Dearest friends,
I have returned to Accra safe and sound after traveling for the past 52 days. This will most likely be the final post on the blog, so I will do my best to tell you about Burkina as well as talk a little bit about the trip as a whole.
I believe I went through three phases during this trip. The first phase involved being a tourist as I visited mountains and waterfalls in Togo, the Route of Slaves in Ouidah, and the Safari I took in Natitingou. I then began the next phase as a student of the world, where I wanted to do everything off the tourist track; to learn about different ways of life, different cultures and histories, different regional languages. This was when I stayed with a couchsurfer in Niamey, a peace corp volunteer in Malbaza, took the long pinasse ride to Tombouctou on a cargo boat, and stayed in the desert with a Tuareg friend of mine. When I arrived in Burkina, I reached a third phase that at first was difficult to categorize.
It took me two days to reach the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouaga. I departed Tombouctou at 3am, even though the 4 by 4 driver told me 4am and rudely awoke me an hour early. Regardless, a rough trip through the desert commenced at 5am and we finally reached Bandiagara in the afternoon. In Bandiagara we waited for a while for a "bus", which was essentially the back of a cargo van with the seats taken out and wooden benches lining the sides. I opened the back door to find that the bus was completely full except for the space on the ground on top of the tire, so thats where I sat for the next couple hours struggling to find a place to put my feet among the bags on the ground. It was nonetheless a funny image, a white person sitting in the midst of 20 or more Africans sitting on benches. I heard the click of a cameraphone from the women in front of me, so which I responded "Photo, cadeau cadeau" as all the little African children do. This much amused the rest of the bus. Nonetheless, I spent the night sleeping on the ground in Koro waiting for the bus the next day and finally arrived in Ouaga late the next day after about 2 days of travel.
Having finally reached Ouaga, I was tired. I had been traveling for quite some time to reach it. I wasnt really in the mood to go to the touristy areas of Bobo and Banfora which offered touristy things very similar to Kpalime, Togo and neither did I feel like staying in a small village in line with my second phase. Instead I spent the days in Ouaga, relaxing. I went to see movies at the French Cultural Center, meet up with Peace Corp volunteers to celebrate 4th of July, took myself out to a really nice dinner with steak marinated in bourbon. The third phase of my trip was very much like summer vacation. I had gone from tourist to student of the world and now just wanted to stay in one city and live the life as if I was on vacation. So to be honest, I dont have that much to tell you about life in Burkina or culture and history or really crazy experiences.
Nonetheless, my last night in town I went with a friend of mine to listen to his African drum band play. We arrived in this compound with a house and covered area with chairs. We sat and listened as 6 people enthusiastically played the drums. As they played, neighborhood children came and danced in front of the drummers. The older children banged their tomato cans that they use to collect cadeaus and the younger kids danced. Unfortunately, the conversation afterwards was interrupted by a large storm which came. The two french people that were there watching with me got out in time, but I didnt get to leave before the winds came so I was stuck in this tiny room with 8 other people to wait out the storm. As we came out after the storm, we were sad to discover that the covered area had all blown down and was now a mix of straw and wood on the ground. Such is the African rainy season!
Coming back into Ghana, I was amazed to be riding on the STC bus with air conditioning and a TV. It had been a long time since I had such amenities on a bus. Arriving in the country, I started seeing little things that to me are only in Ghana. Here are a couple:
1. 4 seats, 4 people: In Ghana you can take a tro tro in which four seats will actually be for four people. In every other country I went they would stuff as many people as possible into the small space. A taxi cab for 4 people in Ghana would fit 10 in Niger, the bed of a pick up truck sits 18 on wooden benches.
2. Wokaw hen: In Ghana its common for people to ask where you are going out of curiousity or to help you. In no other country did people ask me where I was going, the first comment was usually cadeau or do you need X.
After being here for so long I started to miss things that I didnt expect to miss. I have really missed understanding side conversations. Its frequent that I will be on a taxi or bus and everyone starts laughing or yelling about something I dont understand why or something strange happens and everyone starts talking about what happens but I cant understand the explanation even if its in French. I also miss not being the center of attention, everywhere I go because I am white everybody watches me or is curious, if I do something out of the ordinary everyone nearby notices. It will be nice to go back to being just a member of the crowd again.
This whole trip has really been a learning experience. Although it hasnt necessarily helped me figure out what I will do with my life, I have picked up some important life skills like knowing who to trust, trusting my instincts about a person or a situation, knowing how to get myself out of difficult situations in a foreign language, getting around in a brand new city and country. I have made some really good, life-long friends around the world. I have picked up some words in Hausa, Bambara, Tamasheq, and Dogon. I have some understaning of the life of nomads, of villagers in Niger, of the religion of Voodoo, of the African concept of time.
This journey has been a landmark in my life and I thank all of you for following me on this journey. I will see you all soon and I cannot wait to tell you all of my stories.
Best always,
Ben
Friday, July 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Mali-Diverse and exciting
Dearest friends,
I have so much to say about Mali that I actually had to outline this entry before writing it so Id be able to fit the important points. Mali is a huge country with Mopti as the capital of its heavily touristed section.
My trip began with the first night in an unusual hotel. Searching around for the cheapest hotel in Mopti, a generally very expensive place for tourists, I was given the name Bar Mali which wasnt in the guide book. Going there I found an extremely dirty and dark hotel, but with pleasant people. I was guided to my room in which the hall had a half broken wooden door which I was told to close when I came buy. The door divided about 6 rooms from the rest of the hotel and was about 6 feet high. I didnt quite understand its purpose because the other block of rooms didnt have a similar door. Regardless, the room had a working fan and a lock so it was great. I returned to the hotel around 8 or 9 and found the rooms in the hallway without the wooden door had a chair outside of every room with the door open and a nicely dressed woman sitting at the door. Apparently at night, half the hotel doubles as brothel for thirteen women that pay for the rooms until 1am. Obviously, nights there were a little noisy but it was a funny experience.
The next piece of the voyage was to Dogon country. This heavily touristed site is described by the guide book as being one of the top 10 places to see before you die. Its the home of the very culturally interesting Dogon people. Nonetheless, I wasnt particularly impressed. The location is quite beautiful because its nestled into the side of about a 1000 foot high cliff. I spent four days walking from one village to the next learning about Dogon culture, and learning a little bit of the language but this activity is heavily touristed. I did not really enjoy this experience that much and dont have too much to report about it, but because every single tourist that goes to Mali goes to Dogon, I had to at least tell you my thoughts.
Onto more interesting things. After Dogon, I took a pinasse ride up to Tombouctou, or as we spell it Timbuktu. I dont think Ive ever had such a mix of emotions. The whole trip was beautiful; watching herds of birds fly across the river at sunset, women and children washing bowls and clothes in the river, and bathing children who all shouted Toobaboo and waved excitedly as we passed. I went with my Spanish friend Millan who I mes in Dogon. The trip was to take 3 nights 4 days and we were in this maybe 20 meter long boat with hundreds of boxes of tea, bags of millet, and about 20 other people. Nights we slept on the boxes and bags. Our movement was about one meter between where we slept and the front of the boat where we sat for the best view except when it was too hot. As we traveled the water would frequently be too shallow so the crew, a family, would get out and push the boat in a circle until we could continue again. The small motor that powered the boat went about 35-50km per day perhaps.
The difficult part of the experience was being patient. You have no idea what is patience until you are at the whim on nature on a slow moving boat for a 300km journey without much time to spare. Especially considering that when we asked the captain how far it was he would respond with a distance that didnt make sense and there were dozens of incomprehensible stops. After 3 days on the boat it started to get to me because we had no idea where we were and it could be 10 days before we arrived given the wind, shallow water, stops, and slow speed. Not only that there was no way out because the villages we stopped at had no cars to Tombouctou to take. So we were stuck for who knows how long. On day 4, when we thought we were a couple hours from the end we were transfered to another boat because our boat ended its journey in Tonka. With this new driver and crew with an unknown number of days left it was challenging to be patient. In addition I started to get sick of eating a large portion of rice three times a day and only moving about 2 meters a day. So in essence this was the biggest test of my patience Ive ever had.
Nonetheless, there were funny experiences and good experiences. One night on the new boat while we were sleeping we felt something crawl over us multiple times, it was quite large and I felt 8 legs. I assumed it was a camel spider which can be about one foot or two feet large, telling Millan this he started to panic while I went back to sleep. I started to think about why it was called Camel Spider perhaps because it kills camels? So then I thought it wasnt a good idea either. Moving to the bamboo roof or the boat at 3 am we couldnt sleep anymore. We scanned the boat with a flashligh and about 10 minutes found out it was just a rat. Only in Africa would I remark, Oh Thank God Its Just A Rat, and go back to sleep, but we did.
