Archive for Experience

A Trip…African Style

{ August 26, 2008 @ 1:16 pm } · { Experience }
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Paul and I recently went “camping” with a family who’s father is important to the success and easy flowing functioning of Equinoxe. In this family there are three girls, a mom and dad and a few cousins who are young boys that do a lot of the extra work for the family. There are so many things in life that I have done or situations I have been in where I feel insecure, frustrated or awkward…but to date, this experience is at the top of the awkward list. I was in the Sahara, sand at my feet, a restricting milafa wrapped around my body causing me to trip whenever I walk, around me…easily 100 Arab men and women staring at me, whispering about me and wondering why I was there. Not one person spoke English, not one person understood what it was that I was saying when I said I didn’t want to eat anymore rice, or dance, or sing…they kept asking me in the little French I knew to entertain them, laugh and sing. It was fun for a while but after the third, fourth and fifth times…Lets just say I realized how a fish out of the water feels.

We drove out with a goat and a sheep strapped to the top of our car…about 150 kilometers into the lands of Mauritania we drove. As soon as we got there the car was unloaded, we were greated with tea and smiles. The goat was immediately taken to the side and it’s throat was slit and they begin to tear it a part to prepare it to eat! I was NOT in Kansas anymore J We ate and ate and laughed (because we couldn’t talk) and we laid around under this large open tent. It was an experience but once I felt comfortable it was relaxing and really fun! Then…the three daughters wanted me to go with them to a wedding…OH a wedding…I have been to weddings in Mauritania, but this was a new village, new people, and NO English…

Under a Large tent, lights and a video camera women in their best milafas danced, the men in their booboos throwing money on the women dancing. Music playing and yelling, women on one side, men on the other. Colors, smoke and whispers all around me, but I don’t understand anything. Overwhelmed with anxiety and still the feeling of joy…to be in a place, a situation that I had never been in before and may never be in again. I was standing with these people who were accepting me as their friend and letting me experience a part of their life. It was a beautiful moment.

As the trip went on I realized how safe I felt but in the midst of such a vulnerable situation…I was in a village with people I barely knew, they spoke a language I didn’t know and I was walking around, going places with them not even realizing where I was or who was around me. I LOVE this feeling of security but still adventure and unknowing.

A walk through

{ August 18, 2008 @ 3:21 pm } · { Experience }
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Politics are all the people of Mauritania are discussing today. After the coup people began to think about their country, their future, their families and their lives overall. They are having to face issues such as extreme poverty, malnutrition, racism, segregation, lack of a decent education, government corruption and pollution. Though this seems like just a list of issues to some of you, these are situations that I have seen, experienced and thought to myself…”How do these people survive all of this at once?”Sometimes in the morning I walk down the dirt road outside of my house, on what I consider a voyage to the comfort of the café. Though the mere 2 mile walk is nothing in the eyes of those who I pass who make a journey 5 times as long coming AND going, it is always full of experience and frustration to me. AS my feet drag in the sand and I try to keep my mouth closed so it doesn’t fill with Sahara love, I observe the different people I pass. As a brand new BMW drives by me, it passes a young boy and his brother riding on the back of a donkey cart…both trying to share the road. The “salesman” on my left stare at me as though I’m the new Hybrid car with a trash powered engine and I’m some sort of a phenomenon. Though I love taking my time, strolling and listening to Norah Jones on my I-pod, I am on my guard, keeping my eyes open and making sure the 2 to 4 lanes of traffic don’t swerve to hit me. 

The women on the street in dirty milafas holding their youngest children in their laps just stare at me as I pass them. I always battle with myself, should I smile at the or not? Since when did smiling become offensive? When I do smile they look at me as though they had never seen a smile before, they hesitate and then out of the corner of their mouth…a slight grin. As soon as it escapes their mouth they realize that they are uncomfortable and they retract.With sweat dripping down my head, back and legs I attempt to stay invisible with the whole world looking right at me. Taxi’s honking hoping to be the taxi I choose. Men passing me, looking at me as though I was their main dish at the outback steak house. Though danger is not even present I pick up my pace and walk more briskly to my destination with feelings of anxiety and confusion. Where am I?

 

 

 

A Coup in a Democracy

{ August 7, 2008 @ 1:36 pm } · { Experience }
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Yesterday I woke up to my friend Moe’s phone call asking me if I had heard the news. My windows were open, the sun was shining, the breeze blowing threw the curtains and I still had sleep in my eyes. What news?…The president was put in jail, there was a Coup. OF COURSE there was (I thought), while I was dreaming of rain, green trees and Dutch Brothers, the government was overthrown. Isn’t that dangerous (I asked)? But Moe says…nothing to worry about. So I began to ask questions like everyone else and their mother. I find the following details from decently reliable sources…
1. No one liked the president. Basically he was making big mistakes with the public and with those who once supported him. He didn’t communicate, he didn’t follow the system democracy lays out, and he became sneaky/corrupt.

2. The Prime Minister and the President were double crossing those who originally supported them (Military leaders etc…). These were the men who lead the coup….interesting. Lesson: don’t piss off military leaders!!!

3. The people in charge of the military were trying to get the president out using democratic means, but the president was trying to sabotage what he could of the government before he was kicked out…so they had to act fast. Thus the urgency and unexpectedness of the coup.

4. The president’s wife stole a lot of money from the government and was very power hungry. She too will soon be in jail.

 

What I have learned is that there are different levels of freedom. This country is supposed to be one of democracy and freedom…there is supposed to not be slavery, racism or segregation. Though there are rules that are followed and ideas of how things SHOULD function in Mauritania, the country functions on the unsaid, the not spoken and the “this is just what we do” principals. For example…When I am driving around with a “white Moore” particularly a man, and we get stopped by the police (because the police stop people at random) they ask for money. Not id, not a license, not car papers, but for money. The interesting part was that this particular Arab man had NO paper, LICENSE or anything. He banks on the fact that they don’t care about anything but money.

The Mauritanian government has been trying for years to create a democratic government. This is next to impossible with people in power who still think in traditional suppressive ways. The saddest part is that the PEOPLE just go with it. They have to. They have no room for reason or free thinking when they are told, this is how things are going to be…and since we (the government) control the money in this country and your freedom you have to deal with it. It is a hypocritical, suppressive government that is going to fail if they don’t get those who are completely ignorant and power hungry out of their position of control and power!

I am not one to be very politically minded, but I do know that when a country says that there is NO slavery, NO racism and they preach democracy, shouldn’t the people be free, not segregated against and have a say in what goes on in their country??

(I would have taken pictures…but if a police officer sees a camera, he will take it. you can’t take pictures of them…freedom?? :-)

New Life…

{ August 4, 2008 @ 2:36 pm } · { Experience }
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Today I went to see a brand new baby. 3 days old. Laying in a wool blanket, his skin peeling, flies all around him. The tent that the family lived in was nicer than they had ever lived in before, but it was covered in dirt, flies…the had next to nothing and their clothes were all kept in suit cases. Life for the most part for them was good…but I couldnt help but think, how can peple be ok living in these conditions? Cultures are SO different. Even cultures that live in the same city. I have experienced the weathy side of Mauritania, but not often the poor. The difference, is that those who have little, seem to have everything. They are truely happy and satisfied with the little they have. It is a beautiful thing!!

A Good Night in NCK

{ July 18, 2008 @ 1:06 am } · { Experience }
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I had an amazing night getting to know 4 amazing women/girls who spoke only Hasenia…but who were SO much fun. I played Barbie and they LOVED it!! I ate camel, a plate of chicken and fries, Mango, Creps and drank Mauritanian Tea. Life is good!!