I am spending my last night in Mauritania in much the same way as I spent the first; listening to the call to prayer over a loudspeaker. Tonight I am in Bogue, a small town right on the Senegal River instead of in the captial city of Nouakchott. Today was the first day of Ramadan. I am staying in a 'eco tourist auberge' which really just means there isn't any running water. Aside from that it is a nice enough place and I am sitting outside in the breeze looking at the stars. Tomorrow I leave Bogue very early and drive 4 hours to Nouakchott for a series of meetings before boarding the plane. I spent today in a whirlwind tour of two of our community programs meeting with a women's association, watching a skit and dance troup by a girl's association, and seeing various other projects like health centers, nutrition monitoring centers, gardens and schools buildings. It was a busy day made all the more tiring by the 45 degree heat and the sun beating down on our heads as we examined latrine buidings for schools and the different plants in the gardens. It was a really good day and I have the pictures to prove it, but sadly I have no idea where I packed my SD card reader so you don't get to see any of them.
Today for lunch there were only three of us eating. Since it is Ramadan most of the staff are fasting but one of the staff here is Rwandan (and also not muslim) and another of the staff is pregnant. So we three ate together around a common plate as we sat cross legged on the floor. I really like the way people eat together here. There is something really hospitable and special about the routine. It starts with washing hands. There is a plastic container with water, shaped like a mix between a watering can and a kettle, and a basin with a bar of soap. You use the soap and water to wash your hands but it is awkward to both pour the water and wash your hands so you need someone to help you. It is this really nice little ritual of helping each other wash your hands; it reminds me of Jesus washing his disciples feet. Once everyone has washed their hands you gather around the common plate. Often it is a plate of just meat but thankfully today's plate was different. There was corn mixed with tuna (surprisingly yummy) gratted carrots, olives, fries, tomatoes and chicken. You grab a piece of bread and use it to pick up the rest of the food with your hands. Someone who has a lot of trouble with germs would probably not enjoy this process but I managed to ignore this for the most part. I like the communal part of the meal and the sharing and conversation. After everyone is finished eating you go through the ritual of washing hands once again, helping each other and passing the watering-can-kettle around in a circle.
Since I can't share any of my pictures yet, I'll end with a story.
There once were two men who lived in the same small village. One day one of the men (I wasn't clear on the how or why...) turned into a goat. When the sun set he turned back into a man. The two friends decided that this was an opportunity. So the next day the goat-man turned into a goat and his friend took him to the nearby town to the market and sold him to a man from a neighbouring village . That night, as soon as the sun set the goat-man turned back into a man and escaped from the man who had bought him. The next day the goat-man turned back into a goat and his friend took him back to the market. The same man who had bought the goat-man the day before was back again, since the goat that he had bought had escaped. So he bought another goat. That night his goat turned back into a man and escaped. Day after day the man bought a goat at the market and night after night his goat escaped. The goat-man and his friend thought this was a great game and they were getting rich without having to do anything.
One day, a short time later, the goat-man and his friend were back in the market and the man from the neighbouring village came by. He bought the goat-man (again) and once he had handed over the money he pulled out a knife.
"What are doing with that knife dear sir?" asked the goat-man's friend.
"My friend, every day I buy a goat, but every night it escapes. This time I will slaughter it now so that it does not have a chance to escape!" explained the man from the neighbouring village.
"But it is better to wait until tomorrow to kill it." said the goat-man's friend."Really I think you should wait until tomorrow."
"But if I wait until tomorrow, I will have no goat to kill since all of my goats have escaped!" said the man lifting up the knife.
And so the goat-man's friend had to decide whether to let his friend the goat-man be slaughtered and eaten, or to admit to the other man their schemes in order to save his friends life.
This story was told to me twice and one time he let his friend die, and the other he admited the truth.
The End.
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