My Village Family

Frederick (5 years old), Justine (7 years old, nicknamed Jungle-Bi by the neighboring Bedik village), and Augustine (2 years old).

This was taken within the first few hours of my arrival, after they had already demanded that I have a few fist fulls of leftover couscous.


On the second day I was in the village, Martin took me and another student across the road to see the marble mine site. He had been the guard at the mine when it was running. It has been a year since the site has functioned, and as far as I could understand, they're waiting for more money to be found to fund the site. It looked as if the workers had all spontaneously taken a work break, and hadn't come back. The tools, machines, and blocks of marbles were still scattered throughout the site.


The following pictures are slightly out of order...but that doesn't really matter.


This is from my last morning, when Martin went around his compound picking up different props for pictures. Odette is stirring the breakfast corn we're about to eat.

My camera was a real attraction. Any picture I took, no matter what the subject, was looked at for minutes by whoever was around. At first I was really surprised that a picture of one of my family members simply sitting on a chair was something exciting and incredible to look at. But this family clearly doesn't use the type of technology I am used to, if any technology at all. They don't even have a mirror. So it quickly made sense - their fascination with seeing a picture of themselves.

I have been asked by all of them to send back pictures when I can.


Martin and his family, along with the surrounding villagers, work as farmers. They grow beans, nuts, corn, onions, and a handful of other vegetables. He was very proud of his crop and insisted I took a picture of him with his peas.

All of these photos were taken because they insisted on taking them. They made it easy for me. I wanted all the photos I could get, and they wanted me to take all the photos my memory card made possible.


All I had to do was sit with my camera in my hand, and I had models posing non-stop.

I brought home cookies one day (after we walked to the school) and Frederick was really interested in them. I think they were eventually eaten, but he was more excited by holding (and smashing) the package. That didn't matter, as I'm sure they were entirely melted by the heat already.


Breakfast one morning. Frederick and Augustine ate the couscous from the night before, while Monique made to corn/baobob fruit concoction.

Leotine (14 years old) and Monique (20 years old). Leotine went to school 2 km away every week day, and studied French. (She took my notebooks to pose with in this photo).

If she passes the test at the end of the year she wants to go to high school in Kedougou. One of Martin's daughters, Elizabeth (from his first wife who died), is currently studying in Kedougou, so I wasn't able to meet her (as she wasn't living in the village compound). Monique went to school, but now works at home cooking, farming, taking care of the family and humoring her American guests by giving them simple tasks to complete.

My family members only spoke French if they went to school. So it was mostly the kids I could speak French with. Martin did not learn French in school, but he has taught himself some, so I was able to have pretty decent conversations with him. (He told me that a visit of three days was not enough. In order to really get to know someone's character, in order to have a good exchange, he wished I could stay for at least 10 days). His wife, however, only spoke Basaari, so I had to find other ways to communicate with her.


Leontine, just before walking to school. Monique in the background (on my bed/bench) making breakfast. The stack of bowls holds their water from the well..which isn't far down the road.


Self-explanatory I think...but anyway - Augustine washing himself.


Leotine after school, with Augustine, relaxing in the shade.

Monique, on the first day, making the peanut sauce. If she looks like she's hot, I made her look freezing in comparison - with my red face and sweat.


This is my favorite picture. As I said, on my last day, Martin went around picking up different props to pose with. He set this one up carefully, almost like a soccer team photo...kind of. He pulled out a briefcase I had never seen, the soccer ball I gave on the first day, and the bottle of palm wine he had given to me as a parting gift. (Martin and other people in his village make palm wine. He says it only takes three days after draining from the palm tree for the wine to be appropriate to drink. It has a sort of interesting wine/beer/nut/champagne taste to it. Very enjoyable, but very unusual).