coffee after the hot water was added and tasted it to see how much sugar I needed to put in there.  I added about a tablespoon and was completely satisfied with the taste.  I handed the finished coffee to one of my friends and she spit it out saying it was not good.  Another girl tasted it and said the same thing.  They then proceeded to pour the entire cup of sugar into the coffee which was only 2 oz of coffee.  After that they all drank the coffee and said it was so good.  I told them that they don’t like coffee, they like sugar. 

While we drank coffee and tea in the afternoon they made me promise to send them pictures of my wedding and my innde (baby naming ceremony) when I return to America in a year and a half.  I told them I would but that it might be a while before I marry and have kids.  They were confused and tried to solve my “problem” by trying to give me one of their husbands.  Oh how life is so different here.

"T" making ashai for me.

My favorite little one!

The Troublemaker

Fulbe Culture 101

Below are descriptions of baby naming ceremonies and the marriage ceremonies of Fulani culture. These were dictated to me by the King of the local Fulani in my area of ‘GR’. I hope you will enjoy learning about this culture as much as I have and will continue to lift up the Fulani.

Innde (Baby Naming)

A baby naming takes place 7 days after the baby is born. In the morning the parents of the man and woman come together. The woman’s parents come with a male goat. An Islamic leader comes and the parents provide money for this religious leader. The mother of the child spends time cleaning the house along with the help of her family. As soon as the husband’s family arrives, the religious leader sacrifices the goat and prays so that Allah will know the child’s name. He returns to the group after he has killed the sacrifice. A group of men hired by the parents yell the name of the child and expect money from people in return for this. The women make an excited sound in the back of their throat.


The women spend time cooking gniiri ( millet paste and sauce) and they feed everyone that comes. The women and men eat separately around a common bowl and specifically according to age groups. The elder men and visitors eat first. After everyone eats, the elder men rest until 7 at night.


The men then go back to the sacrifice and split the animal in half, crossing sticks across the body. The fire is placed in the middle of the upright animal to cook. Once it is cooked they remove the meat and cut into three parts. The first part goes to the woman who gave birth, the second to the father’s family, and the third to the old men who know the “way of the Fulbe.” After everyone finishes eating the meat they greet the mother, baby and family. The women bring skirts, headscarves, soap, jewelry and oil to the mother. For the first and possibly second child, a dance usually takes place where a drummer is hired. The woman is supposed to receive 40 days of rest after she gives birth.


A big Fulani custom for a baby naming is the shaving of the child’s head with the addition of milk in the water. This is considered the first right of passage to being a Fulani.



Kowgal (Marriage):

If a boy wants to marry a girl in Fulani culture, they will meet under a tree in the bush in the middle of the night. If the boy has no shame or embarrassment then he will come earlier that afternoon to tell the girl to meet him at night. If she likes him, she will bring him a gift such as fabric or a ring. After the boy asks to be married to her she gives him the gift and they separate and go home. The boy will then proceed to ask her father for her hand and he gives money, not more than $100 as set by the government. The father tells the boy to have patience before tying the marriage so that there is time to tell the extended families.


The night before the wedding the boy and his friends go out and cut the tendon behind the knee of a cow so that the cow cannot stand. They then sacrifice the cow. Everyone comes except the boy and girl to eat the sacrificed cow. When the meat is gone the parents of the boy and girl decide it is time to tie the marriage.


During the day of the wedding, the girl is in her house during the ceremony. She has her hair braided and hyena put on. The man is in his house as well. The two families come together for the ceremony, without the bride and groom, and they accept each other with the exchange of money.


The girl can take a couple of days or months before going to the husband’s home. The woman will spend this time buying all the household products she will need from the money that the boy paid for her. The boy’s family will provide clothing and jewelry for the girl.


The boy’s family will bring the girl to him the night of the marriage ceremony and the next morning the girl will run back to her home. She spends some time at her parents’ house until his family comes to get her. This is the proof of their love. The girl typically runs away 3 times before staying. Once she stays she helps her mother-in-law with cooking for the family group.

