The ancestors, the Mami Wata, Somba Country, Gorom Gorom and more... March 2007

Sunday, 18 March

Finally I have a chance to compile my thoughts on the events of the last week, what an incredible journey it has been... Benin has stirred something deeply within me, moved me in a fundamental and permanent way that I almost can't describe. From the first night of our stay in Benin I felt this rousing in my soul which has not left me since; we sat outside our small hotel on Route de Esclaves in Ouidah and heard the most amazing tribal, drum based music that filled the night with a powerful rhythm and moved people to dance in the street, adults and children alike, dancing not like Europeans do with a movement of the legs but rather they danced with their entire beings, their heads bowed, their backs arched, as if they were not just dancing but instead the music was passing through their bodies and they had succumbed to this innate necessity to move with it, in it. It was an incredible moment and I felt my heart ache to be a part of it; the music calling to me, urging me to dive into this culture, to this land, and that calling has not yet left me.

I am now in Natitingou, a town in North Western Benin; today we returned from "Somba Country", the home of the Betamaribe people, but that is racing ahead and first I must share the incredible experiences of the previous week... Hedy, Marie and I left Ouidah last Sunday and travelled to Porto Novo, a beautiful and refined city with parks and book sellers, cheese, coffee and bread! We walked through the city and the market area admiring all the Beninoise people who dress in much more 'African' clothes than anywhere else we have seen, all brightly coloured fabrics with large hats or headscarves, such a beautiful and colourful sight; the people are obviously proud to be Beninoise and not trying to dress like 'westerners' like in Ghana or Togo. We were walking down a lane when we saw these huge beings that strongly resembled haystacks with small grills in the front!! We stood back in amazement and watched these beings pass, accompanied by many small laughing children and more serious adult guides; we had seen egunguns in Ouidah but these looked completely different and we just watched in amazement! Later we discovered that these beings are called the 'Night Watchmen', kind of like voodoo security guards who monitor the town and communicate with the spirits - if people break the laws of the town, or displease the spirits (even by simply littering) the night watchmen will come to their house and yell out their offences in a terrifying and loud voice - if the person has seriously disobeyed the laws then the night watchmen are also capable of killing the person, a scary thought... the world of voodoo here is so real - there are shrines and temples everywhere and the force of voodoo (or vodun) in the people is huge; it is an incredibly strong political and social force with 80% of the population practicing voodoo. Spirits are real here, real and honoured and feared - it is incredibly interesting and we were lucky enough to have an audience with a voodoo priest in Porto Novo also. The priest wore bright coloured robes with a matching hat and many beaded necklaces, each to represent the different aspects of voodoo - the voodoo of the water, the voodoo of fire, the voodoo of the ancestors and necklaces that show his status as a priest. We sat in his compound next to large structures that are houses to the three spirits that he communicates with which he interestingly calls 'the father', 'the son' and 'the holy spirit'. Next to those structures was a large rock shrine dripping in the red substances of previous offerings to the spirits; the priest said he would communicate with the spirits to ask for our good health, happiness and wealth - he first poured an amber liquid over the shrine and rang a large bell while chanting in a low toned voice; this process lasted about five minutes and then we had to make an offering (CFA3000) on a woven oval box which he offered to the spirits and broke a kola nut over it, the pieces landing in an equilibrium meaning that the spirits were happy with us and that we already possessed wealth, happiness and health; following this good news we had to chew the kola nut (very, very bitter and mildly intoxicating), drink blessed water from a communal calabash and then take a shot of strong schnapps. It was a wonderful experience and quite different from the experience with the malam in Ghana.

From Porto Novo we made a trip to a stilt village called Eguegue, about 12 kilometres down the river; we again took a pirogue with two brothers who lived in the village and explained to us the history. Eguegue started as a> refugee camp from people fleeing the slave traders, they built houses on the marsh lands in the lagoon and learnt to fish - over the years the community has developed and now over 10,000 people live in this community, earning money from fishing and trading in the market in Porto Novo. It was a beautiful ride out to the village and so interesting to see this wee bamboo houses on tall wooden legs rising out of the water - children ran to greet us shouting "Yovo, Yovo!" And we were invited to sit inside a stilt house with an elderly grandmother who told us about her life; she had grown up from a small child in the village and was poor but happy, her eyes glowed with life and she welcomed the small children into her home, holding them on her lap while she talked with us (bare chested but wearing a skirt as seems> to be common with women in villages in Benin).

