GETTING ETHICAL AND GOING ETHNIC DOWN IN NIGER!

ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN BECOMES ON THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT! Post No.41 (A 9 minute read) 

Having enjoyed the hospitality of the Agadez police chief and paid my bills, it was time to move on towards the capital city of Niger, Niamey. And well, it was swings and roundabouts trying to get my onwards visas for Burkina Faso and Mali! Patience is a virtue and I do not know that as INFJs, we are born with much patience.

Now if we are interested by something, try taking us away from it! So, visas all done, kit all washed and neatly packed, I head down to the travel park to see what transport I can find for the next leg of my journey down to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. I had paid my fare for my place in a taxi brousse and now had to wait until all the other places were filled. I quote myself from today´s chapter thirty-seven, THOSE EARRINGS ...... AT LAST:

I had whiled away the morning wandering around, chatting here and there and checking out the wares that were being sold and the arts and crafts being worked on during the wait. I was wearing my Agadez cross and my nine very large hooped earrings and I noticed that I was getting a lot of curious looks from a group of male Wodaabe, so I wandered over to them and they shyly greeted me and asked me to sit with them. Some were crafting metal and some were braiding each other´s hair, typical good uses of time out here!

They commented on my earrings and said that they thought that I was one of their ladies. "Where are your ladies?" I asked. It was the shifting eyes that had me turn and see a group of twelve females with a number of small children of various ages, now laying their mats on the ground and settling themselves down to get some food on the go. I could have fainted!! They seemed to have come out of nowhere whilst my back was turned.

The Wodaabe male´s behaviour had changed instantly. Suddenly they were on display! They were being watched and they knew it! The females had black muslin cloths loosely draped over their heads and were peeking from lowered eyes and chatting animatedly between themselves. The two groups were so aware of each other´s presence that it was delightful to behold! Just like our hens and John Travolta type cocks!! End of quote. 

THIS FEMALE INFJ HAS NO TABOOS! TAKE A LOOK!

This was me stepping right into my dream territory, but this was real! The men went on their way. My driver disappeared into town, everyone else was set for an afternoon snooze. I had got my sleeping bag down from the roof rack to sit on but where? I quote myself again:

Whilst there was plenty of spare ground to sit on, there was no spare ground that was not in the sun. I looked left and right, trying to decide which group I should try and join under a shady tree! "Did I read that right?" I asked myself. "Were those Wodaabes ladies really beckoning me over to them?" I really was not sure and I really did not want to do the wrong thing. I moved slowly closer, not wanting to stare but at the same time, trying to catch the eyes of one of them, which is supremely difficult to do!

These are such private and intimate people, that to look deep into one´s eyes, is to reveal much. Flashing glances and glimpses are all that you have to go on. As I drew closer, the children began to pay attention to me and those that could move by themselves, stood up and made to come towards me, their curiosity aroused. Yes, they were definitely beckoning me over to share their shade.

What I could never have imagined was just how much we all had in common! End of quote.

I have written a book as I have already said before, so that I do not have to keep repeating myself. This was one of the most special encounters of my whole life lived. Nothing I think, will ever mean so much to me. To have been invited to sit with these Wodaabe women and children was so MR. BENN, to me! What I found out though was even more MR. BENNish!! They were taking the taxi brousse to Ouagadougou as well, they would be my travel companions too. Oh, heaven is in my world!!!

It was some days later that we all arrived in Ouagadougou after some nights sleeping outdoors. Our friendship was deepening by the hour and I was sleeping snuggled up with these ladies and their children. I was a female travelling alone and they were all female. What could be more natural!!

The wealth of mosquito bites and the bites of every other winged creature that lived down there, finally took its toll on me and I discovered what sleeping sickness really is. The Wodaabe ladies waited for me to recover and we continued our travelling together and took the train right down to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

We had a spectacular journey and I spent almost two weeks with this group. They made the holes in my ears larger and put Wodaabe rings in my ears, oh, WOW!!!! How heavy they were!! All beautiful times must draw to a close and I had to part company with them. I had hurt deeply when I parted from my Tuareg group some weeks before but this parting was brutal.

I FELT that I did not want to go. It was only the mosquitos that pushed me to carry on with my plans. Never will I forget those ladies and children, never!! I learnt so much from them and yet it is only in recent years that I see and understand fully all that I learnt. These men and women had got it right. The females had never lost their right to choose their male partner. They are INFJs by nature too!

Oddly enough, the Wodaabe are nicknamed the People of the Taboos!! The Wodaabe have resisted indoctrination which has turned the tables on the female world wide. In this culture, the female is still respected, the males are respected. Everything they do, is done with respect. The most sexually free and the most sexually aware peoples that I have ever known anywhere.

Chapter thirty-eight is entitled SLEEPING SICKNESS and these two chapters are all about our travels through Niger, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. Some of the most memorable days of my life. From there I go on to chapter thirty-nine, ON THE ROAD AGAIN and head back north and into Mali via the Dogon Valley at Bandiagara.

So, if you would like to know a little about that, come back and have a read of my next post. 

Have you had the pleasure and privilege of meeting ethnic peoples? If you have, were you able to communicate? Did you see your similarities? Would you fight for their rights to continue existing without man-made taboos? I know I wish to do just that!

Thank you for reading and please FEEL welcome to comment in the space below or make contact via the contact box. Why not become a follower, there is a follow tab in the right-hand panel? I would enjoy that. And the book is on Amazon: ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN Paperback and ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN e-book

Until the next post, happy learning!

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