Contrasts of living styles are seen within a 30 minute moped ride from Centre Ville Ouagadougou. Only talking in regards of the villages, and markets, that I experienced, hopefully I will be able to encompass the entire region. So, in this region of Burkina Faso Moore (accented e) is spoken, with French the other language. Going into the village scene I hear a lot of children singing out to me, where it sounds like the word ‘Nassara’ is being screamed out. This is Moore for white person. Now in countries like USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, South Africa and similar places, this would be seen as a very racial custom. In my eyes it is a way of accommodating your emotions. There was no spite in their voices, only happiness and glee. Imagine though if when I had have been in the USA I had have looked at a black person and said ‘Black person! Black person!’ I don’t think that would have been looked at favourably. Every time I hear them call this out now, it is an identity, a calling card, and I know to spot the screaming person (typically child, but at times adult) and respond with ‘Nassara parlez “Bonjour”‘ and wave hello to them.
Kids that were too young to call me ‘Nassara’ would go about trying to look at me from a distance and hide around a corner. Most adults would actually do similar, look at me when I thought I was not looking. This was the case as many only knew Moore and small amounts of French. Having been around people who knew Moore, I thought it important to know some of the more important words… like Donkey (sounds similar to Bwanga) or Bike (sounds similar to Weyifo). Learning the words to be polite and some random words does make them smile a bit. It is not like they get TV, and radio even is a bit off in the more isolated villages. Now the villages are predominantly built from natural material with some having outside material with it too. Where buildings are built from local clays and straw like grass, cement is added to the mix to form a stronger bond (But allowing cracks to be more evident).
Simple living conditions on the inside part allows more of a communal standard of living, both with the family and the community. Markets are held in most regions every 3 days, this I feel is both a great thing and a not so great thing. The market is a source of income for those who have material that are sold in this way, including the accumulation of various foods and spices. The market behaviour is extremely friendly and people are more often then not either smiles or curious. Size would depend on layout, but generally there are specific spots where people commune. This area is not specific to the surrounding trade, but would depend on the market itself. In some markets people would commune near the music area, in other markets it would be near the foods. The place where the natural brew is stored is not always with people. This amazed me initially, but realisation dawned upon me that people would congregate near, have their fill and leave it alone for a while, then come back and have their fill again, then go back to the spots of congregation. This is what I thought would be the problem of the market, and it kind of is. Drunks would not bring about any violence but like other drugs, alcohol gives people false happiness and a false sense of security but this also made it harder for a minimal speaking French person to understand Moore. The drunks would speak in their native language, realise and laugh while clapping me on my back.
The markets would have nothing to protect any of the foods from flies, and they would be there in the swarms. So I suppose this is the reason why non locals are unable to cope with the foods in these kinds of regions. The alcohol, known as Dolores (accented e) was well covered as the flies would otherwise flock as if were a pile of fresh cow poo. This drink is hard to determine the average alcohol content until you drink each sample. It comes from various plants like millet, maize or similar. Anyone from Reciproka, please correct me where I am wrong. This would be one of my favourite alcoholic drinks and even up there with every kind of drink there was. It can be sweet, but every batch is different, with even yeast added to increase the alcoholic content of the drink.
People here sometimes approach you with the impression that you have to be rich if you are an outsider, even those from Ouagadougou. Several times people have approached wanting money for food, where practice is apparently not to give any. The fortunate thing about being in my position is that I usually have not understood and Donat or Miriam have helped out in the situations. If you go to a foreign speaking country either know the language to an extent or get a local that can translate for you.
Even though other white people have been seen in rural regions, the locals will only interact with those who are willing to try to be friendly with them. I suppose this is the likes anywhere, but this has been an obvious observation. Their friendly nature goes to the extent that sometimes if they are walking by and they see that you want to converse with them they will stop and talk with you. At most of the villages I have gone with people, they have known near to a dozen people each time. This knowledge of people would obviously help in being accommodated and I feel this is why attending the markets have been an exhilarating experience. Maybe it is the fact that the toilets are the plantations that surround the market, or even observing the head of pigs and dogs, that make the experience of the market so memorable.
All in all, the regional experiences are always something to look forward to, whether it is to go to several residences or villages during non market time, or being a part of the market vibe.
