Oye!

Englanniksi tällä kertaa, koska kirjoitin nämä kuulmiset jo kerran, eikä nyt oikein hotsita kääntää koko litania Suomeksi.

The time is for me quite good. I was on the road for 5days with Alfa, Abullai and Bongo, they are all local men working for child-aid in Bissorá. Alfa speaks english very well, Abullai very little and Bongo not at all. In the beginning it was difficult, and I didn’t feel like belonging with them, but after one day we started to connect and become friends. We went to different places, villages and towns where they are building the latrines for the schools, and together with the community we transported sand, stones and cement for the construction, next week building will start, and I will again join for some days. 2 nights we spent in government buildings where no one lives, and that was nice, I had good place to do yoga in the mornings. 3 nights we spent in peoples homes, 2 of them were the chiefs of the villages. In all houses they are very friendly, they made nice food for us I eat a bit of chicken and fish here and it is really good, not every day, and only small pieces, like locals, and it feels really all right like that. Natural fish, and roadrunner, chicken. We paid for the ingredients because they are poor people.

In one village working was frustrating, because the men were drinking caju wine, and they got drunk, screamed in an aggressive way to the children and created very bad vibes. I told them what I thought, and they pretended to agree, but their eyes were laughing. It is common here, that drinking is something to laugh about, and even it really creates a lot of disturbance in society it is accepted, except among the muslims, and the good thing is there is a lot of them. I helped a lot with the sand and stones, and Iworked hard together with them, and they respected me for this. I think this is important and good, to show the example of working hard and not giving up instantly when you are tired. Of course it is important to rest, but it seems, that here people go and rest immediately when they feel a little bit tired. Of course many of them don’t eat so much, usually one time a day, and some days not at all. But on the other hand, how will they get more to eat if they don’t work harder? Nothing is black and white, I know…

Before we went from the village, the men asked me for some money to buy more wine, and I said no, it is not good for you, it makes the body weak and you get tired, but they just said it makes them strong, and they kept begging me. Then I had enough a little bit, and I took the caju wine canister from them, pretended to drin k from it, and started to pretend I was drunk, acting like them when they were drunk earlier, screaming and staggering, and that made them a little bit ashamed. I shook the hand of the chief, and we went to the next village which was a muslim village and very nice. We went to the chiefs house and sat down with his family and relaxed, the sun was setting and we all felt good. The chiefs wife offered me her daughter as a wife, and I could just laugh a bit, I was so surprised. This girl was maybe 15 years old and very clean, strong and working good with taking care of the children and cleaning and fetching water, that was a happy village.

When we were sitting there, a car drove up, and some men came to greet the chief and us. They gave everybody cans of cold Fanta, and soon a plate of rice and chicken was brought up. We all ate with good appetite, and the men were discussing a lot, I couldn’t say much except where I was from, my name, what I do, and greet them with the usual phrases, but it was enough. When the men went I asked Alfa who they were, and it turned out it was a member of parliament who had been invited to the village Simboa to watch a football game, and afterwards to eat at the chiefs house. We came there at the right time, the food was good, and Alfa made a good contact with the MP.

The muslims have ramadan now, and they started in the weekend. Even though the people of the village, and Abullai, didn’t eat or drink all day, they still worked very good and I enjoyed putting my efforts together with them. At first we wanted to fetch stones for the construction with our car, but the ground was too soft. First we had the idea of using a donkey and a wagon, but we couldn’t find any, and no wheelbarrow either. Then the next day Abullai came up with the simple idea of using buckets, and carry the stones to the car, and that we did, about 15 buckets, and 20 people everybody carrying, and after 2 hours we were finished, sometimes the solution is too simple to see right away.

The roads here are really terrible. In many places there is only patches of asphalt left, the holes in the road are very deep, and you can drive maybe 20km/hour, motorbike is faster, but we need the car for transporting materials and people. I felt happy and satisfied with our work when we returned to Bissora, and next week I go again for some days to help with the building, this time with Alfa on the motorbike, I drove a bit myself one day and I loved it, so long since I rode a bike the last time.

Today we had a visit from the french embassy, the ambassador himself and an assistant. We went to three different villages where they have built farmers wells, and they also showed him the pre-school of child-aid, and the vocatinal school. For me it was quite boring because I didn’t understand so much, but it was nice to visit the villages, the people are so beautiful and natural.

Last week I finishedmy painting in the classroom(flowers, grass and plants with the cardinal numbers), and I was quite satisfied with the result, now I have been painting the multiplication tables in an other classroom. I like this life I have now. I can work with things very different from each other, I enjoy the physical work outside some days, then again this painting and concentrating on details I like also very much, and I feel it is important to practice this in order to make my own paintings one day. I am also making the logo of ADPP and child aid on our car. I have planted some moringa trees at the preschool, and tomorrow I will plant about ten more since I found out that Alfa has a Moringa growing in his yard. The Moringa is a tree that grows very fast and has very nutritious leaves. The seeds can be used to make oil, and for water purification. I eat some leaves every day in order to get minerals and vitamins.

I went running today with my friend Daniel and it was really good, the air is full of Prana, and I pushed myself a little bit hard, but it felt so nice. I spent ramadan for two days as well, to clean a bit my body inside and get closer to God. I didn’t eat or drink all day, only in the evening, and it was really good, especially being without drink was interesting, my kidneyss liked the rest and I have a different feeling in my lower back now.

Today I made a new friend when I was walking home from work, he is a Gambian doctor working for doctors wothout borders, and we started to talk about the human body and the digestive system, and we connected really good. I want to learn more from him, and he wants to learn yoga also. Tomorrow I will come home from Bissau in his car, his name is doctor Bubaka.

Life is good because I can do what I want, nobody is telling me what I should do, and I feel free and creative. Usually we work from 8 in the morning until around two in the afternoon, and after this we hang out at our house, reading, talkin, drinking coffee & tea J sleeping, what ever you want. This is good, and I feel myself getting more involved in everything, and my feeling of wanting to help getting stronger when nobody is busting my balls about things I SHOULD do, or how I SHOULD be like I often felt in Lindersvold, I really believe a lot of good things are destroyed with this kind of attitude.Usually there is some children hanging around, and many locals come and visit also. One guy Usumani I have been teaching to play the guitar, and he is very enthusiastic. One day I went to the vocational school with Gisela to speak with a man named Barca about edible plants. He knows really a lot, and we decided to co-operate later on with a campaign about nutrition and edible wild plants. We will speak and hold demonstrations in the farmers clubs, and also in our school and the vocational schools. The water filters I haven’t made yet since I need more cow dung, but Alfa told me today he knows a place close to our house where we can find some, and I will go with him next week and gather some.

With the people of the house it is more or less good. Today I spoke my mind with everybody very honestly and directly, and it felt relieving, because I have been feeling some difficulties with some of them. With Margharita we have a good friendship going, and I like it. Also with Gisela it is ok, and we have nice conversations from time to time.

We get paid 25 000 francs (40euro) every week which is the double of what a teacher here earns. I feel really free, I can buy all I need, some clothes, mangoes, nuts, food, and still plenty is left over.

Facebook toimii täällä hyvin huonosti, en ole päässyt kertaakaan käsiksi, joten älkää odottako yhteydenottoa sitä kautta, jos tuntuu siltä, niin kirjoitelkaa ihmeessä, JeanFransman@Gmail.com
Rakkautta kaikille ja suukkoja kans ;)