Coming to you from Moribabougou...
Fata on the left and Alliou on the right, host brother and sister.
This was everyone from my family I could
round up at that moment. That's about half of the people who regularly live in/sleep in/ come in and out of our concession. The serious default is just an African thing: they all really do smile.My host mother. That's me on the left.
My host mother, Fatimata, is president of a Moribabougou Women's Association and is generally important community member, if nothing else because she's incredibly old: few things outrank the respect you get from age in Mali, and nothing, not even a married man with four wives, can pull rank on you if you're older.
3 comments:
What is the age range of people in your host family. And how old is Fatimata? The serious default is so interesting. We're so accustomed to people smiling when having their picture taken.
Also, where did you get the outfit and earrings you are wearing in the picture with Fatimata? You look quite stunning in that color by the way!
Age is still something I'm having trouble figuring out: Fatimata, I think, is around 60, which is very old in a place where the life expectancy is 47 (yes, the 5 and under mortality rate pulls that number way down so it's not actually that bad). Most of Fatimata's daughers, my sisters, were mid/late twenties and had at least one kid, 14 months being the youngest daughter's son, and Fata at age 10 being the "kid in charges of the kids." Families are really really tough because it's perfectly acceptable to be taking care of a kid for years that isn't even yours.
As far as the outfit, my Family got it made for me. They were pretty good at reading me and what I liked: the brown is a great color, and they gave me another peacock blue complet with yellow flowers that kind of look like sunflowers. The sister I talked with the most gave me the earrings and they gave me matching shoes too--the correct size and everything!
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