As I was saying, I love my job because it allows me to go up and down the mountain and enjoy the view of the valley and the mountain tops. Plus, walking outside always puts one in intimate contact with nature. First of all, I am never really sure what animals I would encounter. My room has housed crickets, lizards, large spiders, mice (like the one i found in my suitcase...) and your other normal critters. In the households, the dogs and the chickens are allowed to run freely while the goats and sheeps are tied up. But in the moutains, animals are allowed even more freedom. You can see pigs, baby goats and everything moving around. I encountered two baby goats the other day while climbing up the rocks to Kuwdé. They were so tiny and fuzzy that I really thought about having a pet goat.
Today, as it turns out, I would be surprised at what animal I would meet. I had gone up the Kuwdé for a meeting with the committee of the case de santé and the families that have participated in the pilot health program. Since there were no other modes of transportation other than by foot, I arrived late due to my previous meeting. I hurriedly moved to my seat in front of the classroom and looked around at the participants, "One person, two person... good.... a monkey... another person... WHAT? There is a monkey at my meeting?"
It turns out that Odile, one of the community health workers had a son with a pet monkey that replied to the name "C'est moi" (it's me). Madeline had asked if the monkey could join the meeting and was granted permission. Thus, there was a monkey at my meeting. He was a very good and quiet monkey even though I believe that the meeting about health insurance seriously bored him. At one point, he was lying on the table looking like he wanted to take a nap. I was cracking up, but I had to keep a strict face for the sake of everyone else.
On my way home, I marveled at how much outdoor experiences that I have had here. Almost every moment is occupied outside. My shoes are always caked with mud, and I can never cease to admire the beauty of the savana and the rosy color of the sunset. Now that it is night, there is a concert outside my room performed by crickets, frogs and toads. Every time that I try to walk outside at night, I never fail to step on some kind of toad. Since there is no electricity here, the sky is perfect for star gazing.
I am surprised at how well i have adapted to no electricity, no running water and plumbing system. I have officially learned how to follow the schedule of the sun and how to shower with only a half bucket of water. Here, nature is at a finger's touch, and I liked how I know my surroundings.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
In Touch With Nature
July 30, 2009
There is so much to write, but perhaps I will just describe my day. It is amazing how I have become accustomed to the way of life in the village of Farendé.
I woke up at 5:30am to get ready to find François, the clinic director, at 6am. I have to say that at the present, I am incapable of sleeping pass 5:30am. In the US, I would never be able to wake up at 5:30am even if I tried. But here, I wake up when the sun comes up and I rest and stop working when the sun goes down. I have never lived so near nature and animals in my life than I have done so here in Farendé.
In the US, I pretty much spend my day in a building and never pay attention to the nature around me. The West has essentially created a system where we are completely separated and work independently from nature. Nature can have no impact on our lives until it destroys something like with Hurricane Katrina. My life in the US is basically moving from one building to another, using cars as medium. I do not ever have to be outside unless I decide to be "more" in contact with nation, like going for a run outside, or persuading my parents to go on a hike. In the US, I have to go somewhere to "experience" nature.
Here, it is completely different. Nature is such an integral part of my life that my activities depends on nature and the weather. First of all, there is no such thing as a living room. Once I step outside my room, it is the outside courtyard where any visitor can just come in without being invited. I have no glass on my window. It consists of just a few metal bars and a curtain with wooden shutters. Above my head is a tin roof that magnifies the sound of rain by at least 100 times. Besides the fact that my room put me at constant contact with nature, I find that I am hardly ever in my room, or in a building in general when I work. Today, for example, I have hardly been in a room at all. Starting at 6am, I ran over to Françcois's house to give him my goodbye gift to him. After a day of meetings, I finally returned to my room at 7pm after the community meeting in Kuwdé, and it is almost time for bed.
Another thing about Africa and its nature is that the rain comes only in extremely hard down-pours, and that it has a mystical power to stop all activities. One automatically knows that whatever is planned will be canceled or pushed back to a later date if it rains at all. I have so grown into this mentality that I know my appointment with the chef du village would be pushed back or be totally canceled today due to the 5:30am rain.
The protocol for when it rains that you must find a place to hideout and stop all activities until the rain stops. Most people have a good reason to do so because the road is unnavigable when it rains. The usual red-as-blood dirt road turns into a giant red-ish orange mud puddle that engulfs your shoe if you try to walk in it. But, the rain is absolutely frustrating if one wants to accomplish anything useful because no one does any work when it rains. For example, if you are to meet with a group about a project, you would almost have no chance to meet if it rains. First of all, since African time already dictates that everything actually happens at 2 hours after the scheduled time. If it rained and no one wants to leave the house, you would be at the mercy of the rain as to when it would stop and the people would come out. The rain has almost complete power over one's schedule.
Besides the weather, I also feel more attached to nature by my increased knowledge in the local plants. In the US, I think I label anything that's green into the category of plants and leave it as that. But here, everyone knows at least a plant or two and what each does.
