Hola;
Again it has been 2 weeks since coming in from the
village and life as everywhere else in the world goes on.
So here are a few more stories of what has been
happening.
***** Tidda's life *****
In the village there is this beautiful young girl
named Tidda. She is 17 and immediately when
you look at her you can tell that she is just a little
different from the other girls. She always has a smile
and she just seems to be at peace with her life.
Of course this seems like an impossibility seeing
as I don't know very many people (including myself)
that are in that pretty good category. So when one
sees Tidda it kind of makes you feel happy.
Till one day ...
I was out in the garden (which is near the well)
and I see Tidda come up with her bucket and I can
see by her face that she is truly troubled. So, I ask
her "Tidda how are you today?" and she responds
"fine", which I know isn't right.
About 2 hours later her father (Amadou Diao)
come over to hang out for a while like he usually
does. I can see that he isn't very much at peace
either so I ask "Amadou, what's up ?". He starts
explaining about Tidda. What was happening was
that Tidda (Amadou's daughter) was promised to
to a man
of about 40 to 45 years old. I know that in the
U.S. this is quite a sensitive thing ... but in Africa
(well ... Senegal anyways) it is typical. I knew
something was up when I saw this guy (40 to
45 year older) hanging around her house. In a
village of 300 it is pretty easy to tell who the
visitors are. So I ask Amadou " who is this guy?".
He starts by explaining the situation about Tidda
and this guy (Mamadou). It starts like this ...
Mamadou and Amadou grew up together in
the village and were inseparable as kids. Mamadou's
family still lives in the village and Mamadou is a
teacher in a private school somewhere in or near
Dakar. What had happened last year was that
Mamadou asked Amadou if he could marry Tidda and
Amadou said yes.
Well ...
Mamadou shows up and says that he wants to
get married in 10 days. Tidda ... is not happy ...
wants no part of this guy ... and it is pretty obvious
to see ... as it was written all over her face.
Also ... to Amadou, now that the time is here, he is
definitely troubled about it. He couldn't sleep for
a few days and even though he said yes last
year, he realizes that it isn't right. Now, for a man
to think that way here in an African village is not
the norm. Usually the girl is just given away.
So ... Amadou comes over and wants to talk
... we talked for over 2 hours and I let him tell me
what he thought. I have to say that I now respect
Amadou a lot. He doesn't want Tidda to waste her
life and he doesn't want her to not be happy and
he wants her to marry for love and to make her
own decision. This sounds like a natural easy
train of thought. For other continents and countries
it is ... but in Africa it is revolutionary. For thinking
this way Amadou is taking a bunch of flak ...
which starts from his wife (who wants her to marry the
guy so that they can get some money from him)
and she got mad and took off to her native
village for a few days. Also Mamadou's family is saying
"you promised her, didn't you" to a childhood friend.
Added to this pressure are some of the
men in the village telliing him to just give her away.
But he is standing up to them and he told Tidda
" I haven't had money my whole life but you have
had food, a roof over your head and I have done
my best, but one thing that I can give you is the
right to make your own decision". He told me
that he's always been poor and that the guy's
money wouldn't make him happy if Tidda would
have to live her life miserably.
So, as it goes now ... everything is held off
till next June ... He wants Tidda to go to school
and he even built a desk for her to study on ...
it actually took him 3 days of searching for wood,
nails ... etc. to put it together. Next June the guy
will return and Tidda will tell him what she wants to
do.
I see in the papers and hear on the radio how
people throw out the word hero like it is 2 cents.
Yes, there are heros ... but is it someone who
hits a home run? ... or someone who is a multi-
billionaire? I am going to describe my interpretation
of a hero. He is a little 120 pound man, who has
nothing, lives in a village of Goundaga in Senegal
and does what he truly believes is right. Despite
all the people, customs and pressure that are against
him. Because he believes that his daughter should
have a chance at the life she wants.
Time will tell and I will fill in you in on how
Tidda made out ... next year.
***** This could save a life *****
I live in a section of Senegal that is
predominately Pulaar. So as each culture,
tribe, ethnic section has it's own unique
custom ... so do the Pulaars. When I was
in training in Thies a girl who was a volunteer
here but finished and was conducting a few
training sessions said. Those Pulaars have this
thing that they do when they want to make fun
of someone. So I said ( seeing as I am going to live
in a Pulaar section of the country) "what is it?".
She tells me " they tell you that you eat beans ".
I said " what does that mean?" ... she says that
it refers to people with money who pass gas. Seeing
as beans are about a dollar fifteen cents for a kilo
it is considered pricey.
So after about 2 months we head out to check
out our sites and as we are returning to Thies after
the visit we stop at a gare in Tambacounda. A gare
is a bus/7 palaas garage. Well there are kids there
called Talibe ... Talibes are kind of a poor man's
monk. They have what they call a Marabou who is
a spiritual teacher (of the Koran) ... and the Talibes
stay at the Marabou's house and go out and beg for money
during the day. Well at the gare we stopped and
bought some cookies and of course us being Toubobs
(white people) we are swarmed by the Talibes. So
we give out cookies and there is one talibe kid that
doesn't get one. So ... he demands a cookie and
we say "sorry they are all gone". So the kid says
" a namii niebe " which means you eat beans. Boy
did we laugh and actually gave the kid some money
just for the entertainment value.
Also each on of us gets a Senegalese name and
mine is Boubacar Balde. But it seems that the Baldes
and the Diallos (another last name) have this verbal
feud going. The Diallos call the Baldes thieves and the
Baldes call the Diallos bean eaters. It is really humurous
but I have never seen anyone get fighting mad.
To keep the theme of bean eating here, I can relate
bean eating with my most embarrassing African moment.
Last week I was riding my bicycle back from Velingara
and I had something to eat before I left at around 2 in the
afternoon. Actually the plate was a great tasting mixture
of rice and meat. I am not used to eating meat and my
stomach was a little upset. So as I am riding back with
about 20 minutes left I am cruising along a (what I thought)
deserted stretch of highway. There was a little incline and
so I stand up on the pedals to give it a little extra effort and
all of a sudden (and to my surprise) I pass gas but with quite
a lot of noise to go with it. No sooner that I sit back on the
seat and up along side of me on a bicycle comes this
middle age guy with his 2 front teeth missing and he
is swerving all over the place because he is laughing
so hard. Man, I am shocked and embarrassed and all
I could do was say " mi namii niebe " which means
I ate beans. I don't know why I said that because
I didn't eat beans. Of course I am worried that he is
going into town and is going to tell everyone that the
Toubob passed gas. I would be easy to point out seeing
as I was the only Toubob around. But luckily he met a
friend and stopped ... I sped up to get the heck out of
there. I think I will always look around first.
But the reason why this could save a life is that the
next time that anyone may want to give an obscene hand
gesture which could instigate some crazy road rage
incident. Instead just look the person straight in the
face and say " hey guy ... you eat beans ".
Paul
Senegal
West Africa
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