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Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2008
From: Michael Redman
Subject: GK COS Trip Update - 19 APR '08

Hey all, once again.

I'm composing this email in the Accra airport, quite literally at the very, very tail end of three years of my mental and physical experience over here in Africa. Of course there's no wireless internet here (and if there were and it cost money, I'd be too cheap to spring for it anyway), so I'll have to send it from London.

My time in Ghana has been pretty enjoyable. I've taken in quite a few of the sites the last two times I was here, so I didn't do too much sight-seeing. I wanted to see Wli waterfall and do the Kakum National Park Canopy walk, so last FRI I did the former, and WED I did the latter. The rest of the time, for the most part, I spent hanging out with my favorite Africans: Songhai / Zarmas!

During my first'ish year in Safatane, I ran across this guy, Tcham, in the Gothèye market. He was in town to get married, and he was actually pretty cool, but headed back to Accra after the wedding, so we only got to hang out the one time. Then fate smiled again when I was walking through Accra's sprawling, packed Makola market the first time I was in Ghana (my similarity in appearance to Jesus at the time apparently helped him pick me out). Last time we passed through, I "accidently" ran my group in the general direction of his shop, and we all hung out for a half hour and got some Maltas and shade out of the deal. So, he seems like a nice guy, and I figured I'd look him up this time.

I did, and I ended up spending about three days in "his" shop in the Makola market, hanging out with him and the other Zarmas who all live and work together.

One of the more fun things this leg of the trip has been seeing the flipside of the exode phenomenon: how the exoders actually live. (For the uninitiated, exode is French for "exodus"--it's the phenomenon whereby many young Nigerien men leave their towns--often for coastal countries--to work during the non-rainy seasons). It was an eye-opening sight, and the networking is so intricate and tight. Everybody is someone's "beero" or "kayna" (older or younger sibling or cousin).

I actually got the impression (and I've mentioned it to a few folks) that it was a lot like the cosa nostra--Zarmas looking out for themselves, creating opportunities for other members of the family, starting as apprentices and moving up, sharing meals and ceremonies, etc... Except with less killing, and with an El Haji at the top, rather than a Don.

I went in thinking it was going to be Tcham and his wife and child in a rundown, half-finished cement structure in a seedy part of town, and it was anything but. Personal DVD players, stereo systems--hell, a 32-inch flat panel TV. It's no wonder people prefer living on the coast, even though for many that I got to talk to, their heart yearns to be back home in the mother country.

It was occasionally irritating, to deal with the "Can you get me an American visa?" "Why aren't you married yet?" "You should be a Muslim." hassle that I've been dealing with, off-and-on, for the past three years—yet also a fitting capstone, as it brings me full circle. At the beginning of my service, I didn't know how to respond to such questions; now, I've got it down to a science. "Getting visas isn't my job (one), and two, if you have no incentive to come back to Africa, they won't give you one." "I'm not ready to marry: I've got no house, no job, and I'm still kinda young." "My mom and dad would not agree with me becoming Muslim." It was like a crash exam: can my Zarma handle the constant bombardment? And I came out OK.

So I can't say I had the traditional last day in Africa here as a result. I did get to see the sunrise on the ocean from the ramparts of a former coastal fort, then sat to wait for a bush taxi to fill up to head to Accra. In Accra, I got to have some afternoon doonu, then, as my last meal (and many Nigeriens' favorite meal): just straight-up slow-grilled sheep meat. Interspersed in there was a little rain, and Nigeriens buying me gifts(!). Then I packed up, and Tcham and a couple of the other guys I made friends with drove me to the airport in one of the El Haji's cars and dropped me off, so here we are, at the end of my African "bye-bye."

The finality of leaving Afriki hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm sure it'll come slowly, with time. I think it's gonna take me quite a while to get back in the American swing of things, so, yeah, hin ay se suuru (have patience with me).

- GK

PS: Expect another mini-mass travel email from Eastern Europe sometime over the next three weeks. And of course I'll be checking email in the interim.

[ed. note: the majority of the above was written at the Accra airport, before they called us for boarding. Now in London, re-arranging my stuff, so I can head east to Bratislava later this afternoon. Big props to Gaurav for letting me crash @ his place and leave half of my crap while I jaunt around for ~3 weeks before passing back thru.]

--
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