A couple of fellows go zooming by, on a crowded, public road. I turn to my friend, bewildered a little by the speed and crazy sounds coming from the mortocycle men. He smiles and says, "They're Peuhl, they're from the bush. They so rarely get to experience the 'big' village life that they just get so excited and happy about it."
I can't help but agree with my friend - we've got to excuse they're recklessness because of their contagious joy.
But who are these men? What are the Peuhl?
Peulh are an ethnic minority in the country of Benin. They are often mistreated in parts of Benin. In Kalale, my village, the Peuhl are actually the majority. The Peuhl are thought to be 70% of the population! In my village these semi-nomadic people are often among the wealthiest citizens, with a single cow costing about 333,000 FCFA! The Peuhl provide me, and much of my region, with fresh milk, cheese, and meat. They raise livestock for a living. Young boys start following a cow herd at a pretty young age. I've seen children who look to be seven years old trotting after a cattle or two.
The Peuhl often live in rural communities, on the fringe of villages and beyond. For this reason, when they come into town for market days and such, the busy-ness of village life can't help but tickle out some giggles of delight.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
New Year?
While in Niger, I didn't get the chance to post as much as I would have liked to, but fear not, I'll try catching us up over the next few days. But for now I'll bring you to my present state of being...
Tomorrow I will begin participation in a workshop called Designing Behavior Change. About ten other volunteers and accompaning Beninese work partners will be attending the conference. While I'm excited about the practical techniques that I'll pick-up at the workshop, I'm apprehensive about what tomorrow signifies. Tomorrow is like the first day of school for my work life in Benin... What do I mean by that? The day before schools starts you're excited about seeing your school buddies again, eating cafeteria food, learning new things, but you're also nervous about the new teacher, who exactly will be in your class, if you can handle the work load, and if the cafeteria will still serve diced chicken. In the land of Benin for a Natural Resource Advisor October is the month in which work bursts forth like algae blooms. October is the month when school tends to start, thus school environmental clubs become part of our schedule and we start hanging out with some amazing young people. The rains begin to cease their falling, and in their place people begin dropping seeds into their gardening terrain; people gardening means you start advising and forming gardening groups, which likely means meeting new people. In short, tomorrow will be the beginning of a busy work season. I'll go to the conference get back to post and throw myself into the start of work load October brings,whilst continuing my waste management activities. October marks the beginning of a new work year, and just like the night before the first day of school, brings shivers of excitement and fears about one's possible social or task related failing. God willing, this work year will be a-OK, as it has been each school year.
Tomorrow I will begin participation in a workshop called Designing Behavior Change. About ten other volunteers and accompaning Beninese work partners will be attending the conference. While I'm excited about the practical techniques that I'll pick-up at the workshop, I'm apprehensive about what tomorrow signifies. Tomorrow is like the first day of school for my work life in Benin... What do I mean by that? The day before schools starts you're excited about seeing your school buddies again, eating cafeteria food, learning new things, but you're also nervous about the new teacher, who exactly will be in your class, if you can handle the work load, and if the cafeteria will still serve diced chicken. In the land of Benin for a Natural Resource Advisor October is the month in which work bursts forth like algae blooms. October is the month when school tends to start, thus school environmental clubs become part of our schedule and we start hanging out with some amazing young people. The rains begin to cease their falling, and in their place people begin dropping seeds into their gardening terrain; people gardening means you start advising and forming gardening groups, which likely means meeting new people. In short, tomorrow will be the beginning of a busy work season. I'll go to the conference get back to post and throw myself into the start of work load October brings,whilst continuing my waste management activities. October marks the beginning of a new work year, and just like the night before the first day of school, brings shivers of excitement and fears about one's possible social or task related failing. God willing, this work year will be a-OK, as it has been each school year.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Niamey, Niger
I've been in Niger a couple of days so far. I've found the people to be extraordinarily nice, and not so agressive about saying hello and selling things, as in Benin; and I've found the transportation to be tiring and time-consuming for non-distance related issues. But really it's a cool place to be visiting.
The architecture has an obvious Islamic influence - with curves and grandeur that comes from the minds of people who think things like the Taj Mahal into existence. This is notable even through the landscaping efforts made, there's something garden-esque about how they go about arranging plants and pathes - it's quite wonderful.
Since I've been here I've seen the Grand Mosque, Grand and Petite Marche (Markets), visit a diversity filled market in Ballayera (I hear people come from Algeria even!), I've riden a horse at the racetrack and a camel in Balleyera, and have chilled with some Toureg artisans in Niamey. I'm quite happy about it all, and definitely enjoying the company of my friend Diane too!
