The Niger River, often referred to as the pulse of West Africa, is home to many people who rely on it and its surrounding land for their livelihoods. By exploring technology's role in their lives, Tom Owen hopes to illustrate the creativity, determination and ingenuity of the people who call the banks of this river their home.
On Our Way
Sent 05/27/06
Our journey is finally about to begin. Eli and I had been debating what we should consider our starting point for some time - was it the day we left Tamale, or was it when we left Bamako packed and fully ready for the voyage ahead? As I sit in our hotel room looking at our three shiny new bicycles we bought yesterday I know that our journey really begins tomorrow when we set out north on our long journey back to Bamako.
We've spent the last few days in the town of Kissidougou. We came to Kissidougou thinking it would be the easiest way to reach the headwaters of the river near Forokonia. The 187 kilometres from Kankan took 9 hours, with a moderate dose of car problems and a major dosage of off road driving. We wouldn't hazard to guess how long it would take to Forokonia, another 200+ kilometres half of which is on road considered "difficult."
In any case, we have found our beginning - this town rests rear the Niandan River, a tributary of the Niger, and our route back to Kankan takes turns following the Niandan and another tributary of the Niger, the Milo. The truth is that water falling in any part of this region finds its way into the Niger eventually. There are dozens of small rivers and streams around this town, most without names, but all eventually become something called the Niandan River and at some point will again change names to become the Niger River. Any river has many beginnings; we have found ours at Kankan.
More importantly for us, our route allows us to travel through an area we already know and have a feel for. Anywhere we travel I'm sure we will find welcoming villages and towns and people willing to take us in - I've already seen glimpses of the generosity and warmth of Guineans. What's important for us is logistics. Guinea is a country with an electrical grid, but no electricity and very little in the way of communications infrastructure. Retracing the route we travelled to Kissidougou, we at least know we will be able to get in touch with the outside world at regular intervals.
Kissidougou has been good to us. The first night we arrived I was rebuffed by the hotel manager after asking him to give a good price to his friend, namely me. He bluntly told me we were not friends. He was right at the time, and I had to laugh at his honest reply, but in a way he has turned out to be wrong. Mohamed, the 23 year old who runs this small hotel for his family has been our friend and guide for the last few days. He has taken us to buy all the supplies we need, showed us the better part of his town and most importantly shared his life with us, introducing us to his family and friends. This sort of thing is commonplace here. Wherever I have been in West Africa people like to be good hosts and take care of a guest in their town or home. It's especially true in Guinea where there aren't many tourists and an outsider is a welcome surprise.
The area around Kissidougou is home to refugee camps for both people from Sierra Leone and Liberia. After being immersed in French and Malinke it came as a surprise to hear so much English being spoken in a place so off the tourist track. It seems like half the traffic on the roads has been white SUVs from the UN or the many NGOs that are working with the refugees. So many people here have heartbreaking stories and many have a hard time going back after being away from their country for a decade.
Eli and I spent a good portion of our time on the way to Kissidougou wondering just how we were going to find a guide. Neither of us is really fluent in French and although we could get by it would be much better if we had an English-speaking guide. Luckily for us there are a large number of English speakers amongst the Guinean population here. Almost everyone who works for an NGO or the UN speaks English.
On Thursday we set out to find somewhere where we could send an email. In our travels we met a Guinean journalist who had been working with an NGO in Kissidougou. We had a great conversation with Ishmael about life as a journalist in Guinea and we decided to meet that night to continue our conversation. At dinner we presented our problem and asked if he knew anybody who could join us for the trip. We were both surprised when he offered himself for the position. Ishmael told us he sees our mission as similar to his work; I'm interested to see his take on what we see along the way.
As I write Eli is outside adjusting our bikes - one broken pedal and three useless kickstands already discarded make me somewhat wary of our new bicycles, but they are the same model that carries everyone else around so I'm sure they will hold up.
