We will spend 2 memorable days in the home village of a long-time friend who lives in Abidjan today. We leave Man early to pick up Yssoufou, his wife Fatou and his mom at Odienné airport early in the afternoon.
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| Leaving Man in the morning (with the "Dent of Man") |
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| Elchtest nicht bestanden ! |
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| On the way to Odienné |
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| Our friemds are arriving at the small airport |
After immortalizing this reunion with some photos we take the track to Sokoro, the home village of our friend. It is a good track but with terrible corrugations passages and which becomes downright "Guinean" on the last 25 kilometers.
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| Meeting at the airport |
We finally arrive at the village at 18:45. Unfortunately a little too late. The notables of the village had planned an official reception but given the late hour it is postponed until tomorrow. A large tent has been specially set up for this in front of our friend's house.
We eat African: rice with chicken, fish and guinea fowl. We spend a pleasant evening with friends as the neighbors parade through the house to greet us (brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins ... we lost the thread for a long time!)
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| The children of Sokoro welcome us |
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| Diner with Cissés |
The next day the reception committee is already at work from the early morning.
First of all, women come to greet us in the house. Then comes the really official part with the notables of the village. A tent was erected in front of the terrace of the house. The men are sitting on the first two rows, the women have taken place on the last two rows. As for us, we are all four sitting on plastic chairs on the terrace of the house.
The ritual is long and as everything is happening in Bambara we do not understand all the details, even if Cissé's friends take the trouble to translate what is said. We are entitled first of all to the iman's long blessing that the audience confirms by bringing their hands to the forehead after each sentence. A gesture accompanied by a word that is very similar to the "amen" of Christians. The blessing is followed by a long thank you from the village chief. They are really happy that white people are bothering to visit the village, a sign of confidence in its people.
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| The official welcome ceremony |
The protocol is that we also take the floor, it is I who take the responsibility by thanking the whole village for the great welcome. I try to stay as vague as possible so as not to make a mistake, because the traditions and the protocol are really followed with great rigor in these traditional villages.
Cissé and Fatou experience it with their urban habits. Cissé is trying to change the village with ideas that may be a bit too modern, especially in terms of organization, hygiene and infrastructure. The style and equipment of his house, for example, gives rise to a lot of nods. But, as he says, things are progressing little by little.
A sheep will be sacrificed for the méchoui, partly in our honor (two legs are reserved for us), partly for a religious festival.
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| A sheep will be sacrificed |
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| Preparation of the meal: Attiéké (Manioc) |
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| Preparation of the soumbara (African Maggi) |
Cissé wants us to visit the village. We leave by foot, first to the Mosque, then to the school. But we will change the program and postpone visiting the village until later and enjoy the day to go to the Malian border. A friend of Cisse will try to obtain an authorization from the Ivorian police and customs to go at least to the river that materializes the border within two kilometers. He also wants to contact Malians for permission to go to the village of Sandougoula 6 km from Sokoro in Mali, because we do not have (or more) visa.
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| In the village, on the way to the mosque |
In the meantime we go back to the house through the "historic courtyard", as Cisse calls it. This is the small group of huts around a small courtyard where Cissé, his brothers and his cousins grew up on the piece of land of the grandfather. In the center of the courtyard throne a beautiful guava.
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| The "historic courtyard" of the Cissé's family |
Cissé's henchman reappears with his motorcycle, he has just negotiated with the authorities our passage in Mali. Apparently everything is good, we should be able to go to Sandougoula.
We will follow him to the police station at the exit of the village. The head of the post proposes to accompany us to the border. But as a great religious ceremony is going on right next door with everyone that bears a name in the village, we will first greet them. Many of them were present at Cissé's house this morning for our welcome. A calf is being slaughtered for sacrifice. We are brought chairs to participate in the opening of the ceremony. We do not linger any longer.
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| Religious ceremony before leaving to Mali. |
We arrive in less than two kilometers of bad track at the border post. A border post without a building or any infrastructure. There are only four or five soldiers, custom officers and gendarmes with their motorcycles and their weapons. We are in the middle of the Baoule flood zone, the small river that forms the physical border between the two countries. The river is still dry but in the rainy season the water rises several meters and the whole area is under water.
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| At the border (no pictures of soldiers or officers allowed) |
Once the bed of Boualé crossed we are in Mali, on a very rough track. We will take a half hour to get to the village. We park Gandalf not far from the market and start by visiting the village chief as required by the protocol. This one welcomes us warmly at the foot of a beautiful mango tree.
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| The chief of the village welcomes us |
All we have left to do is to greet the customs officer at the rudimentary post at the exit of the village. He had been warned by his Ivorian colleagues, for him either there is no problem: "the doors are wide open .... ". We are fully legally illegal in Mali!
We walk back to the market which disappoints us a bit. It is not lively and we find there very few fruits and vegetables.
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| At the market of Sandougoula |
We find Gandalf escorted by a myriad of enthusiastic children who do everything to be in the photos that of course I do not fail to do.
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| Children of Sandougoula |
We are back at Cissé's house at around 3:15 pm It's time for lunch: rice and fonio to accompany the mutton and fish.
The afternoon is hot and humid. The lack of wind makes the atmosphere very heavy and stuffy. The fatigue of the day extra and we are ripe for a little nap recovery. Everyone in his room.
The night has just fallen when Cisse decides to finish the visit of the village. He wanted to take us to the second district of the village, but given the late hour we abandon the idea.
Sokoro is indeed divided into two large neighborhoods, almost two villages. With about 7,000 inhabitants it is almost no longer a village but already a small town. The streets are unpaved but are lit, at least in theory because we realize that the vast majority of streetlights have no bulb. What has the gift of annoying Cisse who had done everything to bring electricity to the village. He will take care of it.
The school director and two teachers receive us sitting on chairs in a circle and a flashlight. They give us a presentation of the situation in Sokoro. There are actually two public schools in the village, one in each neighborhood, and a koranic school. The school where we are now receives about 250 students in 6 classes (CP1, CP2, CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2), the system is copied on the French system but with two years in preparation. The other school receives about 130 students and the koranic school 300. Nearly 700 children are thus educated and still far too many children do not go to school at all. What worries the teaching staff. Classes are in French and even the koranic school is little by little in French.
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| Stop at the old school of Cissé on the way back to Odienné |
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