19th July 2009

Fulani

Yesterday I was visited by Adam, a Head teacher of a Fulani school in a place not too far from Akwanga called Warro Basso. He often calls to greet me and to encourage me to carry on with the school improvement work that previous volunteers had done with his school. I haven’t made it over to the school yet, but this has now been remedied. He came over to invite me to the opening of a new vet surgery in Wamba, a 20 minute car journey away. It primarily caters for the Fulani farmers. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but the Fulani people are nomadic and are scattered throughout West Africa. Rather than rearranging words into my own prose, I’ll lift a bit from my ‘Bradt guide’ here…

‘A number of African states, including ancient Ghana and Senegal, have had Fulani rulers. The Fulani also converted to Islam and were known to have arrived in Hausaland (now northern Nigeria) in the early 13^th century, though their origin is more of a mystery. Once a pastoral nomadic people, theories and legends abound: descendants of gypsies or Roman soldiers who became lost in the desert, a lost ‘tribe’ of Israel, or relatives of the Tusreg who inhabit the southern edge of the Sahara. More realistically, it’s believed the Fulani originated from Mauritanian shepherds who were looking new pastures. Whatever their origin, the Fulani, with their olive skin and straight hair, settled in the cities and mingled freely with the Hausa, and mostly adopted the latter’s customs and language’

When I arrived at the ceremony on this Sunday morning I was ushered to a comfortable lounge seat at the front of proceedings and enjoyed some piped music before the speeches began. The surgery is in partnership with an organisation supplying pills and potions, which were then distributed by a lively rep. I was also asked to say a few words, which I stumbled over trying to express my gratitude at being there and wishing them well.

I also visited Adam’s family, who were not far from the venue and live right next to the school. It was a fleeting visit, but I hope to return next week and discuss what I can do to help.

Food and Health

I have to say at this stage that I’m dong a lot better with my cooking. My favourites so far have been my bean burgers with sweet potato chips. I plan to do more, but it does mean that I’m looking a bit ‘plumpy’ (Eriye’s word for it) and I keep getting comments from colleagues that I’m looking fat! I should point out that this is not an insult; it’s actually desirable here to look plump, as it’s a sign of good living. I have been trying hard to get up and go for short runs in the mornings though and do my Pilates exercises that I can remember, so hopefully some of it is muscle too! Oh well…

Until next time…

As for the rest of today, I plan to go and cook some dinner at David and Eriye’s as my gas has run out. I’ll have to go and get that refilled tomorrow. It’s quite in the block at the moment – Sunday’s quite a quiet day generally and I have some Django Rheinhart playing while I type. Lately, my music of choice is David Bowie. Managed to acquire a huge collection of his albums from another volunteer. As for entertainment, am running a bit low on movies – bought a pirate copy of the new Star Trek but refused to watch it as it was filmed in the cinema and cuts the tops off the characters heads. I don’t have a problem with copied movies, but I do draw a line. I also enjoy receiving newspaper clippings from the UK and the odd newspaper, and very much enjoyed looking through a copy of OK magazine that Bec sent me. Hilarious! Am reading quite a bit these days as I’ve discovered that I can read in moving vehicles without feeling queasy, and am feeling (quasi)political so am reading a copy of Tony Benn’s Diaries 1991 – 2001 that I picked up in the VSO office this week!