Finally we heard the beautiful word Kouriome, the port for Tombouctu, on day six at about 2pm. I had overall clocked 120 hours on this small boat and was so glad to finally arrive. We really felt like explorers the whole way. tombouctou has a history of explorers who traveled fearing their lives and never made it to the fabled city. So having traveled similar to explorers I have quite an appreciation for how remote a place this is and how difficult it is to reach.
Meeting up with a friend of a friend, I arranged to spend 4 days in the desert with a nomadic people called the Taureg. The next morning, Al Halifa, my good friend for the next four days arrived with his two camels and took me to his house. This travel was not touristy as I stayed with Al Halifa and worked during the day with him, ate the same food, pumped water, and didnt pay for the extra tourist stuff. Al Halifa lives in a temporary house made of sticks and mats which stands up quite well to the Sahara dust storms and rains. Each day was similar and went something like this: wake up aruond 530, take two cups of tea and elewa for breakfast, locate the camels, feed the animals, break for the heat of the day to eat lunch, around 3 feed the animals again and come back in time for dinner. Now feeding the animals is not how it sounds. Halifa has 14 goats that roam the desert near the village. The first day we walked through the desert to some spot and sat down. Halifa lets out a high pitched EO multiple times and a kilometer in the distance I hear the response of goats. As he keeps calling they come to him at which point he takes his axe and cuts down part of a small tree and pulls it onto the ground for the animals to eat.
Now whats interesting is that because the Taureg are nomadic, they dont keep track of their ages or have birthdays. So one afternoon I had the strange experience of explaining to Halifa his age and birthday. He hands me a voting card that is in French, which he cannot read and barely speaks. I see the phrase date du naissane 12/31/80 and spend the afternoon explaining in broken French that this was his premiere jour, first day and that he is 28 and on this day hell be 29. He doesnt know the phrase birthday in English or French or Tamasheq so this was quite a strange experience for me, but particularly interesting.
Tombouctou, although synonomous with the end of the earth is actually the sister city of Tempe, AZ!!! When I got there and people asked me where I was from, I said Arizona and they said, do you know Tempe. I said, yes I am from there, how do you know Tempe! Voila!
Well, its down to the last week or so in Burkina Faso so I will keep you posted.
Best,
Ben
I have so much to say about Mali that I actually had to outline this entry before writing it so Id be able to fit the important points. Mali is a huge country with Mopti as the capital of its heavily touristed section.
My trip began with the first night in an unusual hotel. Searching around for the cheapest hotel in Mopti, a generally very expensive place for tourists, I was given the name Bar Mali which wasnt in the guide book. Going there I found an extremely dirty and dark hotel, but with pleasant people. I was guided to my room in which the hall had a half broken wooden door which I was told to close when I came buy. The door divided about 6 rooms from the rest of the hotel and was about 6 feet high. I didnt quite understand its purpose because the other block of rooms didnt have a similar door. Regardless, the room had a working fan and a lock so it was great. I returned to the hotel around 8 or 9 and found the rooms in the hallway without the wooden door had a chair outside of every room with the door open and a nicely dressed woman sitting at the door. Apparently at night, half the hotel doubles as brothel for thirteen women that pay for the rooms until 1am. Obviously, nights there were a little noisy but it was a funny experience.
The next piece of the voyage was to Dogon country. This heavily touristed site is described by the guide book as being one of the top 10 places to see before you die. Its the home of the very culturally interesting Dogon people. Nonetheless, I wasnt particularly impressed. The location is quite beautiful because its nestled into the side of about a 1000 foot high cliff. I spent four days walking from one village to the next learning about Dogon culture, and learning a little bit of the language but this activity is heavily touristed. I did not really enjoy this experience that much and dont have too much to report about it, but because every single tourist that goes to Mali goes to Dogon, I had to at least tell you my thoughts.
Onto more interesting things. After Dogon, I took a pinasse ride up to Tombouctou, or as we spell it Timbuktu. I dont think Ive ever had such a mix of emotions. The whole trip was beautiful; watching herds of birds fly across the river at sunset, women and children washing bowls and clothes in the river, and bathing children who all shouted Toobaboo and waved excitedly as we passed. I went with my Spanish friend Millan who I mes in Dogon. The trip was to take 3 nights 4 days and we were in this maybe 20 meter long boat with hundreds of boxes of tea, bags of millet, and about 20 other people. Nights we slept on the boxes and bags. Our movement was about one meter between where we slept and the front of the boat where we sat for the best view except when it was too hot. As we traveled the water would frequently be too shallow so the crew, a family, would get out and push the boat in a circle until we could continue again. The small motor that powered the boat went about 35-50km per day perhaps.
The difficult part of the experience was being patient. You have no idea what is patience until you are at the whim on nature on a slow moving boat for a 300km journey without much time to spare. Especially considering that when we asked the captain how far it was he would respond with a distance that didnt make sense and there were dozens of incomprehensible stops. After 3 days on the boat it started to get to me because we had no idea where we were and it could be 10 days before we arrived given the wind, shallow water, stops, and slow speed. Not only that there was no way out because the villages we stopped at had no cars to Tombouctou to take. So we were stuck for who knows how long. On day 4, when we thought we were a couple hours from the end we were transfered to another boat because our boat ended its journey in Tonka. With this new driver and crew with an unknown number of days left it was challenging to be patient. In addition I started to get sick of eating a large portion of rice three times a day and only moving about 2 meters a day. So in essence this was the biggest test of my patience Ive ever had.
Nonetheless, there were funny experiences and good experiences. One night on the new boat while we were sleeping we felt something crawl over us multiple times, it was quite large and I felt 8 legs. I assumed it was a camel spider which can be about one foot or two feet large, telling Millan this he started to panic while I went back to sleep. I started to think about why it was called Camel Spider perhaps because it kills camels? So then I thought it wasnt a good idea either. Moving to the bamboo roof or the boat at 3 am we couldnt sleep anymore. We scanned the boat with a flashligh and about 10 minutes found out it was just a rat. Only in Africa would I remark, Oh Thank God Its Just A Rat, and go back to sleep, but we did.
Finally we heard the beautiful word Kouriome, the port for Tombouctu, on day six at about 2pm. I had overall clocked 120 hours on this small boat and was so glad to finally arrive. We really felt like explorers the whole way. tombouctou has a history of explorers who traveled fearing their lives and never made it to the fabled city. So having traveled similar to explorers I have quite an appreciation for how remote a place this is and how difficult it is to reach.
Meeting up with a friend of a friend, I arranged to spend 4 days in the desert with a nomadic people called the Taureg. The next morning, Al Halifa, my good friend for the next four days arrived with his two camels and took me to his house. This travel was not touristy as I stayed with Al Halifa and worked during the day with him, ate the same food, pumped water, and didnt pay for the extra tourist stuff. Al Halifa lives in a temporary house made of sticks and mats which stands up quite well to the Sahara dust storms and rains. Each day was similar and went something like this: wake up aruond 530, take two cups of tea and elewa for breakfast, locate the camels, feed the animals, break for the heat of the day to eat lunch, around 3 feed the animals again and come back in time for dinner. Now feeding the animals is not how it sounds. Halifa has 14 goats that roam the desert near the village. The first day we walked through the desert to some spot and sat down. Halifa lets out a high pitched EO multiple times and a kilometer in the distance I hear the response of goats. As he keeps calling they come to him at which point he takes his axe and cuts down part of a small tree and pulls it onto the ground for the animals to eat.
Now whats interesting is that because the Taureg are nomadic, they dont keep track of their ages or have birthdays. So one afternoon I had the strange experience of explaining to Halifa his age and birthday. He hands me a voting card that is in French, which he cannot read and barely speaks. I see the phrase date du naissane 12/31/80 and spend the afternoon explaining in broken French that this was his premiere jour, first day and that he is 28 and on this day hell be 29. He doesnt know the phrase birthday in English or French or Tamasheq so this was quite a strange experience for me, but particularly interesting.
Tombouctou, although synonomous with the end of the earth is actually the sister city of Tempe, AZ!!! When I got there and people asked me where I was from, I said Arizona and they said, do you know Tempe. I said, yes I am from there, how do you know Tempe! Voila!
Well, its down to the last week or so in Burkina Faso so I will keep you posted.
Best,
Ben
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Niger-A different kind of traveling
Dearest friends,
Ina Uni, Hausa for Good Afternoon.
