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African Albinism

February 19th, 2008

I see a lot of albinos in Africa.  At first, I thought that maybe they were just more noticeable because everyone else is black and a black albino is definitely more obvious than a white one.  When I went back to the States, I looked for albinos and I just disn’t see any.  Everywhere I go in Africa has a population of albinos, but Cameroon and especially Douala is off the charts.  I have since read that parts of Africa have as many as one in one thousand of the whole population.  That is a significant number for a mostly inherited condition/genetic disorder, but I have to say that I see much more genetic disorders as well as disease related disorders than anywhere else I have traveled.

There are two main issues with albinism in Africa.  First, I have read that they are treated poorly with people having animist beliefs that they are evil and other such crap.  I have not witnessed any of this, but it does not surprise me on a continent where there is so much belief in hocus pocus (I have an entry being formulated in my head that I will write soon about magic crapola in Africa).  Second, they do not live very long lives because they do not have skin pigment to protect them against the sun, most live in places with an intense amount of sunlight and they cannot afford hats and other protection.  When I told a South African that they usually do not live past their 20s he scoffed at this claim.  I was wondering about my “facts” that I had researched in 2006 when I first ran into this condition in numbers.  But then I realized that South Africa is a part of Africa with a lot less daily sunlight than much of Africa around the equator and Sahara.  I just read another doctor’s account where he says that seeing an albino around 40 is very rare.  I saw one today (all the rest in Cameroon have been young), but I wondered if he looked older due to sun damage.  I think the claim that albinos live much shortened lives in most of Africa is very valid and Africa has a much higher incidence of albinism than elsewhere on this planet. 

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Last Days in CAR

February 19th, 2008

We had some exciting activities for the last few days in Central African Republic’s Dzangha Ndoki National Park.  These included a day at Dzangha Bai to watch forest elephants and a host of other animals, a walk through a number of other bais in the park and a gorilla trek.  I also had hoped to visit the local Bantu or Ba’Aka schools and take them supplies as I have done in a number of other African countries.  I was interested in doing a second gorilla trek that was not part of the program and had asked Rod to schedule it for January 24, my birthday.  These are all easy and enjoyable day adventures accessible from the Ndoli Lodge facility located just outside the park and they would be the frosting on our Ba’Aka adventure cake.

 

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The Cowrie Shell

February 18th, 2008

The cowrie shell can be found all over Africa as part of the clothes, decorative items and handicrafts.  I never really thought much about this simple white shell.  It never dawned on me that it is strange to find a shell so widely dispersed and in places not near any ocean.  For instance, I saw a lot of them in Southern Ethiopia especially used by the Hamer people.  I was surprised when I read in Africa: Autobigiograpy of a Continent that the cowrie shell was used as money for many decades and it was introduced by Europeans as payment for slaves.  The shells were harvested in Maldives.  They were rare enough on the continent to pass as a monetary device.  A slave was worth thousands of these worthless shells.  Since reading this book, not a cowrie passes me without raising some hairs on my neck.  The irony that the same shells traded for human lives are now part of the handmade items of the continent is amazing especially when you consider that few Africans know they were used for money at one time and fewer still understand that they were part of the slave trade.  I purchased a wooden statue in Cameroon which is suppose to provide you with wealth although I really bought it because it has a cowrie shell hanging from its neck.  I asked the owner of the store of he understood the connection between the wealth doll and the cowrie shell, but he did not.  I explained it to him and then he understood why all of the wealth fetish items in Cameroon have at least one shell.  Cameroon has more cowrie shells than any other country I have visited and I suppose I may see more in West Africa as I get closer to the center of the slave trade.  In Cameroon, they are in clothes and handicrafts and I see them in people’s hair-dos!  They have fertility necklaces with the opening of the cowrie shell facing out… think about it.  So next time you see the cowrie shell, think about the past.  Maybe it serves as a good reminder.  Too bad so few know the connection and significance although if they did then they would probably stop using them.  History in Africa seems to get lost very quickly.  I suppose there is a lot of history that is best forgotten.  Besides, the cowrie shell is decorative and cheap!  Billions of shells… millions of lives…