I'll keep you posted! Love and care until... Joc
The architecture has an obvious Islamic influence - with curves and grandeur that comes from the minds of people who think things like the Taj Mahal into existence. This is notable even through the landscaping efforts made, there's something garden-esque about how they go about arranging plants and pathes - it's quite wonderful.
Since I've been here I've seen the Grand Mosque, Grand and Petite Marche (Markets), visit a diversity filled market in Ballayera (I hear people come from Algeria even!), I've riden a horse at the racetrack and a camel in Balleyera, and have chilled with some Toureg artisans in Niamey. I'm quite happy about it all, and definitely enjoying the company of my friend Diane too!
I'll keep you posted! Love and care until... Joc
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Ramadan
Right now, Beninese Muslims are in the midst of the month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is the month in which it is believed that Mohammed started recieving the Qu'ran. During this month Muslims fast (of both drink and food) each day from sunrise until sunset. They can eat inbetween these times. There is a meal after about seven pm and one before morning prayer around five am.
It is interesting and challenging to see the fidelity of many Muslims during this month. A dear friend of mine invited me to join in the fast for a day and I decide that I'd do it for the period of time I'm at post before going on vacation - It'll be about five days. I'm doing it with Christian intentions in mind, but I do enjoy the communal nature of the month.
This month is supposed to be a month of charity and acts of kindness. The meals at dawn and daybreak include many, and as my friend says, we eat in community. My grandmother in village told me to give her lait sucre - sugary concentrated milk. I didn't get why she chose to ask for that, but then it was explained that people were gifting one another with it for the tea that many take during eating hours. People also mentioned giving money to the poor and alms in general as a necessary part of this period. Ramadan is a period in which a whole community is sort of positively affected by one another's kind intentions, and acts of togetherness.
I don't think I understood that Ramadan was meant to be so communal originally though. People in explaining what the month is about tell me that it gets them into paradise. And now after having formally looked up Ramadan, I find it's true. The kind acts, fasting and asking for forgiveness are supposed to clear all of one's sins and open up the gates of paradise for a person. But I too have seen that Ramadan shows that love is what gets one into heaven. While I might not believe this in a cut and dry way myself, I must admit that I think this is a good sort of morality. I can't frown heavily upon a people who make holy a month committed to acts of kindnesses, self-control, remembering and renewing their relationship with their god, and practicing patience. And so today, I refocus my own fast with my new knowledge of Ramadan. I had considered it important to remember God more at this time, and practice self control and sacrifice, but I want to act out my faith in a more disciplined, yet loving way through intentional acts of kindness, increased prayer, patience (something I've been trying to increase in general) and communion with others our God has created.
Please pray for me in this endeavor. For more information on Ramadan and its significance, feel free to Wiki it as I did! :)
It is interesting and challenging to see the fidelity of many Muslims during this month. A dear friend of mine invited me to join in the fast for a day and I decide that I'd do it for the period of time I'm at post before going on vacation - It'll be about five days. I'm doing it with Christian intentions in mind, but I do enjoy the communal nature of the month.
This month is supposed to be a month of charity and acts of kindness. The meals at dawn and daybreak include many, and as my friend says, we eat in community. My grandmother in village told me to give her lait sucre - sugary concentrated milk. I didn't get why she chose to ask for that, but then it was explained that people were gifting one another with it for the tea that many take during eating hours. People also mentioned giving money to the poor and alms in general as a necessary part of this period. Ramadan is a period in which a whole community is sort of positively affected by one another's kind intentions, and acts of togetherness.
I don't think I understood that Ramadan was meant to be so communal originally though. People in explaining what the month is about tell me that it gets them into paradise. And now after having formally looked up Ramadan, I find it's true. The kind acts, fasting and asking for forgiveness are supposed to clear all of one's sins and open up the gates of paradise for a person. But I too have seen that Ramadan shows that love is what gets one into heaven. While I might not believe this in a cut and dry way myself, I must admit that I think this is a good sort of morality. I can't frown heavily upon a people who make holy a month committed to acts of kindnesses, self-control, remembering and renewing their relationship with their god, and practicing patience. And so today, I refocus my own fast with my new knowledge of Ramadan. I had considered it important to remember God more at this time, and practice self control and sacrifice, but I want to act out my faith in a more disciplined, yet loving way through intentional acts of kindness, increased prayer, patience (something I've been trying to increase in general) and communion with others our God has created.