Niger is not a typically touristed country. Its on the bottom of the Human Development Index and is one of the poorest countries in the world; its main tourist attraction, the incredible Air Mountains, is off limits due to civil war. Arriving in Niger it is pretty much assumed that I am Peace Corps because almost no other Americans travel into Niger, even my French friends have been frequently asked if they were Peace Corps. Nonetheless, the country has some of the nicest people in the world and a very rich country in terms of history and culture.
My trip began in the capital city of Niamey where I tried this website called Couch Surfing and got set up with terrific French Sanitation Consultant who was my host for the next couple days. I spent a day at the market in Boubon, an area famous for its weekly market. Arriving around 9, I was greeted by a huge dirt area filled with hundreds of animals ranging from goats to horses to cows to donkeys. I jumped out of the way of an incoming cart being pulled by a donkey that was being directed by a distracted boy. It was incredible, tradition Hausa men bartered with Tuareg men over animals. I sat under a tree watching the interactions in a language I did not yet understand but was impressed by the calmness amidst the chaotic market. After a little while I walked through the market of palm frond stalls supported by large sticks where market women sold everything from spices to cloth and men sold everything from CDs to meat. Unlike most markets this one lies along the Niger river so lines of pirogues were docked along the shore with dowens of people waiting in the hot sun or under umbrellas waiting for their pirogues to be loaded with the large sacks of rice and millet they purchased. Nonetheless, different from Benin and Togo every single kid that saw me asked for a cadeau. I dont think I had a conversation beyond Bonjour that the response wasnt cadeau, but nonetheless it was a fascinating little market.
A couple days later I headed to Konni to stay with a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Malbaza. I rested there for 5 days going everywhere with Sarah a new volunteer in the area that had been evacuated from Madagascar. I was close friends with the village chief and several other extremely charismatic people in the village. I watched American music videos with one person who had been in the US for three months, played soccer with Sarah and her girls soccer team, and picked up a fair amount of Hausa in five days.
I stood up with the village chief after he had just finished a ruling on Shariya, Islamic law, and went to pray. The chief, Hakami, had taught me how to pray and what to say so I walked up towards the prayer spot. Nearly 100 men lined the wall having taken off their shoes waiting to pray. Eventually a man dressed in traditional Hausa attire but all white began speaking in Arabic. The chief turned to me and would say the words one by one to me that I was to repeat. On occasion we would raise our hands and say something and after about 10 minutes it was finished.
I had a very charismatic friend named Na Galmi who was teaching me Hausa and inviting us over for tea everyday. One day he came back from the bush after work in a terrible fright saying that he was almost caught by an Aljini that tried to grab his arm. Sarah looked in her Huasa dictionary unsure of this word, and didnt find an adequate explanation. Apparently, this village as well as much of Niger believes that there are these genies which cause harm to people and live in piles of trash or in the bush. We spent a couple days learning about the whole practice. In Malbaza, people dump their trash in certain areas because they know it is the home to a genie and so Sara and I talked about the possibility of a trash clean up program by utilizing the fear of genies and their residence in these trash piles. It was interesting because it was a very culturally appropriate solution to this problem, and perhaps Sarah will continue with it for some results.
The days in the village of Malbaza were filled with greetings and conversations. In Hausa there are about 8 different greetings which you go through you meet someone that all have ritualized responses. Sometimes greetings are a couple seconds like "Sanu", "Yawaa" similar to Hello or longer like "Ina Gida" "Lahiya Lau" translates to How is your house and In good health. Days were spent building friendships over slow made cups of tea, eating local dishes, or learning local dance moves from the Master of Dance, an 80 year old agile woman. Niger although its not a hotspot for tourism really has some of the kindest and most friendly people on earth.
Sai Enjima-See you soon in Hausa,
Ben
Ina Uni, Hausa for Good Afternoon.
Niger is not a typically touristed country. Its on the bottom of the Human Development Index and is one of the poorest countries in the world; its main tourist attraction, the incredible Air Mountains, is off limits due to civil war. Arriving in Niger it is pretty much assumed that I am Peace Corps because almost no other Americans travel into Niger, even my French friends have been frequently asked if they were Peace Corps. Nonetheless, the country has some of the nicest people in the world and a very rich country in terms of history and culture.
My trip began in the capital city of Niamey where I tried this website called Couch Surfing and got set up with terrific French Sanitation Consultant who was my host for the next couple days. I spent a day at the market in Boubon, an area famous for its weekly market. Arriving around 9, I was greeted by a huge dirt area filled with hundreds of animals ranging from goats to horses to cows to donkeys. I jumped out of the way of an incoming cart being pulled by a donkey that was being directed by a distracted boy. It was incredible, tradition Hausa men bartered with Tuareg men over animals. I sat under a tree watching the interactions in a language I did not yet understand but was impressed by the calmness amidst the chaotic market. After a little while I walked through the market of palm frond stalls supported by large sticks where market women sold everything from spices to cloth and men sold everything from CDs to meat. Unlike most markets this one lies along the Niger river so lines of pirogues were docked along the shore with dowens of people waiting in the hot sun or under umbrellas waiting for their pirogues to be loaded with the large sacks of rice and millet they purchased. Nonetheless, different from Benin and Togo every single kid that saw me asked for a cadeau. I dont think I had a conversation beyond Bonjour that the response wasnt cadeau, but nonetheless it was a fascinating little market.
A couple days later I headed to Konni to stay with a Peace Corps volunteer in the village of Malbaza. I rested there for 5 days going everywhere with Sarah a new volunteer in the area that had been evacuated from Madagascar. I was close friends with the village chief and several other extremely charismatic people in the village. I watched American music videos with one person who had been in the US for three months, played soccer with Sarah and her girls soccer team, and picked up a fair amount of Hausa in five days.
I stood up with the village chief after he had just finished a ruling on Shariya, Islamic law, and went to pray. The chief, Hakami, had taught me how to pray and what to say so I walked up towards the prayer spot. Nearly 100 men lined the wall having taken off their shoes waiting to pray. Eventually a man dressed in traditional Hausa attire but all white began speaking in Arabic. The chief turned to me and would say the words one by one to me that I was to repeat. On occasion we would raise our hands and say something and after about 10 minutes it was finished.
I had a very charismatic friend named Na Galmi who was teaching me Hausa and inviting us over for tea everyday. One day he came back from the bush after work in a terrible fright saying that he was almost caught by an Aljini that tried to grab his arm. Sarah looked in her Huasa dictionary unsure of this word, and didnt find an adequate explanation. Apparently, this village as well as much of Niger believes that there are these genies which cause harm to people and live in piles of trash or in the bush. We spent a couple days learning about the whole practice. In Malbaza, people dump their trash in certain areas because they know it is the home to a genie and so Sara and I talked about the possibility of a trash clean up program by utilizing the fear of genies and their residence in these trash piles. It was interesting because it was a very culturally appropriate solution to this problem, and perhaps Sarah will continue with it for some results.
The days in the village of Malbaza were filled with greetings and conversations. In Hausa there are about 8 different greetings which you go through you meet someone that all have ritualized responses. Sometimes greetings are a couple seconds like "Sanu", "Yawaa" similar to Hello or longer like "Ina Gida" "Lahiya Lau" translates to How is your house and In good health. Days were spent building friendships over slow made cups of tea, eating local dishes, or learning local dance moves from the Master of Dance, an 80 year old agile woman. Niger although its not a hotspot for tourism really has some of the kindest and most friendly people on earth.
Sai Enjima-See you soon in Hausa,
Ben
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Benin, fascinating!
Dearest friends,
I have come to the end of my journey in Benin and it has been such an enlightening experience. Benin, much like Ghana has an educated population thqt loves to discuss politics as I have found out on at least three different bush taxi rides. Nonetheless, Benin is a unique place as a center of the slave trade, the Dahomey kings, and Voodoo.
My journey began with the small town of Ouidah. With its multitude to sights and monuments, unusually friendly people, and cobblestone streets it reminded me of historic Philadelphia. About 30 minutes after arriving we had walked nearly a kilometer with our backpacks so mine decided it was time to break. As I sat dejected next to my broken, I got a mango for consolation. Covered in the juice and hqving tied my pack back together, I was refreshed but was so happy to be greeted by a local woman who brought me water to wash off the mango juice. Ouidah is well known for the Route Des Esclaves, the 4km wlk that slaves took to the beach which is now decorated with voodoo symbols and other monuments. On the route to the ocean the slaves walked around The Tree of Forget, sorry I cant recall the exact name, but they walked around it three times to forget their homeland. Peppered with local parks I spent a lot of time sitting and hanging out. Apparently kids all the way across the world play very similar to how I did at a kid, it was nice to observe.
