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January 17, 2005

Walkabout

I walked out to some of the bush villages outside Djibo today. I went to visit a maribout in Seenoore called Oumarou, but he was not in - he had gone to Djibo early in the morning. After an hour or so I arrived in Jaw-Jaw, which is where my friends from the cattle drive live. They were not in; they had set off on another cattle-drive four days ago. Idrissa's wife and son were there, so I gave them last year's cattle-drive photos to pass on.

After three hours I arrived in Bagadoumba. It should not have taken three hours but I took a wrong turning and went far out of my way. I ate some nelbi off the trees by the side of the road to keep me going. It was one o'clock when I arrived at Mamadou's house. He and his father were there, and Housseini too. Housseini's countenance was so much clearer than when I last saw him, and his conversation much more lucid. We drank coffee and read some of Luke's gospel together and then ate peanuts and chatted aimlessly. It was a good time. Mamadou's father warned me about eating too many nelbi because they cause constipation - he went on to do a stunning impression of someone with constipation, which had us all in stitches. He showed me a new walking stick which Housseini had carved for him, so I told him the Sphinx's riddle (What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening?), which he chortled over for quite a while.

The lieutenant at the gendarmerie came by in the evening to talk about the house I will be renting over in Hong Kong. He is a friend of the landlord (who is in Ghana) and will be looking after the negotiations in his absence. He has worked overtime today trying to deal with the hijackings that are going on along the Djibo-Ouaga road. Another lorry was stopped last night, and more money stolen. These incidents are on the increase, and the gendarmes are at their wits' end. People going to the cattle market in Djibo are often carrying large amounts of cash with which to buy cattle, and the road is so bad in places that the lorries and buses have to slow right down - it is in these places that the robbers always strike. Until Djibo gets a bank and until the Ouaga-Djibo road gets properly surfaced, it seems the highwaymen will continue to flourish.

Posted by sahelsteve at January 17, 2005 09:23 PM