Language #2

Oh how I wish I grew up hearing more than one language. I knew language learning would be difficult but I didn’t know in what ways. My Hausa language learning was for a month with a local principle, and therefore he knew how to teach. Fulfulde study is a bit different and a little more vexing. My teacher is a medical worker and is not used to explaining grammar or things like sentence structure. Regardless of the frustration, the days come and go where I must speak to survive.



Starting in two weeks, I will be thrown into the bush during the weekends. I hope that this will challenge me and motivate me to learn the language as efficiently and quickly as possible. Once I have a solid foundation of the language I can begin memorizing “stories” in Fulfulde and start ministry. M & R worked in my bush village for a month when they first arrived on the field 5 years ago. However, the people kept expecting something of monetary value from them, so they finally decided to transfer their ministry elsewhere. Please lift up that the Father has softened hearts over the years and that He will dissatisfy the current condition of their hearts.


The picture below is of the chief of the village in which I will be living during language study and my new house. I hope that even with my limited language skills right now, that I can form strong bonds with the women in “B”. I look forward to sharing wonderful testimonies of my time with the Sokoto Fulani in the bush. Let this new phase of the journey begin!

With the chief and his wife in front of my new house!

Village "B"

My language helpers

Daily pounding of millet



What a Wonderful Dialogue

Loosely translated dialogue of one of my most recent bush outings with M (Weyti).



Random Fulani Man (RFM): Weyti, you should give her (referring to me) to be my wife.
M: You already have one wife don’t you?
RFM: Yes, she will be my second wife.
M: She doesn’t want to be a second wife. She wants to be the only wife.
RFM: Ok, give her to me.
M: Do you have 300 cattle?
RFM: No.
M: Well she is worth 300 cattle.
RFM: She is worth too much.
M: She has an education, a house, she knows English and a little bit of Hausa. She is worth 300 cattle.
RFM: Yes, but she doesn’t know Fulfulde.
M: Ahh, she starts Fulfulde study on Monday so then she will be worth 500 cattle. Do you have 500 cattle?
RFM: No.
M: Then her father will refuse the marriage.


Dear Dad, if you were ever wondering how much your precious daughters are worth, I found out….500 cattle.

Etsy

Many of you have probably realized by now that the country that I currently live in is very special. We have termed it, “The Middle of Nowhere (insert country name here)”. Therefore when Christmas time came up I had a hard time figuring out what to get people. Other than not being able to buy anything here, I had only known the field personnel for only 2 months. I was looking through my art book one night under the section that I have labeled “etsy” to find some ideas. I have always wanted an etsy account to sell my handmade items whether it be household items, textile wall art, or hand printed cards. Therefore I decided to dabble into my dreams during Christmas time. The following pictures are of placemats I made for M & R, hand dyed head wraps for the yarinya’s and trivets that I made for J. Enjoy and you should all check out etsy.com for the most creative handcrafted items.



By the way, this blog post was specifically for you Rachel Miller Gallo! Love you and thanks for your continual encouragement and support of my crazy ideas!

Placemats

Trivets anyone?!?!

Bleach Dyeing

Let's Catch Up!