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The Ba’Aka Adventure – Part 4

February 18th, 2008

The highlight of the trip with the Ba’Aka was seeing Rod hand over three large bundles of Central African Francs to Louis for distribution to the Ba’Aka that joined us, the other adults in the village and for funding their water well, medicines and other needs.  We came to CAR as a group because our mutual interest in seeing hunters and gatherers in their real setting and to help a much neglected tribe.  They certainly taught us a lot about how their traditional way of life and we were able to show them that there may be a possibility for them to maintain this way of life in conjunction with living in the modern world in a way that is satisfying for them.  The trip was experimental and although there are some things that need to be ironed out for it to become repeatable I think it was a huge success for the Ba’Aka as well as us.

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The Ba’Aka Adventure – Part 3

February 18th, 2008

The plan was for the Ba’Aka men to do a two-day spear hunt into the farthest depths of this forest reserve near the Republic of Congo border and for mzungu folks to join along for the hunt and overnight camping.  The idea was to take very little with us and I was not excited about the concept of not taking tents.  Mainly, I feared jaku and any other bug attack that could take place.  I also think the thought of being unprepared for rain in a rainforest even during dry season is a bit dumb.  I was a bit pissy about the whole thing and just said that I would take my tent with me regardless of the plan.  I didn’t feel very good about being a jerk about it and just wished it would all go away.  By time the day arrived, the plan was changed to make the spear hunt a single day and I was relieved that the issue did just go away.  Since this was an experimental trip, it is no wonder that some mistakes were made.  While we averted one mistake with the tents, we made a couple of others this day.  First, we did not get started until 8:00 AM.  Second, we hiked too far for the mzungu team.  I thought it was a great day of exercise, rainforest touring and excitement in general, but it was not a good team day.

 

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The Ba’Aka Adventure – Part 2

February 18th, 2008

So the second day involved us moving to a new site for a more permanent camp.  The Ba’Aka took us to a nice area that they had camped at in the past near a small stream.  While the men cut down the new saplings to clear an area, we started to construct our tents and the women started to build their Ba’Aka huts or forest igloos as I call them.  Each family had their own little area including our mzungu area and the Ba’Aka bachelor area – all forming a circle of sorts around a large open area.  Each family area included living accommodations (except the bachelors who slept in the open) as well as an open fire.  Some of the Ba’Aka chose not to build complete igloos outfitted fully with marontesa (sp?) leaves because it is dry season in January while others did a full complement of leaves and still others used modern tarps for roofing.  I thought the igloos with no leaves were quite interesting since they served no climate-protection, privacy or other purpose than to delineate their household area.  Actually, it seems there is nothing in the Ba’Aka world that is private. 

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The Ba’Aka Adventure – Part 1

February 6th, 2008

We spent the first day in CAR buying goods such as rice in Bayanga that were needed for the camping trip. While waiting around in Bayanga, I saw a number of duikers go by in baskets that had been purchased in the local market area. Duikers are small antelope that live in the rainforest and all of this bushmeat is adding up in an alarming rate. There is some legal hunting in the area, but all indications are that most if not all of this bushmeat is based on illegal hunting. The following morning we arrived at the village where Louis Sarno lives and we seemed to be greeted by dozens of Ba’Aka with a celebration including drumming and a mythical dancing character made out of leaves. Unfortunately, we soon learned that this was a death celebration for a woman that died a few days later in labor after giving birth to one of her twins. Ups and downs like this are just part of Ba’Aka life.
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Football and Elections

