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| Marriage, medicine, death and other stuff... | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The concept of weekend doesn't exist here in Guinea. Friday is a religious day for Muslims, Tuesday is market day and Saturday and Sunday are simply working days like any other. There is no day of the week where the people rest and take it easy , and this makes sense if you think about it, as how much they earn and therefore eat, is directly related to how much they work. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The first Friday I was here, a goat was slaughtered for a party.� Under Muslim law only the men are allow to kill.� To keep it as clean as possible they dig a small hole in the ground, slit the animal's throat and pour the blood into the hole.� When I returned from work that night the deed had been done. As I went to greet the guardian he refused to shake hands with me, it seems he had had blood on his hands and for reasons that I don't really understand wouldn't shake hands with a woman.� They had a small fire going and over it they were blackening the head and legs of the goat. I don't mean that these parts were prepared for cooking, they were literally chopped off and put over the fire, fur and all!� When they were sufficiently blackened they used those parts to make a bouillon.� The following morning the guard had laid out the skin of the goat close to where he sits at the side of the house.� When I asked what he was going to do with it, he explained that he used it as a mat to kneel on when he prays.� Nothing goes to waste here. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Photos: it's true that the some people are sensitive to having their picture taken. There is still a strong belief in occult powers especially in animist areas, even some imams are thought to have black magic at their beck and call.� At other times it can be difficult, simply because you may have your camera taken from you by force, this is after all one of the poorest and more corrupt nations in the world.� In the interests of 'security' no police, military or any government buildings or property can be photographed.� But locally, if you are in a social setting and ask if you can take a picture of some folks, you must be careful to make sure to catch everyone there, I soon learned that if there is someone you forget to include you risk seriously offending them. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The mentally ill:� In a society where basic medical services are in short supply, the mentally ill don't receive much care.� If a member of the family is mentally ill, but not violent then their care will generally be in the hands of family members.� However, if they display violent tendencies the normal way of dealing with them is to chain them to a tree and bring them food every so often.� I am horrified. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The African Community | |||||||||||||||||||||
| The whole mentality of the people here is geared towards sustaining the community.� In the west, society encourages individuals. Not here.� Anyone in the extended family who makes money is obliged to share it among those who have less.� If someone asks you for something, you must give it to them. That's the way it works according to African traditions of hospitality.� The prosperity of the individual doesn't exist. The father of a family has ultimate power, and no matter what age you are, you must obey your father. No questions asked.� For example, one of our guardians only lives here because his father asked him to return.� He's in his forties with a family of his own, yet he uprooted everything to obey, without objection.� You cannot contradict your father, or the community leader.� In the local language there is no difference between the words for father and the words for your uncle, they both have the same authority so they do not differentiate. The emotional attachment that we have for family doesn't exist here.� The family itself isn't the mom, dad and siblings but the community.� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| One of the odd things that I've noticed is the lack of� any kind of physical contact or displays of affection between men and women. Or between parents and children for that matter. This does however, fit in with their view of the whole community as the family unit,- the relationship between mother and child doesn't seem any different than the relationship between that child and any other adult female in the community. But in the time I've been here, I've seen nothing - no physical contact other than a handshake or a slap to an impertinent child.� (Children must obey their elders and it is completely socially acceptable to hit them if they don't.� You don't have to be related to the kid, anyone younger than you, who doesn't do what you tell them is fair game for a smack!) I've not seen a mother holding her child's hand, not even 'courting' couples holding hands - and now that I think of it, I don't believe I've seen courting couples either. (Arranged marriages are common here too.) The physical expression of affection does not exist within this society, at least not publicly. At the same time there are communities here who believe that HIV/AIDS is a curse sent by the whites to destroy love in Africa. I can't help but wonder what love? I haven't seen any of it.���� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Marriage over here is also very different.� One of the MSF guys explained to me that the first three years of marriage are for having children, followed by two years of rest.� Then the cycle recommences.� At the Prefet, I made the mistake of say that I was Mademoiselle, which immediately sparked a discussion among the three men present of how I would go about taking an African husband.� Between them they identified which of them had the most cows and another gleefully announced that he would be happy to accept the cows on my behalf.� It was all in jest at the time; however it?s clear that for some women here it is their harsh reality.� Most people have more than one wife, and when you hear of a guy talking about his first wife, as opposed to any of the others it's a good indication that he is Muslim. I took the liberty of quizzing one such Muslim recently, on how exactly it worked to have several wives. He explained that they each have their own bedrooms, one for each wife and one for himself. I asked him if there were problems between the wives; but apparently no, and if they squabble they must resolve it between themselves; his role he explained, is to provide for them, as long as he continues to bring home enough money for them to survive his role in the household is complete. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| In terms of traditional dress, I haven't yet deciphered which situations merit the boubou and which don't. The older folks and Imams tend to wear then all the time. The younger folks wear them on occasion, for formal events and on Friday, their holy day, but as far as I can grasp also whenever they feel like it, or so it seems. Although the boubou doesn't have any religious significance it is traditionally worn by only Muslims.�� Extreme Muslims are few here - and when I say extreme I mean those that dress fully in black, covered from head to toe in black fabric with only their eyes showing. Sadly I've seen children, barely 6 or 7 already fully covered. Whatever the religious significance, it can only be immensely unpleasant for woman or child to be enveloped in black in this heat. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Disease here is of course rampant. Apparently typhoid is not uncommon, and recently there has been a cholera outbreak in N'Zerekore. (At least a day's drive away.) Meningitis outbreaks a surprise to anyone and malaria is an every day disease. There is a place in Dabola where you can buy medication, but prescriptions are few and far between so everything is sold over the counter. And sometimes mixed with whatever the local potions are thought to be. The locals quickly find out which drugs treat malaria and self-diagnose constantly. Every time the feel a bit off they will take malaria medicine, and as a result quickly build up a resistance. However, those who don't live in a town don't have such a luxury, and generally go to a local witch doctor or do nothing. Funerals are an everyday event, but because family doesn't have the same significance here, grieving doesn't either. Generally, when there is funeral, the village will get together at a designated point and on cue will being wailing. This lasts for an hour or so and then they all go back to the fields as if nothing ever happened.��� | |||||||||||||||||||||
| For ex-pats, local witch doctors and even local doctors are out of the question. There is a 'hospital' here in Dabola, but even locals refer to the physician there as 'the butcher'. Besides, the hospital has a reputation for refusing people who are sick, in particular white people. Some/most of those in Conakry are reputed to be death traps. If you have malaria they can probably help you, anything more serious and you best bet is to get on plane or helicopter to the West! | |||||||||||||||||||||
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