On a day trip to Cotounou to replace Hedy's stolen camera and mobile we visited the large fetish market there - it was a pensive journey, not knowing what we would discover but as we turned into the lane of the market we could immediately smell it, the stench of death overpowering and nauseating - tables and tables of animal parts; heads of snakes, crocodiles,> monkeys, dogs, goats, leopards, hundreds of beautiful coloured birds, the feet of cats and the shells of turtles, snake skins and cow skulls, live chameleons and hedgehogs - what an overwhelming and frightening sight!! A fetish seller invited us to speak with him and explained to us the various meanings of the animals and what they are used for; I was invited to crawl under this table heaving with death to make an offering to the fetish of the market and we came away with three small personal fetishes (secrets of Dahomey but apparently made with owls' inners and wood and various other secret ingredients) - a travellers fetish, a workers fetish and a 'lucky doll'.

Marie returned to Ghana after this and so Hedy and I continued on alone to Abomey, home to the kings of Dahomey (Benin's original name) - we stayed in the most wonderful, eccentric hotel (La Lutta) which was really the extension of someones home filled with fetishes and books and woven cloth - we were the only yovos now, having last seen a handful of other travellers in Cotounou - Abomey was such a wonderful town, teeming with history, the owner of the hotel ("the King") drove us around on his zemi-john to show us the remains of the old palaces and the various fetish shrines around Abomey, we sat outside under the stars until late into the night to learn about voodoo and wow, what a wealth of knowledge we discovered!

Voodoo honours one main god, Mawu-Lessi (although that god is actually more like a pair of twins). Humans cannot communicate directly with this god so> there are lesser gods and spirits that act as mediums between the physical world and the world of God and spirits. Therefore there are "priests" and other people who the spirits choose to act as mediums and to represent the spirit world in the physical world - there are a number of sects which carry out this role for different forms of voodoo (the voodoo of the water, the voodoo of iron, the voodoo of the ancestors etc). The spirits communicate via the priest or priestess to tell what is needed to rectify the problem, the person then carries out this (like purchasing various parts of animals) and returns to the priest/ess who communicates with the spirits who then tell what is required to be done with the animal etc. It is obviously far, far more intricate and complex than that, but that is the reasoning for the animal sacrifice and the fetish shrines - when we were speaking with the voodoo priest he said "you can study voodoo for the rest of your life but you will only ever learn what can be seen between two blinks of the eyelid"... What has interested me most about voodoo is the feminist side of it - for once this is a contemporary religion where women are as equally empowered as men and involves Goddess worship! Specifically the voodoo sect of Mami Wata, the Goddess of water. The Mami Wata sect is almost exclusively female, because people do not 'choose' to join the sect but rather the spirits choose the people - and Mami Wata, she prefers women!! The Mami Wata dress in amazing white robes with the priestesses wearing red scarves in their hair, they cover their faces with white powder to symbolise purity and wear many bright necklaces and bracelets - Mami Wata loves to laugh and members of the sect often fall into trances where they laugh and laugh, dance and sing. Unfortunately we didn't see any Mami Wata ceremony but I felt so drawn to this that I am certain I will return to Benin to find the Mami Wata and learn more about this...

Equally with the empowerment of women, nature is respected and revered - trees are spirits also and some play an important role in the community, bright bright cloths of red and white were wrapped around some tree trunks and when we asked what that represented we were told that the trees had asked for it - the trees were also prayed to by people in the community.

Somehow I think that the reverence of voodoo has meant Benin has maintained environmental standards much higher than their neighbours - the streets were so clean, there are trees, plants, flowers and even grass in places - animals appear to be so much more respected and cared for (aside from those > who are sacrificed...) The practice of voodoo is also a huge political and social force in Benin, over 80% of the population practice voodoo and 10% are formally initiated. It has survived for 2000 years, through the colonisation by the French and the centuries of missionaries trying to convert the people to Christianity or Islam, declaring voodoo a satanist and> idolatrous cult but the people have clung tightly to their beliefs and it is so inspirational to see!!

Anyway, Abomey was wonderful, the old ruined palaces intriguing - we even saw the throne of one old king which was mounted on the skulls of four of his former enemies!! We travelled north to Natitingou from Abomey and as is usual for African countries poverty became more apparent the more north we headed and the land more arid, but still there were trees and still we didn't see the abuse of animals like in Ghana or Togo. From Natitingou we left for Somba country, the home of the Betamaribe people, suppposedly thought to have originally been from the Burkina Faso area but chased away thousands of years ago - they are anthropologically very interesting as they are individualist rather than community or village based; preferring to live in their mud fortresses alone in the centre of their plots of land rather than in a group or village. They are also very strong in their culture; surviving (perhaps due to their isolation) the colonisation, the slave trade and the missionaries that swarmed West Africa and destroyed so much historic culture - the Betamaribe didn't even begin to wear clothes until the 1970s!

