Life, Death, and Extortion - Part 1

Life, Death, and Extortion

Life, death, and extortion. As I'm sure you know, all of these are pretty heavy topics, so I figured I'd spread them out over the course of 2 weeks.

Part 1 - Life and Death

Life and death. Baptisms and funerals. Over the span of 24 hours I've observed both in my village. I am an observer of so many things here, the majority of which I don't understand
Funerals: This past week, the father of one of my students passed away. The class was informed during one of my tests and were asked to give money to the family of the deceased. Even though I don't know the student well and didn't know the father at all, I felt obligated to go pay my respects. When I arrived, there was a group of men all sitting, talking and eating next to the house where the body was. Across the road, there was a group of women doing the same thing and here I am, white and neither man nor woman in their eyes, so they set me up in a chair, in the middle of both groups. Thankfully it wasn't long before others from school arrived and sat around me. At first I was amazed by how much it mirrored everyday life, aside from the screams of both men and women coming from inside the house. People were sitting around talking and eating. Then, everyone (with the noted exception of the biology teacher and myself) gathered in and around the mosque to do what I can only assume were the funeral rites. They prayed and then the imam sang and chanted. Then all the men followed the corpse to where it was going to be buried. I don't know where because women aren't allowed to be there. As the corpse was carried away, the women threw themselves onto the ground making sounds that scared me. I can't imagine how the kids felt. And then, it was over. People dusted themselves off and started to return to their houses as if nothing had happened. This is one of the rare things I've seen people do both quickly and efficiently. With the heat they can't afford to waste time before burying the body, so everything happens the day after the death. They are mourned, they are buried. Death has always been a part of life, but here it just seems to happen way too often due to sickness, diseases, and accidents. It's something they've had years to get used it.
Baptisms: I'm not sure how old babies are when they are baptized, but they sure throw a huge party when it happens. Everyone wears their nicest, and there is lots of singing, dancing, and eating. A band of women just danced down the street, shouting into megaphones asking for money. As for the actual ceremony, only people of a certain last name were invited so I don't have the details. It's actually a lot like a funeral, except it's celebrating life instead of mourning death.

These events lately have made black and white another way in which I'm an outsider. Yes I'm white and a stranger, but I'm also not muslim. That's how they think of it. Not that I'm a Christian, but that I'm not muslim, and therefore I'm not allowed to participate in most of the ceremonies. During the funeral (which I only observed) I had a pretty serious conversation with the biology teacher at my school. Like me, he isn't from this area, and he's not a muslim. He told me that the last mayor of the village had been run out of town because he was a Christian and would pray with other Christian villagers. The village declared that it's a muslim village and that you can't pray in public here. I was shocked to hear this because I've only ever heard that Guineans are extremely tolerant of other religions. As if that wasn't shocking enough, he told me that he was once one of 3 who were here to help the village. The others didn't feel comfortable staying here because people had broken into their homes and stolen all of their things. It's like a story straight from the Bible. One I never thought I'd be living. Religious persecution? This is the 21st century!
All of this has given me so much to think about. Can I/ do I want to stay in a place like this when they don't even want me here? I ask this even though I know the answer. Yes. I should stay here and help these people, but...that's where the extortion part comes into play and makes it really tough to stay here.

TO BE CONTINUED...