February 5th, 2008

We are once again stuck in Douala after spending 3+ days on the coast in Limbe where it was nice to relax, but a bit boring.  Douala is a bit boring, too, and it is easy to see why it is not a major travel destination.  Yesterday we visited the central market and it was by far the best market scene I have seen in Afica or Latin America.  The people are exceptionally friendly and they had a lot of unusual things for sale such as the red palm oil that they produce and consume in huge volumes, odd-looking vegetables and fruits and plant materials such as bark, traditional medicines, and animal parts as well as the normal stuff like clothes, chickens, goats, pineapples, etc.  I was definitely the freak of the market and people loved saying hello to me.  Pam got a good view of what it is like to be mzungu in a local situation in Africa and she thought all of the attention was fun.  It is fun!  We struggled trying to find out what some of the odd stuff is used for, but there are a surprising number of Cameroonians that speak English well to help us through the questions and answers.  Two guys got me to try chewing a bark that has some medicinal properties and it was horrible, but it definitely affected my head even after spitting it out after a couple of minutes.  I could not find bushmeat for sale, but I did find stalls selling animal parts such as tortoise shells, forest animal skins and snake skins including one that we opened up that was a python that was about five meters in length.  We only scratched the surface of this huge market in over three hours and we will go back if this Douala episode continues.  We are supposedly leaving the city by plane on Thursday for the northern part of the country, but who knows since we are in the Cameroon twilight zone.

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Cameroon to CAR

February 3rd, 2008

I decided to go back and re-read what I wrote about my last visit to Central African Republic’s (CAR) Dzanga-Ndoki National Park.  Unfortunately, all I found is tales about the trip from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo (ROC) into Northern ROC.  Then I remembered my five day trip out of this area and back to Vermont and how burned out I was by all of it.  I could not find the time or energy to go back to ROC and CAR and so the tales about rivers, river people, forests and forest people were never told.  I still remember that trip well and although the travel was very difficult, the experience was top-notch.  In particular, the forest people, Ba’Aka, were the highlight.  That was because all I could see when we first met them was a pathetic lot of malnourished, out-of-place people, but when we entered the forest with them a remarkable transformation occurred and they became in my mind the most amazing people I have seen.  The Ba’Aka have essentially lost their home, the Congo forests, and these nomadic, hunters and gatherers have been forced into a sedentary life in Bantu river people villages.  This transformation was so magical and such a slap-in-the-face for my pre-judgement (in reality, they really are pathetic out of the forest), I decided this year to make another difficult trip to see these amazing people in a much more in-depth manner.

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Let’s Go Cameroon

January 29th, 2008

I think Pamela must be in the air, but I have no message confirming that Kenya Airways allowed her to board.  Jean Pierre saved the day by getting documentation from Cameroon and passing that to KA in Cameroon.  What a mess!  I’ll look forward to discussing it all with KA in Nairobi.  That, I guess, assumes I will be going back to Nairobi.  I am obviously quite concerned about the slippery slope to civil war that Kenya is now on.  Tribal identity over national identity… add in a faulty election and then stupid remarks from the guy that retains power and the other “leaders” plus an assasinaton and civil war is suddenly very close.  We have three weeks to watch and decide what to do.  I bought masks today and spent the rest of the day working on Kenya photos.  Uganda is done and I uploaded some, but the internet is too slow here to allow me to upload all.  Will keep working on the photos (Egypt and Brazil someday) and upload them as soon as someone’s internet connection is good enough.  Douala has been charming for a not-so-charming city.  It is sweltering here, but this is the dry and cool season.  The women and men dress colorfully and I sense I am in West Africa.  I think it is more like the coastal areas of East Africa than anything else in between although this is not a Muslim area.  And everyone speaks French.  And I have found few yet that do not speak English although they all claim to not speak it well and then have a lengthy conversation with you.  Africans are way smarter than most of us with languages and it is humbling.  When I was with the Ba’Aka I learned they can mimic anything and that is an amazingly good tool for learning languages fast.  They can sing anything back pretty clearly and they have no idea what the words mean!  Two year olds sit around whistling (I kid you not) and humming the songs their parents sing.  No wonder there is so much musical talent in Africa.  I’m pretty sure Cameroon is going to impress me a lot and make me wish for more of West Africa.

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