Abomey was the next stop, and will definitely be one of my favorite cities. Entering the village the first night I was surprised to see a procession of masked men beating drums with children following behind but not too close. Apparently this was part of a voodoo ceremony where the dead are returning back to the grave and if the children are touched by one of the masked men, they too will die. I had a unique opportunity to see the second part of the ceremony as well which consisted of a dancing free for all. Groups of some 5 people took turns dancing in front of a band. One of the things unique about the Voodoo religion is that it doesnt reject midgets or twins, but rather worships them. During the ceremony there were two female midgets who would dance as well as the swerving of their hips and subsequent falls would greatly amuse the crowd. They would pick out boys from the onlooking crowd and bring them to the center to dance on them so all the boys ran when they started dancing, but two unlucky ones got caught and were the centerpiece of the crowds enjoyment for some 15 minutes as they couldnt move while being danced on. Voodoo is a very complex religion very denigrated by Hollywood to the idea of Voodoo dolls. In actuality, Voodoo is composed of a supreme God and many lesser gods and the hr,ful voodoo dolls are actually pqrt of fetish which broke off from voodoo years ago. Voodoo and fetish are opposites. For instance if you wanted to cause harm to a person you would go to a fetish priest who would give you a prescription like the tail of a robin, skin of a hippo, head of viper, skull of crocodile and youd go to the fetish market and buy it. The priest would then take the ingredients grind them or burn them and put them inside a doll with a picture of the person. Now if you wanted to protect yourself fro, the harm the priest would cause by jabbing a needle into the doll, you carry a VOODOO doll. Voodoo is actually the counterbalance, in this case it protects you from fetish. Different than what I thought!
The next stop was Natitingou in Nothern Benin. The bus ride up nonetheless took quite a bit longer than expected because my bus didnt work so well. We would be crawling along the road passed by semi trucks competing with the goats walking along side the bus. Multiple times the bus broke down and wed get out and wait in the shade while they fixed it. At one point the bus started working as it was on top of the hill and so many of the passengers myself included ran alongside the bus to jump inside, much like Little Miss Sunshine style. Eventually the bus broke down entirely and we completed the last 200km in bush taxi which was also interesting because my driver decided he wanted to fit seven people rather than the typical six by adding a person next to him in the drivers seat.
After a 12 hour trip I finally arrived in Nati, as its called by the locals. I arranged to take a day long SAFARI in the nearby park of Pendjari. I met up with my driver at 5am and spent the day spotting baboons, antelopes, warthogs, some other species I couldnt identify. After a couple hours I was getting tired of it and frustrated because I hadnt seen any lions or elephants and I had paid enough to pet one. As we were driving along my driver turns to me and whispers, Les Elephants! Sure enough, there was a group of nine elephants trolling through the Savannah within 10 meter of the car. We just sat for a while and watched the fascinating creatures that on a one day Safari are only a slim chance to see. By then, the trip was worth it.
Theres a community of people in Northern Benin called the Somba that had resisted both the slave traders and Dahomey kings. Theyre houses are fascinating and are mainly composed of mud and rock but built in two or three levels. I stayed for a night with a Somba family and their house had two floors. The first was for cattle and chickens as well as defense mechanisms then there was a Y ladder made out of a tree branch with slivers cut out for foot holds that reached to the second level. On the second level was a small hut that you sleep in that you get into by lying on the ground and scuttling backwards until you can touch your feet to the ground by bending your waist. The whole to get in is just large enough for your shoulders. On the roof as well is large grain stores made of mud that look like teardrops with removable palm fronds as the cover. I spent the afternoon hoeing in the field with the children who do that every day after school. The kids were also a huge fan of the Uno game I brought with me which broke the ice immediately. I am sure that in just one day I played uno for 7 hours with 15 different kids!
The ride from Nati to Parakou, where I am now was a very typical Africa experience. Obviously, the car is packed with four people in the back and two people in the front seat. About two hours into the ride the car runs out of gas so our driver quickly driver to a nearby town and fills up while we wait under a tree along the road. Then were off again our trunk completely overloaded and tied closed and packed with passengers. We stop at the next village and two people in the car buy large white blobs of cheese but the sachets theyre in are not keeping out the water. So of course, the driver puts five large blobs of cheese on the hood of the car by the windsheild wipers and were off. Even though I wasnt a cheese owner I kept an eye on them to make sure they didnt fall off. Everything seemed to be in the clear until the only problem that could disturb the cheese game, the windsheild wipers started and didnt stop. I reached out my arm and grabbed a wiper to stop if from hitting two of the cheeses but it was still wiggling in my hand. We pulled over and unscrewed the wipers and were on our way. The cheese was safe and we arrived with little other trouble. C'est La Vie En Afrique!!
So next stop is Niger for the next week and a half. I will really miss Benin. Here I learned about the fascinating culture of the Tota Samba and the religion of Voodoo. I have decided that I am not really a tourist at this point. I am not staying in fancy hotels and avoiding locals, rather I am looking for culture and history. Therefore I see myself now as a Student of the World. Traveling to learn about different cultures, different ways of life, and the history of countries most Americans have never heard of.
Until next time,
Ben
I have come to the end of my journey in Benin and it has been such an enlightening experience. Benin, much like Ghana has an educated population thqt loves to discuss politics as I have found out on at least three different bush taxi rides. Nonetheless, Benin is a unique place as a center of the slave trade, the Dahomey kings, and Voodoo.
My journey began with the small town of Ouidah. With its multitude to sights and monuments, unusually friendly people, and cobblestone streets it reminded me of historic Philadelphia. About 30 minutes after arriving we had walked nearly a kilometer with our backpacks so mine decided it was time to break. As I sat dejected next to my broken, I got a mango for consolation. Covered in the juice and hqving tied my pack back together, I was refreshed but was so happy to be greeted by a local woman who brought me water to wash off the mango juice. Ouidah is well known for the Route Des Esclaves, the 4km wlk that slaves took to the beach which is now decorated with voodoo symbols and other monuments. On the route to the ocean the slaves walked around The Tree of Forget, sorry I cant recall the exact name, but they walked around it three times to forget their homeland. Peppered with local parks I spent a lot of time sitting and hanging out. Apparently kids all the way across the world play very similar to how I did at a kid, it was nice to observe.
Abomey was the next stop, and will definitely be one of my favorite cities. Entering the village the first night I was surprised to see a procession of masked men beating drums with children following behind but not too close. Apparently this was part of a voodoo ceremony where the dead are returning back to the grave and if the children are touched by one of the masked men, they too will die. I had a unique opportunity to see the second part of the ceremony as well which consisted of a dancing free for all. Groups of some 5 people took turns dancing in front of a band. One of the things unique about the Voodoo religion is that it doesnt reject midgets or twins, but rather worships them. During the ceremony there were two female midgets who would dance as well as the swerving of their hips and subsequent falls would greatly amuse the crowd. They would pick out boys from the onlooking crowd and bring them to the center to dance on them so all the boys ran when they started dancing, but two unlucky ones got caught and were the centerpiece of the crowds enjoyment for some 15 minutes as they couldnt move while being danced on. Voodoo is a very complex religion very denigrated by Hollywood to the idea of Voodoo dolls. In actuality, Voodoo is composed of a supreme God and many lesser gods and the hr,ful voodoo dolls are actually pqrt of fetish which broke off from voodoo years ago. Voodoo and fetish are opposites. For instance if you wanted to cause harm to a person you would go to a fetish priest who would give you a prescription like the tail of a robin, skin of a hippo, head of viper, skull of crocodile and youd go to the fetish market and buy it. The priest would then take the ingredients grind them or burn them and put them inside a doll with a picture of the person. Now if you wanted to protect yourself fro, the harm the priest would cause by jabbing a needle into the doll, you carry a VOODOO doll. Voodoo is actually the counterbalance, in this case it protects you from fetish. Different than what I thought!
The next stop was Natitingou in Nothern Benin. The bus ride up nonetheless took quite a bit longer than expected because my bus didnt work so well. We would be crawling along the road passed by semi trucks competing with the goats walking along side the bus. Multiple times the bus broke down and wed get out and wait in the shade while they fixed it. At one point the bus started working as it was on top of the hill and so many of the passengers myself included ran alongside the bus to jump inside, much like Little Miss Sunshine style. Eventually the bus broke down entirely and we completed the last 200km in bush taxi which was also interesting because my driver decided he wanted to fit seven people rather than the typical six by adding a person next to him in the drivers seat.
