'Granary Raising': Ƴeelu

A few times now, I have had the chance to witness an aspect of the Fulani culture which reminds me the barn raisings we read of in the Pioneer Days of our country. It reminds me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books I read as a child. Except that the Fulani are not 'raising' a barn - they 'raise' a granary to store their millet harvest of the year. These are not rebuilt every year, but as one becomes old and begins to fall apart, the community will gather to help rebuild a granary for the family in need. It is a process that takes 1-2 days, as the entire process is done by hand. The men split into at least 3 groups, each group taking a portion of the work:

1. Creating the Support Structure

The first group of men will dig the holes in the ground in which to bury the log poles which will hold the foundation of the granary. On this is laid an inter-laced base of sticks which will hold the woven straw base.

The granary is elevated from the ground so that animals cannot enter and eat the harvest.

2. Building the Body of the Granary

The second group of men will work on the assembling of the body of the granary. Here is a picture of this already completed - either finished the day before or before I arrived earlier in the day.

3. Weaving the Base Mat

The third group of men will weave the base mat out of straw - a braided mat woven into a large circle.

Once the woven base mat is placed on the wooden structure, many of the men will then lift up the body of the granary and carry it over to the base. Based on the groanings and shouts, I imagine that this is a heavy load! Sometimes a few men will stand on the inside of the granary as it is being carried and will climb up onto the base to help direct the structure to be centered on the mat. They then climb back out through the opening in the structure.

The waiting harvest is then loaded into the granary.

All the while that the men are working, many of their wives gather to cook a traditional Fulani lunch.

This day, we received rice balls covered in sauce. I was sitting on the mat with two elders conducting the grain aid survey when the lunch was brought to us. In the bowl are three rice balls - looking at the size of these, I wonder if they each can finish a whole ball, knowing that I certainly cannot eat that much food!

We are also brought a tin of water from their well - a visual reminder to me of why I bring my own filtered water with me to the bush!

The two men encourage me to eat first - scooting to the far corner of the mat and turning their backs, while I scoot to my corner with the bowl and turn my back as well. Once I have eaten my portion - or rather, all that I can - I push the bowl over to the elders. While they eat, we both have respectively turned our backs on each other again.

I take this opportunity to snap a few pictures of my surroundings: