Learning to Play the Violin

As Christine said "trying to speak Soninke is like trying to play the violin. Every day you walk around town with your insturment and everyone is so excited to see you. They ask you 'play something, play something'. Because you have taken very few lessons you screech out a simple melody like Row Row Row Your Boat and you get laughed at and told how bad you are".

Mauritanians are competitive. People say their ridicule is just their form of encouragement. Kind of hard to believe when it disables you so much. But there is no doubt they are competitive. A quick demographic sketch:

Moors: In Woulloumboni they run all the little shops. They have and aristocratic air about them which I think is perpetuated by their placement in the majority of Mauritanian political offices. They are friendly, at least in Woulloumboni; this is not the case in every city. They are wary of outsiders, nomadic in their roots, and stoic at times but vibrant when it comes to politics, the land, or cards.

Pulaar: They seem to us like pirates of the desert. They have a wild, wandering look accentuated by their role as herders wandering the "brousse". The men wear gold ring earrings and their hair can be anything from neatly picked out to chin length straight hair usually sticking out from under a knit cap. They wear necklaces and charms around their necks and arms, and sometimes carry a short herding staff which gives a sense of rustic nobility. A characteristic both the men and women have is their ability to laugh or find humor in things. Granted I have no idea what they are saying but they always seem jovial. Their house are usually on the outskirt of town; mud huts with thatched roofs out in the open.

Soninke: Soninke people are more permanent. They are farmers tied to the land and rivers nearby. They are gruff, usually shouting commands across the courtyard, and rough to an extent. They are hardworking and survivors, sending siblings to other countries in order to find work. They are rich in tradition and not easily persuaded to change their ways. Thir houses are large and made of cement or clay, crammed together in the middle of town.

The groups in Woulloumboni are divided but how these lines are delineated I am not sure. There are three separate mosques for a town with 2000 or less people, a sign of their religious dedication but also their wealth. There seems to be no pattern to who goes where. It might have something to do with prestige and class. Competition between families is rooted in last names and heritage of nobility or slavery. All Mauritanians play one card game with slightly varying rules except that it is permissible to cheat. Even today as we left before sunrise to go to Selibaby our truck driever, Moussa Joulo, honked his horn at the truck ahead of him. There are only two taxis in town and they leave every morning at the same time from the same place. He knows this other driver and is no doubt friends with him yet he honks his horn like he is in a traffic jam of hundereds of cars. Each truck seemingly races each other through the street; one leapfrogging passed the other as they pick up the morning passengers.

Our ride today into Selibaby was smooth, only 17 passengers which is 10 less than last trip. We pass mostly flat terrain with faint hills on the horizon highlighted by the pink rays of the sunrise. Sporadic water bloated Baobab trees tower over the rest of the desert shrubs. The grasses are turning brown again and will fade into the sand as we come to the end of a mediocre rainy season. Selibaby is our refuge for a few days, breaking the monotony of Ramadan and Mauritanian cuisine. Breakfast, bread and coffee; Lunch, sonbi, boiled rice with sugar and a touch of milk; Dinner, lots of rice with a few cubes of goat meat and stringy okra. Fruit and vegetables will be a welcome luxury these next few days.

Further reading:
"Sahara" Marq de Villiers and Sheila Hirtle
This is a good over view of cultural, historical, and environmental factors of this area.
"Skeletons on(of) the Zahara" Dean King
This one starts out kind of slow but is a really good story.
"Disposable People" Bales

This last update is a little late. Internet in town has been really sketchy. We will try to post again before Christmas. WE hope the advent season finds you all well. This will be avery interesting one for us. Thank you all for your support and love. Thank you CArl for posting the last update with care package information. And to the grad student who posted on the last update, feel free to use anything from our blog in your paper. Good bye for now.

Peace and Love
Lee George and Christine Zwicky
Corps de la Paix
B.P. 222 Nouakchott
West Africa