Please pray for me in this endeavor. For more information on Ramadan and its significance, feel free to Wiki it as I did! :)
Monday, August 10, 2009
Birthdays!
As my birthday approaches, I find it hard to control my love for birthdays! My time in Benin has taught me that I really do love a good celebration, a jovial gathering of people! I love the good spirits, tasty food, laughter, tears and communal silences that come with a celebration.
For birthday celebrations I enjoy the that a group of people, whether in the same place or not, are celebrating an individual. In my mind, birthdays are a time when we stop and acknowledge another's inherit uniqueness, and our thankfulness for the commencement and continuation of a life. Quite simply, a birthday celebration is beautiful in it's celebration of life, and the joy it brings us.
I think I'll expand on this post later, but I have to do some work!
For birthday celebrations I enjoy the that a group of people, whether in the same place or not, are celebrating an individual. In my mind, birthdays are a time when we stop and acknowledge another's inherit uniqueness, and our thankfulness for the commencement and continuation of a life. Quite simply, a birthday celebration is beautiful in it's celebration of life, and the joy it brings us.
I think I'll expand on this post later, but I have to do some work!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
An African Kindness
While Peace Corps advises against being out after eight pm, I often am. In my village I feel like I have more reasons to trust than distrust the people.
That said... I was out riding my bike yesterday evening. I started around twilight, but that soon spilled over into the night. I was just playing around on some new roads the county has made in order to encourage development and further urbanization of our region.
I ended up on the main road that eventually hits Kalalé. When I was about five Kilometers out I decide to turn back. First a couple of friends who were passing on a motorcycle stopped and asked me what I was doing so far out at this hour. I explained how I love exercising in the privacy of the night, a time when I don't have to be seen and thus people won't feel so obliged to stop me as I do so.
Soon after they keep heading into town, someone else comes up behind me on their motorcycle and says keep going, and proceeds to trail me so that I have a stronger light and an escort the last four kilometers or so into town. I asked who it was when the person decided to accompany me, and it turned out to be a friendly acquaintance. I insisted that i felt safe and liked the night, feeling bad that he had to slowly follow me. But i found that i felt deeply comforted by his patience and kindness in choosing to quietly accompany me. He tried not to get to close, and smiled gently when I tried to tell him to go ahead. It was as if he understood that i desired privacy, but he still wanted me to enjoy it safely. To respect the quietness of the night and yet gently insist on looking after me, AND enjoying the time with me- I believe this is indeed a great kindness.
That said... I was out riding my bike yesterday evening. I started around twilight, but that soon spilled over into the night. I was just playing around on some new roads the county has made in order to encourage development and further urbanization of our region.
I ended up on the main road that eventually hits Kalalé. When I was about five Kilometers out I decide to turn back. First a couple of friends who were passing on a motorcycle stopped and asked me what I was doing so far out at this hour. I explained how I love exercising in the privacy of the night, a time when I don't have to be seen and thus people won't feel so obliged to stop me as I do so.
Soon after they keep heading into town, someone else comes up behind me on their motorcycle and says keep going, and proceeds to trail me so that I have a stronger light and an escort the last four kilometers or so into town. I asked who it was when the person decided to accompany me, and it turned out to be a friendly acquaintance. I insisted that i felt safe and liked the night, feeling bad that he had to slowly follow me. But i found that i felt deeply comforted by his patience and kindness in choosing to quietly accompany me. He tried not to get to close, and smiled gently when I tried to tell him to go ahead. It was as if he understood that i desired privacy, but he still wanted me to enjoy it safely. To respect the quietness of the night and yet gently insist on looking after me, AND enjoying the time with me- I believe this is indeed a great kindness.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
No, sir, not Junk!
"Junk! Junk!
No, sir, not Junk!
Junk! Junk!
No, ma'am, not Junk!
Bricabracs, brickbats
Knitting needles, Knick- knacks!
Kickshaws! Curios!
Camisoles! Cameos!
But... Junk!
Junk!
No, sir, not... Junk!"