After a 12 hour trip I finally arrived in Nati, as its called by the locals. I arranged to take a day long SAFARI in the nearby park of Pendjari. I met up with my driver at 5am and spent the day spotting baboons, antelopes, warthogs, some other species I couldnt identify. After a couple hours I was getting tired of it and frustrated because I hadnt seen any lions or elephants and I had paid enough to pet one. As we were driving along my driver turns to me and whispers, Les Elephants! Sure enough, there was a group of nine elephants trolling through the Savannah within 10 meter of the car. We just sat for a while and watched the fascinating creatures that on a one day Safari are only a slim chance to see. By then, the trip was worth it.
Theres a community of people in Northern Benin called the Somba that had resisted both the slave traders and Dahomey kings. Theyre houses are fascinating and are mainly composed of mud and rock but built in two or three levels. I stayed for a night with a Somba family and their house had two floors. The first was for cattle and chickens as well as defense mechanisms then there was a Y ladder made out of a tree branch with slivers cut out for foot holds that reached to the second level. On the second level was a small hut that you sleep in that you get into by lying on the ground and scuttling backwards until you can touch your feet to the ground by bending your waist. The whole to get in is just large enough for your shoulders. On the roof as well is large grain stores made of mud that look like teardrops with removable palm fronds as the cover. I spent the afternoon hoeing in the field with the children who do that every day after school. The kids were also a huge fan of the Uno game I brought with me which broke the ice immediately. I am sure that in just one day I played uno for 7 hours with 15 different kids!
The ride from Nati to Parakou, where I am now was a very typical Africa experience. Obviously, the car is packed with four people in the back and two people in the front seat. About two hours into the ride the car runs out of gas so our driver quickly driver to a nearby town and fills up while we wait under a tree along the road. Then were off again our trunk completely overloaded and tied closed and packed with passengers. We stop at the next village and two people in the car buy large white blobs of cheese but the sachets theyre in are not keeping out the water. So of course, the driver puts five large blobs of cheese on the hood of the car by the windsheild wipers and were off. Even though I wasnt a cheese owner I kept an eye on them to make sure they didnt fall off. Everything seemed to be in the clear until the only problem that could disturb the cheese game, the windsheild wipers started and didnt stop. I reached out my arm and grabbed a wiper to stop if from hitting two of the cheeses but it was still wiggling in my hand. We pulled over and unscrewed the wipers and were on our way. The cheese was safe and we arrived with little other trouble. C'est La Vie En Afrique!!
So next stop is Niger for the next week and a half. I will really miss Benin. Here I learned about the fascinating culture of the Tota Samba and the religion of Voodoo. I have decided that I am not really a tourist at this point. I am not staying in fancy hotels and avoiding locals, rather I am looking for culture and history. Therefore I see myself now as a Student of the World. Traveling to learn about different cultures, different ways of life, and the history of countries most Americans have never heard of.
Until next time,
Ben
Friday, May 22, 2009
Togo, the journey begins
Bonjour Mes Amis,
I am sitting in a internet place in Togo, struggling to grasp the French keyboard which has all the letters in different places, so this entry will be shorter than it would be if I had an English keyboard, lol.
First I spent three days in Kpalime, Togo. Kpalime is a naturally beautiful village with dozons of NGOs and therefore a multitude of Yovos, or white people in the local language of Ewe. Within 5 minutes of arriving at my hotel I met two European girls who I met up with later that night to play Uno, a game apparently played outside of the US as well. I met a nice guide named Yanique who only spoke French. At first it was quite difficult to communicate, but I am getting the hang of speaking in French, so it got better over the next couple days. On Tuesday I hiked Mt. Agou, the tallest Mountain in Togo.
We started by taking taxi motos from Kpalime and up the Mountain, when I realized that we seemed to be going all the way to the peak on a moto, I somehow communicated to my driver to stop and my interest in hiking to the top with Yanique. I thought Yunique said "Doux kilometres" to the top, but it was actually douze, meaning 12. So it was a long walk! Halfway I got really tired because it was all up hill, but I was somehow able to reconcentrate my energy by singing in my head so I was not tired. It was really strange because I don't much believe in the power of focusing energy, but I guess now I do because somehow I hiked other 4 kilometres before taking a break. We reached a village about 2 km from the top that was nestled into the side of the Mountain and had a gorgeous view of most of Southern Togo. After a stair master like trek through the village, I was forced to take a break. Nonetheless, the view from the top was magnificent minus the 1000 CFA I had to pay the gaurd to be allowed entry. On the way back I sang simple songs in French with Yanique like the French version of she's comin' round the mountain.
That afternoon, after a short break we headed to Kpime falls, which was very picturesque. Nonetheless, as we stood by the Falls, the thunder first and then a hard rain came. We gunned it out of the Mountainous area around the falls and took shelter with some nice old men in the Hydroeletric Center. The next day I went to Kloutu, a local village in the Mountains well known for butterfly walks. I arrived at Auberge Du Papillons and shortly afterwards hiked through the forest towards a small waterfall with two Danish girls and our guide. On the way I caught three butterflies myself with the guide's net, which for me was quite exciting.
Yesterday I took a bush taxi to Lome. There are multiple types of bush taxis, the one I took at that point was like a minivan with several extra seats on cushions in the spare space. The one I took today was a regular taxi where they pack 2 people into the front seat and 4 into the back. Now, we complain about the b**** seat in the US, but that's nothing like siting on the gear shift in the front seat. Not knowing what to expect I sat in the front, and was blessed with the most "comfortable" seat on top of the gear shift.
Anyway, so coming to Lome was interesting... At first we were driving around with this one man in a green shirt. We stopped at places all over town picking up passengers. Then we stopped at the gas station and the driver got down, and two men ran into the car and one got in the front, started the car and gunned it off. He was shouting something in Ewe, said something about "No Go Pay" and the other passengers were laughing. Several minutes later he got a call from someone, who I assume was the original driver to which he shouted a string of words in Ewe and hung up. I think the car might have been stolen by a friend of the driver but I have no idea. My friend Kevin who was traveling with me turns to me and says, "As long as we get to Lome I don't really care".
We arrived in Lome fine and so I spent the day exploring the town. I visited the Grand Marche, the beach and then headed to the national museum. The museum was closed because of V day but there was a long line in front of the nearby building so I went to investigate. Apparently, there was a concert going on and from my basic level of French I gathered it was religious. So in response to will you buy a ticket, I told her "why not" and got in line.
I don't think I've ever felt so out of place. There I was surrounded by nicely dressed people in colorful African attire as if going to church. I was the only white person in a line of 1,000 people and I was wearing a dirty white t shirt, shorts, and flip flops with sand still obviously on my legs from the beach. On top of it, I was waiting to enter a Protestant Concert while wearing my Chabad shirt with states clearly on the back "Center for Jewish Life on campus". After a long two hours of waiting in line, I went in and took a seat. At that point it didn't really matter any more because I wasn't the center of attention anymore but was still the only white person in the theater of some 4,000 people. There was a small stage in the front where after about 15 minutes an announcer came up and introduced the group. Subsequently groups of 1 to 3 persons would come on stage and sing a religious song of some sort. People were in the aisles dancing, shaking their hands, eyes closed in prayer-it was quite an interesting but fun experience. I, of course, was dancing as well, much to the amusement of my non-Yovo neighbors. Definitely an interesting experience to say the least.
Today I went to Togoville and the market in Vogan, but nothing particularly interesting to report there besides a nice church and the beginnings of fetish markets, a phenomenon I'll surely explain after visiting Benin.
Next stop Benin starting tommorow in Ouida.
Au Revoir,
Ben
I am sitting in a internet place in Togo, struggling to grasp the French keyboard which has all the letters in different places, so this entry will be shorter than it would be if I had an English keyboard, lol.
First I spent three days in Kpalime, Togo. Kpalime is a naturally beautiful village with dozons of NGOs and therefore a multitude of Yovos, or white people in the local language of Ewe. Within 5 minutes of arriving at my hotel I met two European girls who I met up with later that night to play Uno, a game apparently played outside of the US as well. I met a nice guide named Yanique who only spoke French. At first it was quite difficult to communicate, but I am getting the hang of speaking in French, so it got better over the next couple days. On Tuesday I hiked Mt. Agou, the tallest Mountain in Togo.