We had to travel about an hour from Natitingou into the very north east of Benin, down red dirt roads into the middle of nowhere!! When we reached the last town, Boukombe, we met with a guide from an ecotourism NGO that only uses female guides and have set up excursions into Somba country, all of the profits being given to the Betamaribe women. Even though this is such an incredible part of the country and such an interesting group, we were the only 'tourists' that had been there since July 2006!!! (This was quite wonderful however as we didn't encounter the jaded faces of people in remote areas saturated with camera happy tour groups as in other parts of Africa!!) With our young guide and two small boys from the family we were to stay with we began the walk into Somba country - and what a walk! Four hours across red piste stone tracks; arid ground for miles and brilliant hills on the horizon - on and on and on... the Betamaribe are truly remote, but what an amazing experience!!! Their houses are incredible, architectural masterpieces - small mud forts with circular turrets and thatched roofs: you have to stoop down low to enter and through a kitchen at the front of the house, then through an animal shelter and to climb up stairs - a branch with grooves for feet cut in - and out onto the roof which is flat and closed in by the exterior walls - the tops of the four turrets serve as storage compartments for grain with the top of the thatched roofs being removable, underneath this is a small cubby for sleeping when it is cold; otherwise the family sleeps on the flat roof, protected from animals> and from any aggressors by the complex entry - the houses are truly wonderful - and so amazing to see in their solitude centered in an arid field of maize or grain. The family we were to visit were so welcoming and although the communication wasn't verbal we managed to understand each other so well; what an incredible group of people!! The poverty was huge - none of the people wore shoes, the soles of their feet hugely cracked; life is so hard for them, working for hours in their fields and the one day of market per week a four hour journey on foot and back again, but their eyes glowed and they welcomed us into their world with such openness it was heartwarming and inspiring. As soon as we arrived (exhausted and swollen from the heat and the walking) we were given children to hold, buckets for fetching water, our faces were touched, our hands were warmly held, we were part of their family, and they a part of ours. We slept the night on the flat roof under the stars, with no light pollution the sky was brilliant and the air cool - much better than in a stuffy hotel room!! Unfortunately a large grey spider became entangled in my sleeping 'natte' and in his fear bit my thigh quite aggressively!! I was deep in sleep by this time and so flew from my slumber with a sharp jolt of intense stinging pain!!!!!! I lept up and awoke everyone else who all inspected the bite on my leg, declared it not poisonous although large and then hunted down the poor spider and ended its life abruptly. I felt a little afraid for awhile and the bite area on my leg stung for about 24 hours but it was all so worth it to be there and experience life with the Somba. The children were incredibly beautiful; all the women topless and the older men, the Grandfather of the family, retaining his 'traditional' dress (nothing but a small wrap around his groin, his wonderful thin legs poking out, smoking a pipe and so interested to look at us, strange white women with bags full of strange things!!!) It was sad to leave them and we promised to send photos via our guide, Antoinette, who was an Betamaribe orphaned so grew up in an orphanage in Boukoumbe and now runs a small sewing business and accompaines the few people who journey to Somba country every year. The small boys walked with us back to Boukoumbe, where it was market day, and we witnessed for the first time animal abuse in Benin - a man was dragging a piglet tied by its front leg - of course it couldn't walk like this and was hoppîng on three legs, screaming in pain and fear, his front leg twisted by the man pulling > on the rope. It was an awful and disturbing sight and the piglet was so stressed out that I felt compelled to act and bargained with the man for the> purchase of the piglet. I had to pay about US10 but I successfully saved this stressed wee being and we fed him water and untied the rope; all the Beninoise at the market crowding around in amazement at this white woman who> had bought a pig!! We named him Louie, took his photo and gifted him to the children with strict instructions that they were to carry him home to their family who would care for him and raise him till a ripe old age. They were> so shocked as a pig for them is a huge thing, and after seeing the way that the Betamaribe kept their animals very carefully, even providing them shelter in their houses, I feel confident that Louie will be cared for.