~Excerpt from "Dandelion Wine," by Ray Bradbury
Recently, as I was reading some Bradbury, I ran across this dreamy little chant. While the story it comes from is supposed to take place in a locale that seems like late 19th or early 20th century America, it reminded me of modern day West Africa. The chant recalls the realities of a place so poor it can not afford to be wasteful. Soap bottles, and mayo jars; inter-tubes, tomato paste cans, school notebooks, and pesticide containers- all useful to a common African. Pages are torn out of school childrens' notebooks, and used by merchants as a wax paper of sorts for handling locally made cakes; while mayo jars, if collected, are valuable enough to be resold to those wishing to reuse them for homemade peanut butter, nuts and bolts, or other foods and odds and ends. Tomato paste cans become a serving place for the natives' traditional soap; while the well-loved, modern motorcycles' pierced inter-tubes are cut into long, stretchy cords, that used to strap a load of goods together for transport. We say the United States loves efficiency, and I think this is true, but I think here, in this land of people struggling to survive, and if possible develop, I experience a different type of efficiency. The people here are slow to act as if they think just any old thing is "junk," or trash. Africans would consider a Western landfill a good second hand hardware stores of sort. Here it is part of everyday life to reuse resources of many sorts, even though not all possible resources are reused.
I admire the creative reuse of resources by the people of Benin, West Africa. I believe that wealthier nations can indeed take a page or two from the books of less developed nations. I believe that traditions that come from an understanding of humankind's connection to the natural world can help us to be more efficient and conservative in our use and reuse of resources. I say this because I realize it is not just poverty that drives locals to save things, and make treasures from what Western people might call junk; no, no, it is a way of life that has been passed down through many generations of West Africans. They seem to understand that if one conserves the world's energy, then you help to conserve your own energy in the future. The idea that all things take our energy comes from a people that draw water from a well, thus understand using water recklessly will means more work tomorrow. While the Beninese are at times very wasteful in some respects, I believe that they may be able to offer part of a new, but ancient way and example on how to conserve the earth's resources. I believe that to live well in the future it'd do us good to continue to research more efficient technologies and such, but I think it'd do us well to embrace helpful traditions and ways of life that can be found in our world's large cultural heritage. Yes, I've taken a page from postmodern philosopher - there is a need to move forward as a world community, but we can not totally abandon our community's traditions.
No, sir, not Junk!
Junk! Junk!
No, ma'am, not Junk!
Bricabracs, brickbats
Knitting needles, Knick- knacks!
Kickshaws! Curios!
Camisoles! Cameos!
But... Junk!
Junk!
No, sir, not... Junk!"
~Excerpt from "Dandelion Wine," by Ray Bradbury
Recently, as I was reading some Bradbury, I ran across this dreamy little chant. While the story it comes from is supposed to take place in a locale that seems like late 19th or early 20th century America, it reminded me of modern day West Africa. The chant recalls the realities of a place so poor it can not afford to be wasteful. Soap bottles, and mayo jars; inter-tubes, tomato paste cans, school notebooks, and pesticide containers- all useful to a common African. Pages are torn out of school childrens' notebooks, and used by merchants as a wax paper of sorts for handling locally made cakes; while mayo jars, if collected, are valuable enough to be resold to those wishing to reuse them for homemade peanut butter, nuts and bolts, or other foods and odds and ends. Tomato paste cans become a serving place for the natives' traditional soap; while the well-loved, modern motorcycles' pierced inter-tubes are cut into long, stretchy cords, that used to strap a load of goods together for transport. We say the United States loves efficiency, and I think this is true, but I think here, in this land of people struggling to survive, and if possible develop, I experience a different type of efficiency. The people here are slow to act as if they think just any old thing is "junk," or trash. Africans would consider a Western landfill a good second hand hardware stores of sort. Here it is part of everyday life to reuse resources of many sorts, even though not all possible resources are reused.
I admire the creative reuse of resources by the people of Benin, West Africa. I believe that wealthier nations can indeed take a page or two from the books of less developed nations. I believe that traditions that come from an understanding of humankind's connection to the natural world can help us to be more efficient and conservative in our use and reuse of resources. I say this because I realize it is not just poverty that drives locals to save things, and make treasures from what Western people might call junk; no, no, it is a way of life that has been passed down through many generations of West Africans. They seem to understand that if one conserves the world's energy, then you help to conserve your own energy in the future. The idea that all things take our energy comes from a people that draw water from a well, thus understand using water recklessly will means more work tomorrow. While the Beninese are at times very wasteful in some respects, I believe that they may be able to offer part of a new, but ancient way and example on how to conserve the earth's resources. I believe that to live well in the future it'd do us good to continue to research more efficient technologies and such, but I think it'd do us well to embrace helpful traditions and ways of life that can be found in our world's large cultural heritage. Yes, I've taken a page from postmodern philosopher - there is a need to move forward as a world community, but we can not totally abandon our community's traditions.
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