We started by taking taxi motos from Kpalime and up the Mountain, when I realized that we seemed to be going all the way to the peak on a moto, I somehow communicated to my driver to stop and my interest in hiking to the top with Yanique. I thought Yunique said "Doux kilometres" to the top, but it was actually douze, meaning 12. So it was a long walk! Halfway I got really tired because it was all up hill, but I was somehow able to reconcentrate my energy by singing in my head so I was not tired. It was really strange because I don't much believe in the power of focusing energy, but I guess now I do because somehow I hiked other 4 kilometres before taking a break. We reached a village about 2 km from the top that was nestled into the side of the Mountain and had a gorgeous view of most of Southern Togo. After a stair master like trek through the village, I was forced to take a break. Nonetheless, the view from the top was magnificent minus the 1000 CFA I had to pay the gaurd to be allowed entry. On the way back I sang simple songs in French with Yanique like the French version of she's comin' round the mountain.
That afternoon, after a short break we headed to Kpime falls, which was very picturesque. Nonetheless, as we stood by the Falls, the thunder first and then a hard rain came. We gunned it out of the Mountainous area around the falls and took shelter with some nice old men in the Hydroeletric Center. The next day I went to Kloutu, a local village in the Mountains well known for butterfly walks. I arrived at Auberge Du Papillons and shortly afterwards hiked through the forest towards a small waterfall with two Danish girls and our guide. On the way I caught three butterflies myself with the guide's net, which for me was quite exciting.
Yesterday I took a bush taxi to Lome. There are multiple types of bush taxis, the one I took at that point was like a minivan with several extra seats on cushions in the spare space. The one I took today was a regular taxi where they pack 2 people into the front seat and 4 into the back. Now, we complain about the b**** seat in the US, but that's nothing like siting on the gear shift in the front seat. Not knowing what to expect I sat in the front, and was blessed with the most "comfortable" seat on top of the gear shift.
Anyway, so coming to Lome was interesting... At first we were driving around with this one man in a green shirt. We stopped at places all over town picking up passengers. Then we stopped at the gas station and the driver got down, and two men ran into the car and one got in the front, started the car and gunned it off. He was shouting something in Ewe, said something about "No Go Pay" and the other passengers were laughing. Several minutes later he got a call from someone, who I assume was the original driver to which he shouted a string of words in Ewe and hung up. I think the car might have been stolen by a friend of the driver but I have no idea. My friend Kevin who was traveling with me turns to me and says, "As long as we get to Lome I don't really care".
We arrived in Lome fine and so I spent the day exploring the town. I visited the Grand Marche, the beach and then headed to the national museum. The museum was closed because of V day but there was a long line in front of the nearby building so I went to investigate. Apparently, there was a concert going on and from my basic level of French I gathered it was religious. So in response to will you buy a ticket, I told her "why not" and got in line.
I don't think I've ever felt so out of place. There I was surrounded by nicely dressed people in colorful African attire as if going to church. I was the only white person in a line of 1,000 people and I was wearing a dirty white t shirt, shorts, and flip flops with sand still obviously on my legs from the beach. On top of it, I was waiting to enter a Protestant Concert while wearing my Chabad shirt with states clearly on the back "Center for Jewish Life on campus". After a long two hours of waiting in line, I went in and took a seat. At that point it didn't really matter any more because I wasn't the center of attention anymore but was still the only white person in the theater of some 4,000 people. There was a small stage in the front where after about 15 minutes an announcer came up and introduced the group. Subsequently groups of 1 to 3 persons would come on stage and sing a religious song of some sort. People were in the aisles dancing, shaking their hands, eyes closed in prayer-it was quite an interesting but fun experience. I, of course, was dancing as well, much to the amusement of my non-Yovo neighbors. Definitely an interesting experience to say the least.
Today I went to Togoville and the market in Vogan, but nothing particularly interesting to report there besides a nice church and the beginnings of fetish markets, a phenomenon I'll surely explain after visiting Benin.
Next stop Benin starting tommorow in Ouida.
Au Revoir,
Ben
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Travel Itinerary
Dearest friends,
I will be backpacking around West Africa for the next two months and returning to the US on July 13th. Here is the itinerary for me trip!
Sunday May 17th: Depart Accra for Ho, overnight in Ho
Monday May 18th: Depart Ho for Kpalime
May 18-21 Kpalime, Togo, 3 nights
• May 19-Hike Mt. Aguo (20km S.E.)
• May 20-Day trip to Kloutu to have butterfly tour
-Return to Grand Marche to shop
• May 21- Kpime Falls, no need for guide
• May 22-Travel to Lome
May 22-24 Lome, Togo, 3 nights
• May 22- Friday market at Vogon
• May 23- Musee National, bike around Lome
• May 24- Day trip to Agbodrafo for water sports and Togoville (center of Voodoo)
• May 25- Leave for Cotonou
May 25- 27 Cotonou, Benin, 3 nights
• May 25- Grand Marche, get situated
• May 26- Day trip to Ganvie for Lake Nokoue stilt village
• May 27- Day trip to Ouidah for Route Des Esclaves, Sacred Forest
• May 28- Depart for Abomey (3 hours)
May 28-29 Abomey, Benin, 2 nights
• May 28- Musee Hitorique d’Abomey, get situated
• May 29- Day trip for Dahomey Trail, Ask at Hotel La Lutta
• May 30- Depart for Natitingou
May 30 Natitingou, Benin, 1 night
• May 30- Day trip to Boukoumbe, capital Samba country, buy smoking pipe
• May 31- Depart for Kandi
May 31-June 1 Kandi, Benin, 2 nights
• June 1- Day trip to Parc De W
• June 2- Depart for Malanville (wait bus to Niamey) or Gaya, Niger for taxis
June 2-6 Niamey, Niger, 3 nights
• June 2- Arrive and check-in
• June 3- Day trip to Boubon for Wednesday Market
• June 4- Muse National du Niger, Grande Mosque, Priogue ride at sunset
• June 5- Day trip to Parc De W
• June 6- Depart for Zinder (9-12 hours)
June 6-8 Zinder, Niger, 3 nights
• June 6- Arrive and relax
• June 7- Birni Quarter, Palais Du Sultan tour, Zengou Quarter
• June 8- Grande Marche, Cooperative du Village Artisanal
• June 9- Return to Niamey
June 10 Niamey, Niger, 1 night
• June 10- arrive and rest
• June 11- Depart for Gao, Mali to Mopti
June 11 Mopti, Mali, 2 nights
• June 11- arrive and relax
• June 12,13- Prepare Niger boat ride
June 14-16 Niger Boat Ride, Mali
• June 14- Depart Mopti
• June 16- Arrive Timbuktu
June 16-19 Timbuktu, Mali, 4 nights, 3 in hotel
• June 16- arrive and relax
• June 17- Dyingerey Ber Mosque, Ethnological Museum, Grand Marche
• June 18-19- Overnight trip by camel into desert
• June 20- Depart for Mopti, full day, 12,500 CFA
June 20-21 Mopti, Mali, 2 nights
• June 20- arrive and relax
• June 21- Prepare Dogon Country Trek
June 22-25 Dogon Country, Mali
• June 22- Nombori
• June 23- Ireli
• June 24- Tireli
• June 25- Up to Sanga
June 25 Mopti, Mali, 1 night
• June 25- Arrive and relax
• June 26- Depart for Ouga
June 26-27 Ouaga, Burkina Faso, 2 nights
• June 26- Arrive and relax; check out night life
• June 27- Musee De la Musique, Centre Culturel Francais concert
• June 28- Depart Bobo
June 28-30 Bobo, Burkina Faso, 3 nights
• June 28-Arrive Bobo, Grand Marche, Grand Mosque, Kidibwe
• June 29- Hire moped for day,
• June 30- Day trip to Koro or Mare aux Poissons Sacres
• July 1- Travel to Banfora
June 30- July 3 Banfora, Burkina Faso, 3 nights
• July 1- Arrive Banfora, Tengrela Lake
• July 2- Day trip to Karfiguela & Domes
• July 3- Day trip to Sindou Peaks
• July 4- Depart for Hamale from Banfora (4 hours) or Bobo to Wa
July 4 Wa, Ghana, 1 night (expensive, avoid if possible)
• July 4- Arrive Wa, explore Sahelian architecture
• July 5- Depart for Larabanga
July 5 Larabanga, Ghana, 1 night
• July 5- Arrive Larabanga, tour of Mosque
• July 6- 7am Safari in Mole
• July 7- 4am bus to Tamale to Makongo, ferry to Yeji
July 8-10 Ferry Boat Ride to Akosombo, Ghana
• Depart Yeji Wednesday at 4pm, check time
• Arrive Akosombo, Friday July 10
July 10-13 Homestay, or leeway time
• Arrive and relax
July 13 Flight to United States!
