Since the bull-dozing and setting of fire to the huts in the Fulani village of Bani Fandou last month, I have been walking alongside these people in their sorrow and shock. Myself and a colleague visited the new village region of Kongou several times to do a needs assessment and formulate a proposal:
What were the primary needs as addressed by the village chief?
If we were to address each need: how and the costs thereof.
Are there any unaddressed needs that could arise as a result of the deplacement?
The decision was made to help the village by purchasing sekko - these are the straw mats with which the villagers build their huts. As harvest is still 2 months away, the straw from last year's harvest is beyond the current means of the villagers.
harvest price (October): 1,000 cfa = $2.50 / straw mat
current price (July): 2,500 cfa = $6.25 / straw mat
As each hut requires 6-10 straw mats, this puts the average price of a hut at 25,000 francs ($65).
A list was compiled of those who lost their huts and we provided funds to the village chief's son to purchase the straw mats and transportation of the mats out to the village. My colleague and I then went to the village on the day of the distribution with some more mats to help out. We were able to provide 180 mats in total!
In this photo is my newly arrived, and more newly liberated from customs, Toyota truck. Thank you to all who contributed to my vehicle fund allowing me to purchase a vehicle that is built for travelling to villages and built for transporting the aid which my team brings!
As the distribution unfolded, we noticed the group of men discussing amongst themselves and eventually the chief's son Adam translated the consensus: we had calculated enough mats to give out 6 per family head, but as the piles of mats grew smaller as we piled the mats for each person, the men were growing concerned there would not be enough. We assured them that we had done the mathematical calculations correct, however they decided to restart the distribution at 4 mats per family head. My colleague was concerned that perhaps those who received would leave and at the end the extra remaining was a way in which they could give more to the chief.
However, we discovered once the distribution was complete that 10 more families had shown up that had been missed on the initial compilation of lists. In a desire to provide these family heads with straw mats, those on the recipient list agreed to take fewer mats in order that all could have some.
It was amazing to see their generosity of spirit despite all each have personally lost!
Recipients:
Village Boys:
These boys kept posing for the camera every few minutes, often pulling others into the frame just to have another picture taken. They would run in front of me demanding 'photo' (as far as I can tell, the only French word they know) and then crowd around me excitedly to see themselves and giggle over the viewfinder!
Another photo of the boys posing with another 'victim' - apparently unwilling - however, once I showed them the picture, the young man gathered around just as excitedly to smile at his picture too! (I actually have a such few photos of men, from various villages, all who have walked up and demanded a photo and all who have posed in the same way - I guess they are big on the serious look!)
Playtime:
On the way back into town, we passed several large electrical poles and each one was filled with children swinging from the bottom rung on a scrap of fabric, laughing and giggling and enjoying the sunshine!
In this photo is my newly arrived, and more newly liberated from customs, Toyota truck. Thank you to all who contributed to my vehicle fund allowing me to purchase a vehicle that is built for travelling to villages and built for transporting the aid which my team brings!
As the distribution unfolded, we noticed the group of men discussing amongst themselves and eventually the chief's son Adam translated the consensus: we had calculated enough mats to give out 6 per family head, but as the piles of mats grew smaller as we piled the mats for each person, the men were growing concerned there would not be enough. We assured them that we had done the mathematical calculations correct, however they decided to restart the distribution at 4 mats per family head. My colleague was concerned that perhaps those who received would leave and at the end the extra remaining was a way in which they could give more to the chief.
However, we discovered once the distribution was complete that 10 more families had shown up that had been missed on the initial compilation of lists. In a desire to provide these family heads with straw mats, those on the recipient list agreed to take fewer mats in order that all could have some.
It was amazing to see their generosity of spirit despite all each have personally lost!
Recipients:
Village Boys:
These boys kept posing for the camera every few minutes, often pulling others into the frame just to have another picture taken. They would run in front of me demanding 'photo' (as far as I can tell, the only French word they know) and then crowd around me excitedly to see themselves and giggle over the viewfinder!
Another photo of the boys posing with another 'victim' - apparently unwilling - however, once I showed them the picture, the young man gathered around just as excitedly to smile at his picture too! (I actually have a such few photos of men, from various villages, all who have walked up and demanded a photo and all who have posed in the same way - I guess they are big on the serious look!)
Playtime:
On the way back into town, we passed several large electrical poles and each one was filled with children swinging from the bottom rung on a scrap of fabric, laughing and giggling and enjoying the sunshine!
1 comment:
Great photos! Its great to see some of the fruit of your labour! Blessings on you.
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