Fete de Ramadan 2009

Me at homestay with homestay mother Aissatou and "Sister" Aissatou and older Coultchoumi. They actually smiled for a photo!!!

Fete De Ramadan was a fun three days, starting on Sunday. I went to my homestay family's house Friday night to spend a few days with them. Upon arriving I found out that my little sister, the baby Coultchoumi had died about a month ago. She had always been sick and malnourished and finally didn't make it. However, all the rest of the family was there, including my homestay brother and it was a really nice visit, so relaxing, so nice to be back there, and see old friends.

Homestay father and brother Abdu (with other random boy) show me their Manioc (Cassava) and Follere field

The morning of the Fete, all the men went to a giant field in Nassarao out by the high school for the prayer. I didn't go to watch, but I sat outside our doorway and watched the parade of men walk back from the prayer to the town, all in beautiful fete clothes, old men with walking sticks, fathers with little sons in gandoras (big robe), cars, motos, people on foot. Honestly I had no idea that there were so many people in Nassarao! I had wanted to go to the Grand Mosque in Garoua to watch the prayer there, but when it came down to it, I felt bad leaving my family again after such a short visit, so I stayed put thinking maybe for Fete de Mouton, I'll go. I left shortly after that, and when I got to Garoua, the people were still leaving the Grand Mosque, hoards upon hoards of people, talk about rushhour traffic! all the beautiful colors. Seeing all the people, the seas of people, I was thinking, wow I wish everyone coming to visit me in Cameroon would come visit around a fete, to be able to see all this. This is what I want to show people.
I got all dressed up, all prettied up, with my hair braided, henna on my hands and feet, my new clothes and went to a concert in the afternoon/evening with Jessie, Emily and Cameroonian friends. It was a group called Waam, sponsored by the Alliance who are amazing. They are a traditional Northern music/jazz fusion and I love their sound.

Waam frontman Alpha Barry

The next day I spent visiting a few neighbors, like Stephanie (an old education volunteer who lived in Garoua) neighbors, which was really nice. This is the typical pasttime around Fete. Everyone goes to relatives and friends houses to visit, eat, sit together.
The evening of the second day were the horse races as well, which of course I couldn't miss. There were only three races so it went by quickly but there was a little performance by XMaleya, a hit group from the south of Cameroon during it and all the fanfare with the Lamido of Garoua, so the whole event was a little longer.
The third day of the Fete I went back home and Jessie met me there and we walked behind the mountains to the village of Israel. Their Fete was completely different, almost the same as any other day in the Foulbe villages, with the men sitting on mats eating by the mosque. However this time they were all in their finest attire. We sat and talked a bit and then went walking even further, another 30 minutes or so out into the country, the real "stix." Where the kids were having a dance out there with the cows. No adults were allowed, no parents, although there were a few "chaperones," unmarried men around the age of 23 or so. Even little kids aged 6 went. They danced and danced and danced, and played their games until around 1 or 2 am. Jessie and I only made it to 10 pm before heading back to turn in! But it was something to see, something to experience. Magical.

Foulbe kids who are in love with the camera