I woke up in the morning to a phone call from a man in the village up from mine saying that my host father had died a few hours earlier. I spent the next several hours trying to figure out if people at the house I was at know about it or not. After a couple of stressful hours, I finally had decided that a certain group of women knew what was going on. I packed up my stuff and set out walking with them. We walked at least 3 miles to get to this road where we waited for a little while as more of the family trickled up. Then a big vehicle came and we all rode back to my village, stopping along the way to gather people from a few different villages. (The ride back to my vill was one of the most exciting times so far in my service- honestly one of the most exciting things in my ervice. I was having to try to look more at least a little somber.) We got to Salliyaa and everyone piled out of the vehicle. There were SO many people at my compound. I went around and greeted people, etc. It was great to see a lot of them. A lot of people had some into town to see my host father in the last couple of months while he was sick, so I had met most of the people in for the funeral. Eventually I got to shower and put on a complet (2 piece Gambian dressy outfit- see my swear-in pictures). By the time I got out, the funeral had already started. I actually have no idea what happened most of the time. It was in Arabic and Mandinka and it was an Islamic ceremony. There was a lot of wailing from the women and then the men carried the body to the edge of town for the burial. After that, everything was pretty much over. Since then, there have been lots of people and lots of cooking at my house. I'm hoping there will still be some of my favorite family visitors at the house when I get back tomorrow, but maybe not as many people as were there when I left. There were probably 100 people in my compound when I woke up yesterday morning. That's a little overwhelming. It'll be interesting adjusting to the new family structure and seeing what changes now.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
A Naming and a Funeral
The other day, I went to a naming ceremony in the city. The naming ceremony was in honor of the new baby of one of my host brothers' wives. The party consisted of lots of food and dancing. It was really fun. I got to see some of the family I hadn't seen in a while and talked to them. I got to learn to cook some Gambian soup (ebe) I had never even tasted before. It was good and being able to help cook was nice. That gave me an excuse to hang out with some of the women and get away from the main party for a while. I danced for a while, which is fun for everyone around me. I'm quite a spectacle. It's terrible! I don't mind dancing for a while, and I actually like it if I have someone to dance with. I just get uncomfortable having to freestyle solo dances in the middle of a circle of clapping women. Thankfully I didn't spend too much of my day doing that! Eventually I staked a place out on the floor, grabbed a couch cushion and fell asleep on the floor of the living room of the house.
I woke up in the morning to a phone call from a man in the village up from mine saying that my host father had died a few hours earlier. I spent the next several hours trying to figure out if people at the house I was at know about it or not. After a couple of stressful hours, I finally had decided that a certain group of women knew what was going on. I packed up my stuff and set out walking with them. We walked at least 3 miles to get to this road where we waited for a little while as more of the family trickled up. Then a big vehicle came and we all rode back to my village, stopping along the way to gather people from a few different villages. (The ride back to my vill was one of the most exciting times so far in my service- honestly one of the most exciting things in my ervice. I was having to try to look more at least a little somber.) We got to Salliyaa and everyone piled out of the vehicle. There were SO many people at my compound. I went around and greeted people, etc. It was great to see a lot of them. A lot of people had some into town to see my host father in the last couple of months while he was sick, so I had met most of the people in for the funeral. Eventually I got to shower and put on a complet (2 piece Gambian dressy outfit- see my swear-in pictures). By the time I got out, the funeral had already started. I actually have no idea what happened most of the time. It was in Arabic and Mandinka and it was an Islamic ceremony. There was a lot of wailing from the women and then the men carried the body to the edge of town for the burial. After that, everything was pretty much over. Since then, there have been lots of people and lots of cooking at my house. I'm hoping there will still be some of my favorite family visitors at the house when I get back tomorrow, but maybe not as many people as were there when I left. There were probably 100 people in my compound when I woke up yesterday morning. That's a little overwhelming. It'll be interesting adjusting to the new family structure and seeing what changes now.
I woke up in the morning to a phone call from a man in the village up from mine saying that my host father had died a few hours earlier. I spent the next several hours trying to figure out if people at the house I was at know about it or not. After a couple of stressful hours, I finally had decided that a certain group of women knew what was going on. I packed up my stuff and set out walking with them. We walked at least 3 miles to get to this road where we waited for a little while as more of the family trickled up. Then a big vehicle came and we all rode back to my village, stopping along the way to gather people from a few different villages. (The ride back to my vill was one of the most exciting times so far in my service- honestly one of the most exciting things in my ervice. I was having to try to look more at least a little somber.) We got to Salliyaa and everyone piled out of the vehicle. There were SO many people at my compound. I went around and greeted people, etc. It was great to see a lot of them. A lot of people had some into town to see my host father in the last couple of months while he was sick, so I had met most of the people in for the funeral. Eventually I got to shower and put on a complet (2 piece Gambian dressy outfit- see my swear-in pictures). By the time I got out, the funeral had already started. I actually have no idea what happened most of the time. It was in Arabic and Mandinka and it was an Islamic ceremony. There was a lot of wailing from the women and then the men carried the body to the edge of town for the burial. After that, everything was pretty much over. Since then, there have been lots of people and lots of cooking at my house. I'm hoping there will still be some of my favorite family visitors at the house when I get back tomorrow, but maybe not as many people as were there when I left. There were probably 100 people in my compound when I woke up yesterday morning. That's a little overwhelming. It'll be interesting adjusting to the new family structure and seeing what changes now.
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I'm so sorry to hear of the passing of your host father. Please let your host mothers know they have my sympathy. I hope the changes in the family won't be too difficult.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see a video of the dancing. That's exciting!!
Take care of yourself, stay dry and safe. I love you so much and pray for you everyday.
Mom
I hope you never do see a video of me dancing. I've never seen it but feeling it from the inside- it can't be good.
ReplyDeleteThe fam's doing fine. There's some debate over who is technically considered my host father now but I think we've at least figured out who I pay what parts of my rent to. We're having the big '40 days after' funeral in a couple of weeks. And as bad as it sounds, I'm a tiny bit excited for it. I just really like when people come to visit.