Conversation partner week2 Rita Schwab I met with Eric Minoungou again on Wednesday afternoon. His life and culture is so very different and very interesting. We talked about family and had decided to bring pictures to share. I showed him my pictures of my daughter's wedding and the last Christmas with my family. He was very impressed and thought that I come from a happy family as everyone was always smiling in the pictures. He also thought that I come from a rich family, as the table was always set so nicely and colorfully. This is part of my german heritage and my love for color and fun at the table as I am an artist, but has nothing to do with money. He loved the wedding garments and was a bit overwhelmed. His pictures showed his father, who turns out to be 90 years old, dressed in a long colorful African robe. This was a pictures of him receiving a government award for community service in his town and his country. Eric's father has received a lot of respect from the Green Labor Union, politically a left wing organization. Eric's father is not connected to the state government as he does not believe in its authenticity. Eric says, the government is too conservative and right wing, although democratic, which does not mean much. We agreed that it is similiar in the US and his family supports President Obama. Eric's father came from a very poor family and decided to work as a business man in imports and exports all of his life, making him a lot of good money to earn his status in his country as well as his status with community members and his family. He believes in sharing his wealth freely and helps the poorer community members with housing, food, jobs and community support. This he does absolutely for free as he is kind hearted and a wise man, a leader in his community. He is against poverty, corruption and the misleading government. He receives visitors and respect from all over the world, especially from France as Burkina Faso used to be a french colony and has close ties to France. His stature earns him the right to have multiple wives, of which he has 3. All of them are at least half of his age. He did not conceive children until he was almost 60. His oldest son is 32, his youngest daughter is 16. Eric has lived with his entire family all of his life, which means he has one biological mother and 2 step mothers living in the same house. He has lived with his 9 brothers and sisters as long as he has lived. One of his brothers died last year at the age of 16, a very sad and unexpected death. Eric wants to go to medical school so he can be active in his community as a doctor to bring more knowledge about western medicine to his people. His family did not understand the cause of his brother's death. His father has built a new home fairly recently - I don't know how recent. Eric said everyone has his/her own room, which is unusual in his country. When I asked about the bathrooms he said that they have 2 outhouses. The houses are constructed of concrete block. I did not see a picture of his home. But he had some pictures of some of his brothers and sisters and 2 of his 3 moms and their sisters (his aunts) and a picture of the recent New Years Eve party in town at a local hotel, that seems to be a family tradition. We also talked a bit about religion and I am not sure whether I got a clear picture on this. Men only go to church, which is a christian church. Women only assist. And I did not get clarity on what Eric meant with assisting, but it seems that women are not allowed to go to church. He says only men celebrate and pray. His father also has the right to do sacrifices such as chickens and sheep. I asked him whether he is a shaman, but could not get the proper answer. His father does call on spirits. I asked Eric whether he was planning to marry more than one woman and he laughed. He said that the culture is rapidly changing. He comes from a very old cultural family. Eric thinks of himself as traditional, respectful and compassionate. He has another given name - Passoukwend, meaning 'Doing Good'. His birthday is on February 6th and I asked him what his horoscope was. He said he doesn't believe in that. I was sorry to hear that the people in his country and his family are prejudiced against whites. Apparently his mothers are calling him often to find out whether he is going to be o.k. and whether the white people are treating him kindly. It was quite a session - much to ask, much to find out and we didn't not want to part. |
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