Friday, March 23rd...I am now writing from Burkina Faso!!! We arrived here three days ago after > spending two amazing days in the national park in the north of the Benin where we saw lions, slept in the open and swam in beautiful waterfalls with> the local children who dived from rock faces completely fearlessly!!! Burkina is very different from anywhere we have been before - it is the second poorest country in the world and unfortunately, that is quite apparent. We entered from Benin and stayed in Fadi n'Gorma before heading north to Gorom Gorom which is near the most north western border with Niger. For miles we drove through nothingness - the land completely barren,the soil erosion so huge it was like looking at a mining quarry, every village we passed so incredibly poor, the houses nothing more than tiny mud huts in the middle of this baking hot sahel, no vegetation, no hope of growing anything in this barren soil, no water, no wells, the lakes dried up > as we are now in the middle of dry season here, the hottest time of year.> It took over 12 hours to reach Gorom Gorom, the last leg of the journey in an old ute jammed with people, about 16 inside with 8 more on the roof on > top of the luggage, nearly all the people were Tuareg or Fula nomads, the men wrapped in turbans and long robes - we were squished like sardines> between these people on hard wooden benches, foolishly I had worn a singlet (my last piece of clean clothing) and I think that the sight of all the white flesh was too much for the old nomad sitting next to me who at one> point licked my shoulder!! I felt a rough wetness and turned around; I think he was taken by surprise by his own action and a sudden look of regret and shame crossed his face and he turned away!! It was quite funny all in all and being in a ute jammed with old nomads was an experience I have never had before!! The hotel, a Catholic mission, left a lot to be desired - the bathroom and toilet crawling with huge black cockroaches, not the tame brown> ones that inhabit the coast of NZ but huge fearless African roaches that fly!!!! I had tears in my eyes at the sight of them and after the long> journey it was more than I could cope with. We washed under a tap in the> yard and spent a baking night in the airless room before waking early the following morning to experience the Gorom Gorom markets...

The market is a huge event, nomads from Chad, Sudan, Niger, Mali and Burkina> come to trade animals, food, metals and leathers. Gorom Gorom is practically complete desert, winds howling in and wiping up the sand - within five minutes we realised why nomads wear their turbans completely covering their faces! The market was huge, pulsating, intriguing, full of colour and life - the Fulani woman crowded the exterior, wearing the most beautiful coloured clothes and scarves, they retain economic independence from the men, their wealth kept in the form of silver coins and silver jewellery tied into their hair and around their arms and necks - their faces are tattooed during important life events and they are stunningly beautiful - tall, slim, dark, mysterious. They offered us milk fresh from their cows which is drunk from small spoons, we held their children and stared aghast at their beauty and admired their independence; the hardship of their lives> in this incredible climate where the mercury rises well into the 40s - it > was 46 degrees when we were there and the sun is fierce. We had to wrap ourselves in scarves to protect our skin and understood why these women are so covered, only their faces showing under the bright fabrics. We bought dates from Arabic date sellers and watched the camels and cows being traded> - bulls as big as camels with horns that are huge and curled!! Donkeys and goats and sheep with no wool, this is life for so many - it was a sensory > feast and exhausted we clambered back onto a rickety bus and made the long> journey to the capital, Ouagadougou, late last afternoon.

Today is my 23rd birthday. It feels strange to have a birthday in a country where all the girls we have spoken to don't even know their own age - I guess when poverty is at this level there is no space in their worlds to count numbers or years, no celebration of time that passes, life is one day after another, selling peanuts and dates from bowls on heads, attempting to make enough money to eat the next meal, to feed the children. We have breakfast at small cafeterias (stands that sell bread, rice and instant coffee with condensed milk) - small boys no more than 10 stand at the entrance holding empty tin cans, waiting for people to finish and then> quicky scrapping the plates into the cans, then pushing it into small mouths with little dirty hands. It's quite heartbreaking to see, no school, no books, no holidays or presents. Just life, one day after another. In saying that though the people are proud, strong, they laugh, they joke, they don't look at us with unkind envy but rather a deep curiousity. It is a very interesting country; the Arabic influence is very apparent, as is the large nomadic influence. The big names of development are all here - the country is lined with projects from Save the Children, World Vision, Oxfam, the UN... they're all here and it's interesting to see, but also is such an indication of how hard life is for the people of Burkina Faso. I am glad to be here though and tonight we will eat dinner in a Tuareg tent to celebrate my birthday - it will be an experience!! In a few days we will head to the south west of Burkina and in a week or so Hedy will enter Mali and I will return to Ghana. What a journey this has been...