In a nut shell these are the highlights of the past month…

o I made my first friend in the town that I live in and she happens to crochet and knit.
o I found the yarn store and have checked out most of the fabric shops along the main road.
o I had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas day filled with hot chocolate (thanks sis!), watching the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Lady Vanishes, Just Dance 3 on Wii thanks to M &R, presents from field personnel and my wonderful family on the Weaver side (thanks Lucy, Susanne, and Becky!), 3 new outfits to get tailored, and a full crate of Fanta! It is so true, Life is Good!
o I thought eating sardines in the Philippines for breakfast was bad. Worse than that is eating incredibly large grasshoppers for snack. The taste wasn’t too bad because they add oil, onion, and yaji (pepper and ginger spice) but the crunchiness isn’t that satisfying. Unfortunately I had gum in my mouth during this time and didn’t have anywhere to put it. The worst was chewing my gum after I had finished the grasshopper and realizing that there were a few legs stuck in my gum. Needless to say I took my gum out as soon as appropriate.
o Apparently some man in the market asked M & R if he could buy me as a wife from them. He was 55. I just think it ironic that I never even got asked on a date in college and all I had to do was fly across the ocean to get proposed to!
o I have officially begun Fulfulde language study. Apparently Fulfulde is the third most difficult language to learn so you can ask me how excited I am in about 5 months.
o Out of all the teeny tiny African babies I have held here, this week I held the first one who relieved herself on me. Of course while she was doing this, she was looking right at me and smiling. You can’t be upset, the kids are too adorable!
o Just for Fun: My favorite musical & dance number… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tciT9bmCMq8. Just had to share this because it makes me happy. I know it will make my friend Melanie Mahoney happy as well because it has Mr. Gene Kelley and his “attributes” of steel.

Recap

All I can say about these past two weeks is wow! My Hausa language learning ended last Thursday so now my primary goal is to learn via practice. In these last few days I spent some time with a field personnel family in the Far East of the country. It was great spending time with them and their two kids and practicing/hearing the Hausa language. This is a recapitulation of all the domestic skills that I have acquired in the past few days…



o Cooking/Tasting: Laura in the Far East taught me some African cooking skills and introduced me to all the African “girl food.” She taught me how to doctor up their typical red sauce with peanut butter and pumpkin. We ate don waki which looks like slimy gray meatballs. Therefore is does not look appealing and some classify it as “snot balls.” It tastes pretty good mixed with mayonnaise and a mixture of pepper spices called yaji. I also tried their wakin awora which I have decided is African tofu. I watched the women make this and it only took 4 hours! The process involves grinding up soaked beans into a paste then cooking the paste with tsami (soured bean juice) and cutting into slices to eat. I will not wait 4 hours again to try some.


o Crochet: African crochet is more like American embroidery than anything else. A few of Laura’s neighbors took me to the main road to buy fabric, thread and lace to make a table cloth and baby wrap called a goye. My West African country is special in that the color choices here are hideous. My bright yellow fabric doesn’t go at all with the dark red, blue and green yarn with the pastel lace. Oh well! If I want to fit in here I guess I just don’t need to worry about matching. The girls let me borrow one of their template designs to stitch. They don’t use a hoop here for tension purposes so now I think I have carpal tunnel.
 

See how everything matches!



Yarn (Zare)

 o Dr. Liner: For those of you who know my family, you have heard that my sister just got accepted into Brody School of Medicine. Yayyyyyy! However after this past weekend I feel as if I am now qualified for medical school as well. On Tuesdays tons of women come to Laura’s house for milk and nutrients for their babies. I got to be an active part of this and my eyes were opened to the lack of health education in this area. Of the most interesting sites were the two women with breast infections. Once the women develop breast infections they stop feeding because it hurts. However the milk backs up and creates an inflamed breast which is not a pretty site. So Laura tells me, “Cameron, we are going to have to milk these women.” Yeah, definitely not what I expected to be doing when I signed up for this African term!

o Washing Machine Queen: I had to spend last night at my language learning house due to some security concerns. So today I decided to wash my clothes with the field personal here and to use their awesome agitator and ringer contraption. This thing is so much fun! After the clothes are good and agitated, you run the clothes through these two squeegee rolls that push the water out on one side and the clothes on the other. It really is fun and now I don’t have to wash my clothes by hand this weekend! Praise!



Ringer Time!





So that sums up the adventures in my life for the past couple of days. Eventually I will be back in my own house setting up a Christmas tree and listening to my Ella Fitzgerald Christmas songs! Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!

Line Dry Time...