Ruggaku

Rugaraku??

Yes, just a few weeks ago, I too was asking this question - just what is a Ruggaku?? Well, this is a ceremony in which the Rugga - head shepherd - of an area is chosen and presented. This position carries the respect of the area . . . in each village, there is a Rugga - he organizes the village shepherds and is the head negotiator concerning any problems with the herd - he is a respected elder in his village. The Rugga who I went to see presented, is the new head Rugga of a region of several square hundred kilometres - from Niamey South to Sie and Torodi and East to Dosso.

The ceremony begins when the Ruggga is paraded into the presentation area - preceeded by drumming and fan fare. He walks in under a blanket and spends the entire ceremony under the blanket.

Drumming Procession video link

Following the new Rugga, is a procession of various shepherds from all the villages of whom he is now the head shepherd - each group is dressed in varying colours to distinguish each group. The shepherds carry their herding stick, to which is attached their supplies while they wander to herd: sleeping mat, skin sack for water, drinking spoon, and bowl.

Following the shepherds is a procession of ladies, again from each village. They carry on their heads 'powle'. This is the Fulani ladies kitchen - signifying the days when the Fulani were nomadic tribes roaming around the plains with their cattle.

The powle contains: calabash bowls (hollowed fruit halves - used for drinking milk with millet grains, drinking spoons, stick whisks (for stirring sauce) and round covers for the bowls.

After the procession participants all sit down around the new Rugga, the ceremony begins. The moderator pronounces the new Rugga and then various village Ruggas present their gifts - money and/or loaner cows. (In the Fulani tradition, people will loan cows for 2-4 years, the recipient then keeps the calves born and returns the cow.)

Ceremony Photos:

I went to the ceremony with my friends Rachel and Sjoerd - missionaries in Niger who also work among the Fulani. While Sjoerd wandered around taking photos, Rachel and I found ourselves a hangar beneath which we sat in the shade and chatted with the Fulani women there. It was a great afternoon - of cultural learning and language practice.

And our giggle for the day - you can tell it is cold season when . . .

(photo compliment of my friend - Sjoerd)

Dental Vocabulary

Last month, for 2 weeks in November, our team in Niger had the privilege of hosting a dental team from one of our supporting churches in Edmonton - South Edmonton Alliance Church. It was a 2 weeks packed full of activity . . . The first week of their visit, they travelled to Tagentassou - a Tuareg village North West of Niamey, where my colleagues the Marineau family and the McIver's have begun working. Click here for my friend's blog post on the dental clinic in this village.

During the dental clinic in the Fulani village, my job was going to be interpreting Fulfulde - the dental questions to the patients and their answers to the dentist. For the week before the clinic, I diligently studied the new words. Some words I already knew, but now needed to apply them in a new setting, some words were completely new to my studies - words that I don't need for everyday conversation . . .I had no idea that dental vocabulary was so specific:

• open - ombu
• open your mouth - ombu hunduuko ma
• bite - ngaatu
• tooth - nyiiye
• freezing . . . well, we don't have a word for 'freezing' in Fulfulde, so we went with needle of numbing medication - kural jaaɗinol
• cavity - gawure
• close - maaɓu
• pull out this tooth - ittan nyiire nde

I also saw the benefit of my many hours memorizing various pronouns and demonstrative words: 'which, this one, that one' and was able to finally use them in 'real' life:

• which tooth hurts?
• which tooth hurts the most?
• this one or that one? (as the dentist tapped teeth)

I was somewhat concerned over my abilities to translate . . . with all this new vocabulary, I didn't want to be the cause of having the wrong teeth pulled! I was also concerned over one specific new word:

• spit - tuttu

because this word is very close to:

• vomit - tuutu

The difference in pronunciation is so slight, I was hoping that context would help them decide which they were to do, should I say it wrong!

(I am happy to report that no one 'vomited' on command - all spit - and no wrong teeth were pulled!!)

The second week, I headed out to the village with the team to visit the Fulani village of Teppe. As the dental team required an actual building to work in (to help limit the amount of dust blowing around) we set up camp in Makalondi - a small town across the highway from Teppe, the town where we work. As we worked Monday afternoon to unload the equipment and set up the tent and cots sleeping area, the temperature soared to

Yes, +47 degrees - record breaking temperatures for the start of cold season!! . . . . Hot for us who live here year round - doubly so for the visiting team from Edmonton!

Following the set-up of our camp, we headed into the market of Makalondi - Monday is market day!

Tuesday morning, the clinic opened for business. We saw about 24 people and saw many teeth in various stages of decay. Most teeth were pulled, the odd time it was recommended that they spend more time brushing their teeth to keep it from getting worse. The Nigerien toothbrush - the stick of wood in this photo - which they chew on throughout the day:

There was not much business in the afternoon - perhaps they were too busy in the field (still harvesting) or they were too nervous/afraid to come and see the dentist. Today brought another record-breaking temperature for cold season:

As there were no patients, the team spent the afternoon in various positions:

Noting of course those who are on internship or apprenticing (thus, those with 'homework') and those seasoned enough to know when to take a siesta! Where was I? - wandering around taking pictures . . . not quite diligent enough to study in the heat, but not seasoned enough to take advantage of the siesta time. At one point, though, the heat was enough that I sought the shade of another building and spent some time with the Teppe villagers to practice conversational Fulfulde!

Tuesday night heralded a soccer match ('foot' as they call it here in French) - our team and a few village adults versus the village children. It was an intense match!

Language wise - I learned some new phrases, great examples of the visual pictures of this people group! One young man told me: 'nyiire nawaata joonin amma nde den ummeke, no naawa sanne sanne' - literally translated: 'it does not hurt now, but when the tooth stands up it hurts much much'. After the third go round, I decided that I had indeed heard him correctly, and though I understood all the words, the meaning was lost to me. So, I called over my colleague Lisa and she determined that he meant 'when the pain rises' - ummeke. The next day, I heard the opposite of this phrase: 'degom degom no naawa sanne sanne, amma joonin nda fukkeke'. Because I had heard the phrase the day before, I was able to see this visual picture: 'sometimes it hurts a lot, but right now the pain is laying down'.

We headed back to Niamey on Wednesday afternoon and the dental team provided 2 days of clinic in town - for our employees and family and for various missions organizations and their employees.

During this clinic, I was promoted! I still provided some interpretation - French to English now . . . which meant cramming new vocabulary again. It was weird to realize that I knew some words in my first and third languages, but not in my second! (Mainly 'spit' - such specialized vocabulary for these dentists! I had no idea that my language study was lacking well-roundedness!) But this time . . . I also became 'holder of instruments'.

The time spent in the Fulani village area was amazing - 48 receiving medical care that they could never afford otherwise, receiving relief from pain. One person reported that they did not eat lately because their teeth hurt so much, but now the evening before - after their tooth was pulled - they had been able to eat food again.

In the short time here, we were able to witness of God's love to these people - demonstrating His love in a tangible way. Continuing to till the ground for the seed of God's truth. While we were in the village, our new intern - Peter - shared a verse:

Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house. ~ Proverbs 24:27

It speaks to the truth of our compassion ministry here . . . we could build a church building, but there would be no one to come. So instead - we are now doing our 'outdoor' work and preparing the fields. . . preparing to build God's church in the hearts of these people.

Thank you SEAC - Jon, Alicia, Damien, Sheldon & Shane for joining with us in our work of preparing the fields for the harvest!!

Random Photos: