I’ve now travelled a couple of times between Douetnza and Sevare and both the last time and this time I made some pretty nice mental notes and just had a pretty serene trip. It’s a gorgeous countryside. The cliffs of the Falaise and the barren land, it’s indescribable to me. But more than that, it’s what you see as you’re passing by. Often there are herds of animals: cows, goats, sheep, but often donkeys and even camels. Camels! Who thought that riding down a stretch of land a herd of camels would be the norm? Certainly not me. These animals are either in herds with their herder or just randomly galavanting around. It’s just really beautiful the way nature works and the way they are so free to roam and do their business.
But more than the animals are the people you see. On a normal day it’s not too many people, but today there were a lot. Families and friends travelling from market to market with their dagos (mats) on donkey carts with nothing more than their colorful complet, their Peulh hat to ward off the sun, and a couple of bidons of water to quench their own thirst and that of their donkeys. There are the random lakes and the kids who help their families by washing the laundry in the dirtiest of waters. One has to wonder if the clothes are getting cleaner or dirtier. The ever present children also playing in these bodies of water that are definitely full of parasites like schisto. There are small villages scattered throughout the countryside, often comprising of maybe 200 people with small mud homes or more often a stick/Peulh hut. The dominating structure of the village, however, is a mud mosque. It’s just unreal. Every so often, like today, you’ll see dead animals lying on the side of the road. Today it was dead donkey – really, really sad. There were birds and other animals feeding off of its carcus. I know it’s all a part of the food chain and the circle of life, but you must admit that it’s sad too. (I just learned today from Andrea that there is a problem in the vulture bird life. Due to pollution and other such environmental factors, the biggest vultures, or the ones that break dead animals open, are being eliminated and thus the rest of the vultures are suffering because they can’t access the food. Pretty interesting, let’s be honest. I never knew there was more than one type of vulture, let alone different types that have different functions and areas of the animal to eat. You really do learn something new everyday, don’t you.)
While driving on the guidrone to Sevare, it’s easy to wonder what’s going on in these plains and on the escarpment and also hard to imagine why people have stayed here. There’s little or nothing to do to support a job, there’s little food, usually only millet and maybe one or two other staples. They are miles away from any market town, making me wonder how often they have access to things like fresh fruit and vegetables. I know it’s not important to some people, but it’s pretty important to have those vitamins in the grand scheme of things. So, maybe a lack of knowledge is keeping them there, who really knows. They don’t know what’s better in Sevare or Mopti or Bamako. I doubt that many of them have ever even been that far. It doesn’t appear that there are any schools there, so they probably don’t know about other African countries, let alone Europe, Asia and the America’s. You can say that it’s sad, but I don’t know if it is. It’s naivete and ignorance, but not of a negative nature. In many aspects, I think that they are better off not knowing the evil that lurks in the world. It’s depressing. They live a much more simple way of life and it’s admirable, really.
Arriving in Sevare, of course is a completely different story. A bustling city with hotels and restaurants – real ones – so many cars and bachees and bikes and tourists and everything you can imagine really. My favorite thing about Sevare is the electricity. Why? Well, of course I have electricity in Douentza, but even though the city is wired, not everyone can afford it. That’s understandable. The remarkable thing, however, is what happens at night, under the illumination of street lamps. Kids from school sit out on the roads in Sevare until whatever hour, studying under these lamps. I’m sure all they have at home is a petrol lamp, and from experience I know the difficulties of using that in trying to study. I think it’s really great that they think to use a state resource instead of using their own resources. I mean, why don’t we see people doing this in America? Of course, I prefer the setting of the quiet library, but that’s not an available luxary here. To introduce the idea is probably crazy. I know that all cultures have their ways of hanging out and spending time with their friends, etc., but I really think it’s creative that kids come to use the street lights for studying. It’s innovative. And if people from other cultures did that too, it could save on energy and costs and it would be great. Maybe that trend can move to America, but I doubt it.
