First Week in Homestead

Family: I have a great family. The 2 co-wives are as sweet as can be. They are doing everything in their power to make me comfortable and happy.

There are 4 kids in the homestead, 3 boys and 1 girl. All of them love teaching me Kabiye. I have tons of phrases scribbled in my notebook but am still struggling with mastering the greetings, which depend on the time of day.

The girl, who is probably 12 or 13, is always working, whether it's cooking, doing laundry, planting seeds, drawing water from the well, or cleaning dishes. When I was her age, all I did that required any effort at all was homework.

All of the kids in my homestead consider themselves to have two mothers. Both the biological mom and the other co-wife receive the title "Maman" from any given child. The older co-wife is higher in the hierarchy, so I am to keep this in mind when, for instance, I reimburse them for my food: the money is always to be handed to the older co-wife.

Food: All food has been tasting fine and quite often delicious. Last night, I ate freshly killed chicken with spaghetti.

However, I just recently had my first little delicious taste of traveler's diarrhea, I think thanks to an okra sauce. Since then, I've been eating lightly and taking anti-diarrheal medication. Much of my plate of delicious spaghetti was rerouted to another mouth.

As for drinks, I'm living on my huge stash of bottled water and on sorghum beer, for which I am developing quite a taste. Most women brew it in their homesteads 2 times a week to sell at market. It tastes a lot like fruit juice. It's one of the few things you can find here that are remotely sweet.

Sugar is hardly ever consumed, or at least not in the villages. The only sugar I have each day is 2 sugar cubes in the morning in oatmeal and whatever sugar is found in sorghum beer. Everything else is grain-, meat-, and vegetable-based. A drastic change from my diet at home, where my mom makes sure to always have cake or brownies sitting out.

Challenges: It. Is. Hot. I dream about sticking my head in a freezer. I take bucket showers 2-3 times a day because that's the one way to cool down, and at night, it's necessary to enlever tous (remove all articles of clothing) in order to sleep. The advantage of having my own room!

Flies. There are bajillions of flies, who happen to have the same taste as humans in food and beer. There's no way to escape them; even if you go inside, they enter through doors and windows, which must remain open because of the heat.

My flashlight died. Thus, I maneuver like a blind person at night in order to find my toothbrush and other objects. This isn't too difficult. The real inconvenience to not having a flashlight is not being able to go to the toilet at night. Thus, whatever indigestion I might have must be tolerated until the morning... and that does not make for a very pleasurable experience.

Luckily these have been the only challenges! Even though this place is the white man's death and even though I have suffered these various obstacles, the quality of life is quite good.

What I've Been Doing/What I Will Be Doing: I've spent the first week in Farendé learning about life, culture, and institutions here. We (John, the other student in Farendé; Jesper, our guide; and me) have visited the middle school, the microfinance NGO's office, the evangelical church, the market, some small boutiques, and the medical center. Except for the primary school, we have literally seen all of Farendé.

I will be spending time working with middle schoolers; the plan is to form an English-club, which will be divided into two levels. I'm starting this later today. Should be interesting.

Other than that, we'll also be learning about traditional medicines mostly via interviews. Each homestead has its own medicine tree, which is said to cure a certain ailment. Traditional medicines are a free alternative to western medical practices for the people of Farendé. The younger co-wife of my household uses a traditional medicine to treat hemorrhoids, and on Sunday, we are going to chat with the man who prescribed it to her.

Etc: The boys here all have scars. The scars might be on the face, the arms, the feet, or elsewhere, and they are given to male infants at around the age of 3 months. The purpose of these is to mark what family a boy belongs to. That way, if he is lost, people can direct him back to where he belongs.

The middle school has fields. Students spend part of the day tending the fields so that the crops can be sold to raise money for items like books and chalk. Students have finished their final exams but will continue working the school's fields for the next month.

An extreme hindrance to Farendé's development is the absence of electricity. I talked with one of the women of my homestead about why Farendé isn't yet electrified, even though some other nearby villages are. She said it's because there's a lack of politicians representing the village. This is due, she added, to the fear of jealousy. A jealous person might, via sorcery, place some sort of curse on someone who has succeeded in life by going into politics.

These are some of the observations I've made and some of the thoughts I've been having. Dépaysant is turning out to be a very appropriate title.

More will be posted à la prochaine.