July 14-18 New York City, 3 nights
I'll do my best to keep you all updated on my travels by the blog but I will probably have less internet access than I have in Ghana. Miss you all and I can't wait to share my experiences with you when I get back!
All the best,
Ben
I will be backpacking around West Africa for the next two months and returning to the US on July 13th. Here is the itinerary for me trip!
Sunday May 17th: Depart Accra for Ho, overnight in Ho
Monday May 18th: Depart Ho for Kpalime
May 18-21 Kpalime, Togo, 3 nights
• May 19-Hike Mt. Aguo (20km S.E.)
• May 20-Day trip to Kloutu to have butterfly tour
-Return to Grand Marche to shop
• May 21- Kpime Falls, no need for guide
• May 22-Travel to Lome
May 22-24 Lome, Togo, 3 nights
• May 22- Friday market at Vogon
• May 23- Musee National, bike around Lome
• May 24- Day trip to Agbodrafo for water sports and Togoville (center of Voodoo)
• May 25- Leave for Cotonou
May 25- 27 Cotonou, Benin, 3 nights
• May 25- Grand Marche, get situated
• May 26- Day trip to Ganvie for Lake Nokoue stilt village
• May 27- Day trip to Ouidah for Route Des Esclaves, Sacred Forest
• May 28- Depart for Abomey (3 hours)
May 28-29 Abomey, Benin, 2 nights
• May 28- Musee Hitorique d’Abomey, get situated
• May 29- Day trip for Dahomey Trail, Ask at Hotel La Lutta
• May 30- Depart for Natitingou
May 30 Natitingou, Benin, 1 night
• May 30- Day trip to Boukoumbe, capital Samba country, buy smoking pipe
• May 31- Depart for Kandi
May 31-June 1 Kandi, Benin, 2 nights
• June 1- Day trip to Parc De W
• June 2- Depart for Malanville (wait bus to Niamey) or Gaya, Niger for taxis
June 2-6 Niamey, Niger, 3 nights
• June 2- Arrive and check-in
• June 3- Day trip to Boubon for Wednesday Market
• June 4- Muse National du Niger, Grande Mosque, Priogue ride at sunset
• June 5- Day trip to Parc De W
• June 6- Depart for Zinder (9-12 hours)
June 6-8 Zinder, Niger, 3 nights
• June 6- Arrive and relax
• June 7- Birni Quarter, Palais Du Sultan tour, Zengou Quarter
• June 8- Grande Marche, Cooperative du Village Artisanal
• June 9- Return to Niamey
June 10 Niamey, Niger, 1 night
• June 10- arrive and rest
• June 11- Depart for Gao, Mali to Mopti
June 11 Mopti, Mali, 2 nights
• June 11- arrive and relax
• June 12,13- Prepare Niger boat ride
June 14-16 Niger Boat Ride, Mali
• June 14- Depart Mopti
• June 16- Arrive Timbuktu
June 16-19 Timbuktu, Mali, 4 nights, 3 in hotel
• June 16- arrive and relax
• June 17- Dyingerey Ber Mosque, Ethnological Museum, Grand Marche
• June 18-19- Overnight trip by camel into desert
• June 20- Depart for Mopti, full day, 12,500 CFA
June 20-21 Mopti, Mali, 2 nights
• June 20- arrive and relax
• June 21- Prepare Dogon Country Trek
June 22-25 Dogon Country, Mali
• June 22- Nombori
• June 23- Ireli
• June 24- Tireli
• June 25- Up to Sanga
June 25 Mopti, Mali, 1 night
• June 25- Arrive and relax
• June 26- Depart for Ouga
June 26-27 Ouaga, Burkina Faso, 2 nights
• June 26- Arrive and relax; check out night life
• June 27- Musee De la Musique, Centre Culturel Francais concert
• June 28- Depart Bobo
June 28-30 Bobo, Burkina Faso, 3 nights
• June 28-Arrive Bobo, Grand Marche, Grand Mosque, Kidibwe
• June 29- Hire moped for day,
• June 30- Day trip to Koro or Mare aux Poissons Sacres
• July 1- Travel to Banfora
June 30- July 3 Banfora, Burkina Faso, 3 nights
• July 1- Arrive Banfora, Tengrela Lake
• July 2- Day trip to Karfiguela & Domes
• July 3- Day trip to Sindou Peaks
• July 4- Depart for Hamale from Banfora (4 hours) or Bobo to Wa
July 4 Wa, Ghana, 1 night (expensive, avoid if possible)
• July 4- Arrive Wa, explore Sahelian architecture
• July 5- Depart for Larabanga
July 5 Larabanga, Ghana, 1 night
• July 5- Arrive Larabanga, tour of Mosque
• July 6- 7am Safari in Mole
• July 7- 4am bus to Tamale to Makongo, ferry to Yeji
July 8-10 Ferry Boat Ride to Akosombo, Ghana
• Depart Yeji Wednesday at 4pm, check time
• Arrive Akosombo, Friday July 10
July 10-13 Homestay, or leeway time
• Arrive and relax
July 13 Flight to United States!
July 14-18 New York City, 3 nights
I'll do my best to keep you all updated on my travels by the blog but I will probably have less internet access than I have in Ghana. Miss you all and I can't wait to share my experiences with you when I get back!
All the best,
Ben
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Lost Jewish Tribe in Ghana
Dearest friends,
This past weekend was a particularly interesting experience. For several months, I had heard obscure references to this Jewish community in Ghana. I was very surprised to hear about this given the outwardly Christian orientation of Ghana, and didn't know how a Jewish community could exist or thrive here. A friend of mine, Sagie and I ventured this weekend to a Jewish community in New Adiembra a community in the middle of no where, hours from the major city of Kumasi.
As we found out, this small community of New Adiembra had for centuries not worked on Saturday (Shabbat). Hundreds of years ago the chief would fine those who worked or exchanged money on Saturday. In 1977, a local pastor recieved a vision while staring at a wall that he should "Find the lost Jewish tribe in Ghana". He began preaching Jewish scripture to villages all over, and eventually found this town of New Adiembra that seemed to be living Jewish scripture but was predominately Christian. As he started sharing Jewish scripture, it became increasingly attractive to the members of this community who viewed it as making sense of their traditions and history. Now there is a synagogue, the only in Ghana, with about 50-90 members.
We arrived at the community at around 6:30 on Friday afternoon after traveling the entire day. We asked around for Joseph Armah, and immediately were taken to this large compound and walked right to a guest room. On the TV in the guest room was a Havdallah candle, candle sticks, a stuffed Torah, and a spices container. On the window was a small banner reading "Only One God". It was at that point that I knew we had reached a special community. Our host, Joseph had gone to a funeral that day and was ritually unclean and therefore didn't light the Shabbat candles. Nonetheless, we sat around after dinner and discussed the challenges of being Jewish in Ghana. Up until just 8 years ago, members of the synagogue were bothered by community members saying, "You don't believe in Jesus?". However, now the Jewish community is growing and doesn't face as much resistance from the surrounding community.
Saturday morning, we awoke and went to Shul. This was a phrase that I never imagined I'd say in Ghana. After riding on the bus to Kumasi and having a loud preacher lecture for about an hour, I never thought that I would find a Jewish community. We walked through the town to a small blue and white cement building. Inside we found 10 pews, 5 on each side with a table in the front with three chairs. Behind the table were three bookcases, the first with Torahs and Siddurim and the second and third with Jewish childrens and adult books. I found my Hebrew School learning hebrew book from 3rd grade! There were about 10 children and 2 adults present, the children were sitting reading the books to each other and the adults were chatting. We greeted the men sitting at the table in the front who said to us, "Shabbat Shalom". I noticed the room was divided with men on one side and women on the other separated by an aisle for walking, so we sat on the right side. I was amazed by the number of children present, it was about 80% children, directly contrasting with the elderly direction of my congregation at home.
The service began and the room filled up to it's capacity with about 50 people present. We read through most of the prayers in English starting with Ma Tovu all the way through the Torah service. The most powerful part was the only part that was in Hebrew and the only part that was sung: Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. At that point I was blown away by the entire experience. We had listened to English speaking and even prayers adopted into Twi songs, but this was the first words of Hebrew we heard. I couldn't believe that I was at a service of Jews in Ghana! As the leaders read the Torah, they read the verses of Parshat Emor in English, translated them into Twi and explained them as they went. Each verse was made applicable to the population and then the leaders turned to me and Sagie and asked, "Is America do the Cohens observe all this about not defiling themselves?" and other questions about the application of the readings in America. We answered to the best we could and the leader would translate for us. We explained the Mikvah as a source of purification and how the most religious, Orthodox Jews, may observe many of these customs but I as a Conservative Jew do not. In addition, we explained how the mourning process works after a death for Jews in America. As we learned, this community doesn't know whether they are Cohen, Levi, or Israelite. Nonetheless, they made an effort to apply the portion to their lives even though portion explains the laws for each of these groups. Throughout the service there were Twi songs, people got up and clapped, and the children were involved and participatory.
