Update: Ramadan at Site

One of the five pillars of the Islamic faith is an annual period of fasting during the month of Ramadan. In fact, the literal translation of Ramadan from Bambara to English is “fasting month.” From sunrise to sunset, adult Muslims will neither eat or drink anything, unless they are pregnant, breastfeeding, or very ill. However, due to discrepancies between the Islamic calendar and the standard 12-month one, the month of Ramadan varies, usually starting a few weeks earlier every year. This year it just so happened to align very closely with the month of August.

In Kongodugu, this was a challenge for many families since August is already a tough month. This was especially true this year because of a persistent drought in June and July, which forced many to re-plant their cotton, corn, sorghum, and millet later in the rainy season. Hence, there was much work to be done farming stunted crops, yet many families were quickly running low on last year’s harvest. Fasting exacerbates the first problem (it’s harder to farm when you are hungry and thirsty), but adapts well with the latter (eating less food). Thus, in our villages, many families appointed a select few to fast, while the rest stayed busy in the fields.

As volunteers, this made for an interesting dynamic. Most of the time we could not find villagers to work with, since they were in the fields, and when we did they were usually fasting and therefore too tired to do anything. So we kept ourselves busy with our garden, radio shows, some short presentations, and laying the groundwork for larger work once the harvest is over. Though there have been moments of torturous boredom as well!

At the end of Ramadan is a three-day period of feasting known here as (literally  translated) “little prayer.” Families stop their farm work in order to rest, drink tea, and eat good food. Market days prior to this holiday are like American shopping malls before Christmas, crammed with people trying to get the best bargain on new clothes, sandals, and toys. We were amazed how our Kongodugu market tripled in size, and were ourselves caught up in the excitement during a visit to a large market some twenty kilometers away.

But for us, the best part of the end of Ramadan was comparing it to our experience last year, when the holiday fell during our first week in Kongodugu. Back then, it was painful; we spent all day greeting people we did not know in a language we did not speak. We felt like intruders eating their nice food and were upset that they separated us for the entire day – James to sit with the men, and Joye to cook with the women.

This year was very different. We spent most the first day with our host family, moving back and forth between the men and the women as we pleased. Moreover, we brought them plenty of fresh vegetables from a distant market to liven up their meal and even shared tea that we bought in Morocco during our vacation last May. Then the next day we walked through the village and greeted at least twenty households and hundreds of people, many of whom were are friends. And while we were tired afterward, it was exhaustion that was accompanied by accomplishment, not defeat, confusion or resentment.

So, though our development efforts have been slow this month, the past few days have been a reminder of how far we have come and how integrated we now are, which in turn gives us hope that our second year in Kongodugu (& Duguba) will be even better than the first.

Thanks for reading and look forward to pictures soon!

-James (& Joye) Allen