Wednesday, April 24, 2013

African Roulette

"Hunger of the body is altogether different from the shallow, daily hunger of the belly. Those who have known this kind of hunger cannot entirely love, ever again, those who have not." -Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible

Life in Tenegfara is occasionally like Russian roulette, you never know what your going to get. By this I mean that when I walk down the paths and meet a person, as the social culture embedded in life we greet one another. But I never know what language I'm going to get, you see tenengfara speaks 4 different languages- mandinka(what I am trying to speak), pulaar/fula, wolof, and serehule. I've learned some greetings and basica phrases in all the languages so when I head to the wolof compounds I greet in wolof, this amuses the villagers so much. They laugh hysterically and look at one another saying, did you hear what she said..she said.....as if they all didn't understand me. Although they never say it, I know they greatly appreciate this small gesture I am making to their family, to their tribe, honoring their heritage.

I get by because the main language is Mandinka, most can speak it to some extent, however, fluently or broken it may be. But there are some who don't speak a word- they will greet in their respective language as others greet back in Mandinka. Any language goes. I learn which compounds speak which languages and go in greeting in that language- when communication fails you grab the nearest small child because most of them speak all 4 fluently- guess that's just what happens when all your friends come from different tribes. I see a great deal of respect between villagers, if there are 2 men who speak all 4 languages but one is fula and the other is serehule they will speak in wolof or mandinka, so there is no preference shown to a particular individual/tribe. Or if they go to one anothers compounds they will greet in the houses tribal language. In a span of 4 minutes sitting on the bantaba (local wooden platform/hang out spot) all 4 languages will be going on with various translations happening for those who are not multi-lingual. Its amazingly calm and utterly calumnious at the same time.

It also drives me crazy, work is hard enough to get accomplished with one language barrier, simply going to the water pump your going to have to get some one to translate to or for you. Meetings that I hold with the men and womens' groups have to be translated at least 3 times. We run on African- slowness but also the slow speed of 4 language translations. And simple things become more difficult- even though I know the words for all the things in the bitik, the bitik owner is fula and doesn't understand a great many things in mandinka, so I still end up pointing to certain items. Although this does give me a certain degree of comfort when I travel because you will run into many language barriers when you travel.

Its not just the language that causes barriers, its the culture of the tribes. For example, the wolofs have a certain way of doing things that the fula's don't do. So to get a job accomplished you have to find a meeting point not only in language understanding but in cultural understanding, the role of mentor and mediator constantly comes into play. Another aspect to the tribal difference is a great benefit to my experience here. All the naming ceremonies and marriages have different cultural elements, a wolof naming ceremony and a fula naming ceremony have many differences. Serehule weddings and wolof weddings don't even compare. Its a very cultural diverse atmosphere and I just try and stay open so that I can soak it all in, and hope that the memories bond themselves to my being so that when I leave this home for my next one, the things these people have taught me will be part of who I am.

Its like a tiny united nations making sure that all the tribes are happy and understand whats going on and agree to it, also knowing the strengths and weaknesses of a certain tribes thinking and action helps the work go easier- for example the wolofs out of all the people in tenengfara are the most open to change and have this attitude of 'lets try this and see what happens.' When I have seeds to plant that are foreign to them, they come to my door asking for them, or they tell me that they have fed moringa to their kids 4 times this week after I suggested it was one of the most nutritious items available for their diets. Of course, all this conversation has to come through translation and as they get accustomed to my western strange white ways of doing things and of thinking, I slowly slip into my Gambian self, and sometime pause in moments to think of what my friends and family would say if they could see me now.

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, and not-yet, and not at all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists....it is real...it is possible... it's yours." - Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged