Can you read this?? - Part 2

So, I had another blog post planned, but the events of the week have pre-empted my earlier idea - which will come in a preceeding post. Nor had I planned a series on my previous blog 'Can you read this?' . . . but life continues to fluctuate and change; hence, so does my ministry.

In a previous post, I wrote of the Fulfulde literacy primer that I am helping to write and the class that I am looking forward to teaching. The timeline on this has been extended, but I am hoping to start with this ministry in what you call spring!

But since then, another new and exciting opportunity has presented itself: phonetic fulfulde in arabic script. I know some Fulani who are reading and writing this script - using the arabic letter phonetic sounds and matching them to Fulfulde letter phonetic sounds. The result is writing that those who do not know to read Roman script, can sound out and understand!

This past week, I attended a course on what is called 'Ajamiya Script' - the name for the phonetic fulfulde. An International Worker with the Fulani in Cameroun came to Niger and held this class. My week was mostly spent learning to sound out arabic letters - learning to read and write in Fulfulde myself! Hopefully one day soon, we will have materials to teach people to read and write either Roman script Fulfulde or Ajamiya . . . teaching them to read the Bible in their heart language, in whatever form is easiest for them.

A fair amount of people here read the arabic script - they learn in the Qu'ranic schools - however, for those who do not attend the full six years . . . they are mostly sounding out the phonetics of the words with no understanding. This makes sense - they don't speak arabic, so there is no meaning to the words; it would be much the same as my reading a German or Spanish book - I know most of the phonetics to pronounce the words, but I do not understand the meaning of what I read.

I went home the first day of class and asked my Fulani guard if he could read arabic script. He said yes 'some', so I brought out my book. He sounded out one word: wuro - and then excitedly proclaimed: This is Fulfulde!!! So he started reading down the column of words I had written that day. After a moment, he noticed the printed arabic script in another column and jumped over there - 'Oh, this is much easier to read', he said. Well, I need to work more on my writing skills!

Thursday brought a twist to life here in Niger - while I was at said conference, a military group launched a coup d'état. In moving to Niger, I knew in the back of my head that this was a possibility - there have been coups in Niger before and in surrounding African countries - but it is a completely different thing to live the possibility! For those who have not heard the news, the BBC news site is a good source of information. I and my team are fine and life is returning back to normal here.

But, the day following the coup, as I sat at home and tried to focus on work - I thought that I would practice what I learned and write out a verse for my Fulani guard that night . . . wanting something that would calm my heart and his. So, I chose to write out Psalm 103:6-8 - seen below in English, Fulfulde Roman Script and the Arabic script:

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, His deeds to the people of Israel. The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

Joomirawo no waɗa ko darti, omo naatana ɓe ngalaa semmbe fuu. O wannginanii annabi Muusa laabi makko, ɓiɓɓe Isra'el duu, golle makko mawɗe ɗeen. Joomiraawo no jurmotooɗo, moƴƴuɗo, keewɗo hidde mo ɓerne mum yaawaa.

Jabuura 103:6-8

That evening I showed the verses to my Fulani guard. He sounded out some of the words and asked me to read the verses. Then he stood there and looked at the piece of paper. And asked me quietly to read it again. And again he stood there silently looking at the paper. I asked him if he would like to have the paper, to which he responded affirmatively. 'This is for me to hold (keep), mine, I can have this??'.

Though earlier this week, I could not read arabic script in phonetic Fulfulde, my eyes and brain are learning to associate the script to the words I know. And already there are those who can indeed read this script and what I will write as I practice this more.

Privilege to Eat

Navigating the Fulani culture of food has been an interesting challenge. When you arrive at someone's house, you are automatically served food. This has proven some challenging moments. Oft-times, I am just not hungry . . . for instance the day of a fête when I visited with my friend and in turn we went to visit five homes - relatives and friends. After six houses in the span of two hours, I had no more room for food, yet I was urged to eat. (I have since found out that one can politely eat a few handfuls of rice and sauce and declare thanks for the food!) In the Fulani culture, no matter how much you eat, you will be told to 'eat, eat!' - for if the host does not insist that you keep eating, the visitor will assume that they have rudely eaten all the food available.