It seems like a cliche to even talk about it but it can't be underestimated how important the bicycle is here. In cities many people aspire to own a motorcycle, but for many people in small villages a bicycle may very well be the most important thing they own. A bicycle allows someone to carry their goods to market, to travel to the farm each day or make a trip to a nearby town to buy some needed supplies. Transport expands a person's world. Before the bicycle a person's world was limited to how far they could walk and their commerce to what they could carry on their head. A bicycle expands that world and allows them to carry more to market.
Of course, motorised transport makes a huge difference as well, and in many places people move to market in a minivan, rather than on bicycle. But still the bicycle retains its importance as a vehicle that is affordable and can go anywhere - which given that state of roads in this part of the world is an important criterion.
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Sarah Lewis is an economics student at Waterloo. She volunteered with Engineers Without Borders in Cameroon on a project to improve rural water and sanitation conditions and to build the capacity of rural groups to manage community projects.What I find most interesting about Tom's plan is the focus on learning about technology. You gain a lot of insight into people from the tools, processes and machines that they create and use to better their lives. But technology not only serves a useful purpose by increasing comfort and the efficiency of work, it is also an expression of culture. In the lines of a hand-hewn canoe lie the logic of its construction, the form of the chisel and mallet used in its building, and some would even say the sweat and the ache of the artisan's arm. In the style of a home we can see the particular needs, means and tastes of a family. As we build and live in our homes we are expressing something very deep about who we are.
As a volunteer in Cameroon with Engineers Without Borders, I saw many hand-made tools that I was used to seeing in manufactured form, such as manioc graters that were handmade locally from pieces of tin poked with a nail. I also saw materials being used and re-used in inventive ways. One example was found up in the palm trees, where old gas cans hung, collecting sap for palm-wine. It was also clear that machines were precious and expensive to replace, evidenced by the ancient sewing machines tailors used in the market and by how several of the large mortars used for pounding palm nuts and grain remained in use after beginning to split down the sides.
Whether the product of constrained resources and human ingenuity or an expression of culture, technology is fascinating stuff. I look forward to following Tom's adventures and writings along this theme.
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Levi Goertz is Director of Chapter Development for Engineers Without Borders Canada, and an engineering graduate from the University of Saskatchewan. He volunteered with EWB in Mali on a project to help women's groups in rural areas gain access to energy services through small businesses built around a diesel engine and equipment such as cereal grinders, battery chargers and water pumps.Bicycling and paddling down the Niger, there are many friendly and wonderful people for one to meet. Meeting people is easy but really getting to know them can be difficult. There are many barriers standing between Tom and Eli and West Africa. Culture, language, common understanding, worldview and religion will likely hold major differences between Canadians and Guineans or Malians. One that is often easy to miss however is gender.
The divided world of women and men is often masked to westerners living in a society moving towards gender equality where less and less is deemed men's or women's work. We sometimes have trouble understanding how things could be different in other parts of the world. Men have their place and women have their place. Tom and Eli are men. They will be met by village chiefs and heads of households; they will speak with the most powerful and progressive. Only on rare occasions will these people be women. Men are more likely to have gone to school and learnt French. Women almost exclusively don't speak French in Mali. It will be very difficult for a West African woman to identify with our Canadian friends. The social norms in their society give them a life bearing little in common to that of one in Canada. Their social structure has them taking care of the home and children and often hidden in the background.
It will be a real challenge for Tom and Eli to connect with these women and tell their stories. Most westerners wouldn't even know where to start. I think they'll find some success because they will be so close to the communities with whom they stay. They will find the outgoing, curious women striving to create change. The poorer, more isolated will be tougher to connect with.
Comments:
What an inspiring undertaking. I hope your travels are full of learning and expansion of your viewpoint of the world... no doubt they have already and will continue to do so.
I'm looking forward to hearing about the different people and wish you safe travels.
Stephanie
06/08/06 @ 13:24 You guys are nuts! I'll be thinking of you both and wishing you Godspeed and safetravel. And the experiance of a lifetime.
I'm glad you're sharing Africa with your friends and the world.
Best wishes,
Bud
06/09/06 @ 06:55 Comments are closed for this post.