I followed the Chef du Village today to find the plants of the traditional medicines here. The moment we stepped out of the house, he began to point to trees and grass (that I had dismissed as annoying weeds) to be the main ingredients in many of his herbal remedies. It turns out that most Kabiyé people keep only useful trees (as in trees that can give you medicines and fruits) in the fields and cut down all other ones.
In addition, the people here uses every piece of land to gain the maximum yield. The moment you step out of the house; you are in a corn field. No such thought is given over to decorative grass. If there is a tree to give shade, it is usually a mango tree or a Barbabe (?) tree that give useful ingredients for cooking or treating diseases. Even the flowers they plant are more useful than just to decorate. They are the type that releases a scent to chase away snakes. People here have an incredible knowledge of which grass or tree (which may just look like a decorative bush to non-locals) can be eaten or used as sauces.
My morning with the chief ended at 1pm, and I promptly ate and went to my afternoon meetings. The first one was at the foot of the mountain in Farendé, while the second one was at the top of the mountain in Kuwdé. I love how my job takes me to both of the villages. I am always walking between the two, but I will have to describe my walk another time.
Once again, my time is almost out and I must return another time to finish this post.
There is so much to write, but perhaps I will just describe my day. It is amazing how I have become accustomed to the way of life in the village of Farendé.
I woke up at 5:30am to get ready to find François, the clinic director, at 6am. I have to say that at the present, I am incapable of sleeping pass 5:30am. In the US, I would never be able to wake up at 5:30am even if I tried. But here, I wake up when the sun comes up and I rest and stop working when the sun goes down. I have never lived so near nature and animals in my life than I have done so here in Farendé.
In the US, I pretty much spend my day in a building and never pay attention to the nature around me. The West has essentially created a system where we are completely separated and work independently from nature. Nature can have no impact on our lives until it destroys something like with Hurricane Katrina. My life in the US is basically moving from one building to another, using cars as medium. I do not ever have to be outside unless I decide to be "more" in contact with nation, like going for a run outside, or persuading my parents to go on a hike. In the US, I have to go somewhere to "experience" nature.
Here, it is completely different. Nature is such an integral part of my life that my activities depends on nature and the weather. First of all, there is no such thing as a living room. Once I step outside my room, it is the outside courtyard where any visitor can just come in without being invited. I have no glass on my window. It consists of just a few metal bars and a curtain with wooden shutters. Above my head is a tin roof that magnifies the sound of rain by at least 100 times. Besides the fact that my room put me at constant contact with nature, I find that I am hardly ever in my room, or in a building in general when I work. Today, for example, I have hardly been in a room at all. Starting at 6am, I ran over to Françcois's house to give him my goodbye gift to him. After a day of meetings, I finally returned to my room at 7pm after the community meeting in Kuwdé, and it is almost time for bed.
Another thing about Africa and its nature is that the rain comes only in extremely hard down-pours, and that it has a mystical power to stop all activities. One automatically knows that whatever is planned will be canceled or pushed back to a later date if it rains at all. I have so grown into this mentality that I know my appointment with the chef du village would be pushed back or be totally canceled today due to the 5:30am rain.
The protocol for when it rains that you must find a place to hideout and stop all activities until the rain stops. Most people have a good reason to do so because the road is unnavigable when it rains. The usual red-as-blood dirt road turns into a giant red-ish orange mud puddle that engulfs your shoe if you try to walk in it. But, the rain is absolutely frustrating if one wants to accomplish anything useful because no one does any work when it rains. For example, if you are to meet with a group about a project, you would almost have no chance to meet if it rains. First of all, since African time already dictates that everything actually happens at 2 hours after the scheduled time. If it rained and no one wants to leave the house, you would be at the mercy of the rain as to when it would stop and the people would come out. The rain has almost complete power over one's schedule.
Besides the weather, I also feel more attached to nature by my increased knowledge in the local plants. In the US, I think I label anything that's green into the category of plants and leave it as that. But here, everyone knows at least a plant or two and what each does.
I followed the Chef du Village today to find the plants of the traditional medicines here. The moment we stepped out of the house, he began to point to trees and grass (that I had dismissed as annoying weeds) to be the main ingredients in many of his herbal remedies. It turns out that most Kabiyé people keep only useful trees (as in trees that can give you medicines and fruits) in the fields and cut down all other ones.
In addition, the people here uses every piece of land to gain the maximum yield. The moment you step out of the house; you are in a corn field. No such thought is given over to decorative grass. If there is a tree to give shade, it is usually a mango tree or a Barbabe (?) tree that give useful ingredients for cooking or treating diseases. Even the flowers they plant are more useful than just to decorate. They are the type that releases a scent to chase away snakes. People here have an incredible knowledge of which grass or tree (which may just look like a decorative bush to non-locals) can be eaten or used as sauces.
My morning with the chief ended at 1pm, and I promptly ate and went to my afternoon meetings. The first one was at the foot of the mountain in Farendé, while the second one was at the top of the mountain in Kuwdé. I love how my job takes me to both of the villages. I am always walking between the two, but I will have to describe my walk another time.
Once again, my time is almost out and I must return another time to finish this post.
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