We were planning to leave on Saturday afternoon. When the leader asked us during the service how long we planned to stay he commented, "This community has not granted you permission to leave as we do not travel on Shabbat". It was quite surprising, but we adopted our schedules to stay for the rest of the day and leave the following morning. The rest of the day we spent touring around the village, reading Mishnah with the leader, and talking with the training Rabbi. Alex joined the congregation in 1990 as he saw in a dream that he should support the Jewish people. He used to be a pastor but began to study Judaism and is now training in Uganda to be a Rabbi. He told us that he spends about 90% of his time on the Jewish community through teaching members Hebrew, leading classes on Saturday afternoon, and being there to support community members. After his 4 year program to train as a Rabbi, Alex is going to work on researching the history of this community and continuing to build it.
One of the girls that had been guiding us around and who had been obsessed with Sagie's camera told us to stop and "Video". At which point we turned on the video and she started singing the Aleph-Bet song and other Jewish songs in Hebrew. It was quite funny, because this could have been a Hebrew school kid in the US but it wasn't it was a small Jewish community in the middle of Ghana surrounded by very Christian influences.
Overall it really got me thinking. For a while I've thought that I was Jewish by culture and by tradition, but didn't necessarily study the laws or know the scripture. I didn't think Judaism was more inherently right than other religions. But now I think that there is something right about Judaism. It was something strong enough to push members of a very Christian country to become a struggling Jewish community in the middle of Ghana. This community existed stripped of what I thought was essential for Judaism. Even in an area where it's not possible to buy Kosher foods at the store, it's not yet prevalent to have Bar Mitzvah's, and there's no parents that have raised you Jewish. Nonetheless, this community saw the value of what was written in the scripture and the power of living Jewishly. They have adopted the laws to themselves and keep Kosher even to the extent of slaughtering the animals properly. This was a pure form of Judaism that had to battle against Christian dominance, where everyone involved chose to be involved because they viewed it as right, where the text mattered just as much as living the Jewish culture. I've always seen myself as a cultural Jew and didn't think that there much more of a sensible way to live for me. But now, I feel that there is so much to be gained from studying Jewish scripture and knowing the text. I guess there's more to Judaism for me now than being a cultural Jew.
Best,
Ben
This past weekend was a particularly interesting experience. For several months, I had heard obscure references to this Jewish community in Ghana. I was very surprised to hear about this given the outwardly Christian orientation of Ghana, and didn't know how a Jewish community could exist or thrive here. A friend of mine, Sagie and I ventured this weekend to a Jewish community in New Adiembra a community in the middle of no where, hours from the major city of Kumasi.
As we found out, this small community of New Adiembra had for centuries not worked on Saturday (Shabbat). Hundreds of years ago the chief would fine those who worked or exchanged money on Saturday. In 1977, a local pastor recieved a vision while staring at a wall that he should "Find the lost Jewish tribe in Ghana". He began preaching Jewish scripture to villages all over, and eventually found this town of New Adiembra that seemed to be living Jewish scripture but was predominately Christian. As he started sharing Jewish scripture, it became increasingly attractive to the members of this community who viewed it as making sense of their traditions and history. Now there is a synagogue, the only in Ghana, with about 50-90 members.
We arrived at the community at around 6:30 on Friday afternoon after traveling the entire day. We asked around for Joseph Armah, and immediately were taken to this large compound and walked right to a guest room. On the TV in the guest room was a Havdallah candle, candle sticks, a stuffed Torah, and a spices container. On the window was a small banner reading "Only One God". It was at that point that I knew we had reached a special community. Our host, Joseph had gone to a funeral that day and was ritually unclean and therefore didn't light the Shabbat candles. Nonetheless, we sat around after dinner and discussed the challenges of being Jewish in Ghana. Up until just 8 years ago, members of the synagogue were bothered by community members saying, "You don't believe in Jesus?". However, now the Jewish community is growing and doesn't face as much resistance from the surrounding community.
Saturday morning, we awoke and went to Shul. This was a phrase that I never imagined I'd say in Ghana. After riding on the bus to Kumasi and having a loud preacher lecture for about an hour, I never thought that I would find a Jewish community. We walked through the town to a small blue and white cement building. Inside we found 10 pews, 5 on each side with a table in the front with three chairs. Behind the table were three bookcases, the first with Torahs and Siddurim and the second and third with Jewish childrens and adult books. I found my Hebrew School learning hebrew book from 3rd grade! There were about 10 children and 2 adults present, the children were sitting reading the books to each other and the adults were chatting. We greeted the men sitting at the table in the front who said to us, "Shabbat Shalom". I noticed the room was divided with men on one side and women on the other separated by an aisle for walking, so we sat on the right side. I was amazed by the number of children present, it was about 80% children, directly contrasting with the elderly direction of my congregation at home.
The service began and the room filled up to it's capacity with about 50 people present. We read through most of the prayers in English starting with Ma Tovu all the way through the Torah service. The most powerful part was the only part that was in Hebrew and the only part that was sung: Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. At that point I was blown away by the entire experience. We had listened to English speaking and even prayers adopted into Twi songs, but this was the first words of Hebrew we heard. I couldn't believe that I was at a service of Jews in Ghana! As the leaders read the Torah, they read the verses of Parshat Emor in English, translated them into Twi and explained them as they went. Each verse was made applicable to the population and then the leaders turned to me and Sagie and asked, "Is America do the Cohens observe all this about not defiling themselves?" and other questions about the application of the readings in America. We answered to the best we could and the leader would translate for us. We explained the Mikvah as a source of purification and how the most religious, Orthodox Jews, may observe many of these customs but I as a Conservative Jew do not. In addition, we explained how the mourning process works after a death for Jews in America. As we learned, this community doesn't know whether they are Cohen, Levi, or Israelite. Nonetheless, they made an effort to apply the portion to their lives even though portion explains the laws for each of these groups. Throughout the service there were Twi songs, people got up and clapped, and the children were involved and participatory.
We were planning to leave on Saturday afternoon. When the leader asked us during the service how long we planned to stay he commented, "This community has not granted you permission to leave as we do not travel on Shabbat". It was quite surprising, but we adopted our schedules to stay for the rest of the day and leave the following morning. The rest of the day we spent touring around the village, reading Mishnah with the leader, and talking with the training Rabbi. Alex joined the congregation in 1990 as he saw in a dream that he should support the Jewish people. He used to be a pastor but began to study Judaism and is now training in Uganda to be a Rabbi. He told us that he spends about 90% of his time on the Jewish community through teaching members Hebrew, leading classes on Saturday afternoon, and being there to support community members. After his 4 year program to train as a Rabbi, Alex is going to work on researching the history of this community and continuing to build it.
One of the girls that had been guiding us around and who had been obsessed with Sagie's camera told us to stop and "Video". At which point we turned on the video and she started singing the Aleph-Bet song and other Jewish songs in Hebrew. It was quite funny, because this could have been a Hebrew school kid in the US but it wasn't it was a small Jewish community in the middle of Ghana surrounded by very Christian influences.
Overall it really got me thinking. For a while I've thought that I was Jewish by culture and by tradition, but didn't necessarily study the laws or know the scripture. I didn't think Judaism was more inherently right than other religions. But now I think that there is something right about Judaism. It was something strong enough to push members of a very Christian country to become a struggling Jewish community in the middle of Ghana. This community existed stripped of what I thought was essential for Judaism. Even in an area where it's not possible to buy Kosher foods at the store, it's not yet prevalent to have Bar Mitzvah's, and there's no parents that have raised you Jewish. Nonetheless, this community saw the value of what was written in the scripture and the power of living Jewishly. They have adopted the laws to themselves and keep Kosher even to the extent of slaughtering the animals properly. This was a pure form of Judaism that had to battle against Christian dominance, where everyone involved chose to be involved because they viewed it as right, where the text mattered just as much as living the Jewish culture. I've always seen myself as a cultural Jew and didn't think that there much more of a sensible way to live for me. But now, I feel that there is so much to be gained from studying Jewish scripture and knowing the text. I guess there's more to Judaism for me now than being a cultural Jew.
Best,
Ben
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