I just uploaded the first batch of photos. Before I share the link, here are the stories behind the photos:
The First Hike: I talked about it in yesterday’s post… before she left, a former PCV who served in Kenieba guided us on a hike up the escarpment to the top of the ridge. It was a beautiful hike; enjoy the photos!
End of Ramadan Fête: The end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, is a big holiday in Mali. Families gather together to celebrate with a big feast, kind of like our Thanksgiving. People were preparing for “fête day” at least a few days ahead of time, getting their hair done, having nice clothes made, and slaughtering goats and preparing other food for the big day. Since there was so much preparation for this big day, I had pretty high expectations for the big feast.
Hakim invited me to spend the afternoon with his family, so one of his sons picked me up and we walked to his house. It was a subdued atmosphere when I arrived, just lots of people around the concession still preparing for the fête. So much for a day-long party! The women were still doing each other’s hair, and most of the family members were not dressed up yet. I came over in my Malian complet, a collared shirt and matching pants, and ironically I felt pretty out of place! Hakim and I ate lunch, nothing extraordinary, and then we just lounged around as the women prepared for the feast. The food they were making looked really good, so I thought maybe it would be served for dinner. Since Hakim wasn't doing much of anything and I was getting pretty bored, I asked if I could take photos of the kids. They were really excited to see their photos on my camera. As you’ll see, some of the kids were in nice outfits!
Once the kids were dressed, they went out to greet other families in the neighborhood. Hakim explained to me that they give blessings for a good fête and that they will have as plentiful of a fête again next year. It was fun to see the kids come by all dressed up and recite their blessings. The other “event” of the afternoon was the griots. Griots are essentially Malian storytellers who walk from house to house, giving lots of blessings and telling stories about how great your ancestors were. Each last name has a different family tradition and story, for example the Samakés were traditionally hunters so the stories are about the great hunts. Then they expect to be paid at the end. We were told during our cross-cultural training that in general, Malians love the griots and are happy to pay the griots a considerable amount. Then the griots leave and do the same thing at the next family. I had seen griots before at the weddings I went to in Baguineda, but I didn’t know they also come around during holidays. Quite a way to make a living!
I spent about 3 hours at Hakim’s house, and the party never really started, as far as I could tell. There were no signs that it would start anytime soon, so I headed home and told them I would come by for dinner at the usual time, 7 PM. Since the women were cooking a lot of food in the afternoon, I was ready to eat a big dinner. Well, I arrived back at Hakim’s house, and everyone is huddled around the TV watching a Malian soccer team play a Nigerian team. At halftime, we sat around the bowl and get ready to eat what I figured would be some amazing food… and it turns out to be spaghetti and pieces of meat. Though it was better than the average Malian dinner, this was the only course we ate. So much for all that food the women were making all day! I’m not sure if I had missed something, but something must have been lost in translation. Oh well, at least it was the end of Ramadan; everyone would be in happier spirits from then on, since they were not fasting all day anymore! The Malians lost the soccer game, by the way.
Dance Party: Jim and I were sitting in my house one afternoon, and all of a sudden we hear a really loud siren, and all these sounds that in the US you would associate with an emergency, an air raid, like the world is coming to an end. Well here, apparently those noises mean that the DJ has just set up his system right outside your house and is preparing for a huge dance party. Literally, he had set up the speakers and dance venue at the intersection right outside my house. Jim and I peeked our heads out the window, and there was not much of anything happening, except for really loud Malian dance music and some energetic kids dancing in the street. A few hours later, at least 100 people were crowded around the dance venue, having a good time. You could imagine that it was pretty loud in my house… there’s nothing I could do about it, so we played some games with the kids and kept ourselves busy. When I went out to take pictures of the party, someone grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out onto the dance floor. I said “kofé!”, later! With the hopes that she might just forget… well she definitely did not.
After dinner, we were in the playing cards with some of the kids in the neighborhood. The same girl came up to my door and pretty much forced me to come out and dance. So I went… I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous… I said in the best Bambara and French I knew that there better be a lot of people dancing out there with me! Well there were 8 other women and me dancing in a sort of line dance, kind of like how it looks in the photos. As soon as I got out there, of course people were laughing at the white person trying to dance… but I just went with it, and by the end of the song was having a good time. But I can’t say I would volunteer to do that again! Surprisingly, the party ended around midnight (I had heard these dance parties can go until 2 in the morning), so I could still get a decent night’s sleep. I asked my host family the next day how often these parties happen, and they said twice a year… this one was to celebrate the end of “summer vacation” as school was starting up the next week. The next one is in November or December. As long as they are only twice a year, I can put up with a really loud dance party and maybe even join in the fun right outside my door!
Photos are up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wbudd3/FirstMonthAtSite#