At my friend Aissa's house one day, she served some rice and sauce and I ate a bit - but upon her insistence I eat more, I declared that I had ate before I left the house and was not hungry. She then declared a cultural variation that caught my attention: 'You white people eat by your watch. We Africans are different, if there is food, we eat - no matter what time of day or whether we have just eaten.' I have seen this - my friends can pack away an amazing amount of food! Doing so in one sitting is a sight to see, and yet an hour later, if visiting and offered food, they will eat a full meal again. (While my stomach is full and threatening nausea- or worse - if I pack yet one more iota of food inside). My language tutor clarified further, that one eats when food is available, because you do not know when or if the food will be available again.

This caused me to think . . . . the wealth I have affords me the privilege of eating by the clock - I do not need to eat when food comes, because I know at my house there is food I can cook later when I am hungry.

This year, 2010, the gap of those privileged to eat in Niger - and across the Sahel region of Africa - widens. In 2009, the rains came late and sparse causing crop failure in many regions. Following the harvest, I went to visit my friend Abdoulaye's village, which is 10km North of Niamey. We were going to watch the construction of a new granary.

I asked my friend regarding the harvest and if it had been good enough to need a new granary in order to store the millet stalks. I learned that my friend's village was in the region touched by the drought. No, he replied, his father was building the granary only because the old one has fallen down. In fact, the small pile of millet beside the granary was their harvest - enough food for a month. Recently, in discussions, he has indicated that they are interspersing their grain stock with other food to stretch out the millet. He believes there is enough to last until February or March (typically, they harvest enough to last until July). By rainy season, Abdoulaye says, there will be wide-spread hunger in his village.

Another village associated with my team, is in the green belt of Niger; however, in December a fire raged destroying 10 huts and the granaries of 10 families. In this town too, there will be hunger.

Niger is the least developed country in the world, ranking last out of 182 countries worldwide in terms of overall development according to the 2009 United Nations Human Development Index. Niger’s harsh climate, poverty, drought and desertification have helped to create an undernourished population that cannot feed itself.

As a result, my team began searching for ways in which we could bring aid to those we know. We have submitted proposals and been approved for funding by the Canadian Food Grains Bank. I love the concept of CFGB - grain or money donated is used to purchase food commodities around the world to aid in food crises. Yes - my Saskatchewan farming relatives and the church in Kelstern . . . your grain donations are helping to feed my friends!!

Historically, the food prices rise every year, usually in July as the previous harvest weans - the lean months. However, already in January, our team noticed a significant price jump in the price of 100 kg sacks of millet.

This chart indicates the predicted price of grain would jump to 28,000cfa (~ $70cdn) in week 34 following the harvest (July - August); yet, some merchants were already selling grain at this price mid-January. An indicator that the prices will continue to rise until harvest, as the lean months have already started in regions throughout Niger.

According to USAID Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS) poor households will be hit hard by high food demand from January to March 2010, due to higher than average cereal prices, and that the second quarter of April to June will be even worse. By February 2010, it is anticipated that many poor households in Niger will be labeled “highly food insecure,” causing a worrying nutritional situation as off-season products will be absent from their diets and their subsistence grains become unavailable.

In the next few months - through until the 2010 harvest season - my team will be holding a grain bank in 3 communities (the two aforementioned Fulani villages and a Tuareg community in Niamey). The grain will be purchased now in January and stored for distribution throughout 6-7 months. The price will be a reduced rate based on the purchase price of the grain - a static price which will not change as the market price of grain increases.

Often, a crisis will lead to a ripple effect - the ripple of a food crises in one year affecting the cultivation and harvest of the next. Those who suffer a food shortage are susceptible to illness or energy deficit - both of which affect their ability to work their fields. No field - no harvest, and thus a continuing food crisis into the following year. Those who receive grain aid this year receive the gift of food in the year following the crisis.

Thank you to those who support our team in Niger and thank you to those who donate grain or money to Canadian Food Grains Bank - helping us to ensure that our friends this year have the privilege to eat!

Notes by Chantelle McIver from project proposal