Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Baasi fu wala

3:07 pm | Edit Post
Baasi fu wala. (Translated; no problems at all) is used for many an occasion;  did you pass the night in peace?  Baasi fu wala.  How is you family?  Baasi fu wala.  How was your trip to the capital?  Baasi fu wala.
 
Just yesterday I asked the son of a friend how his younger sister was as I knew she hadn't been at all well.  He informed me without emotion that she had died the day before.  Her parents, from Mali, would spend most of the year in Djibo often calling at our yard looking for help of some kind or another.  Although they owned nothing but the clothes on their backs they always seemed cheerful and friendly.  There daughter was a beautiful little child of about 9 or 10 and it came as a shock that she had died of some illness the previous day and so I called in to pay my respects and say the appropriate words.
 
The ritual greetings of, "did you spend the night in peace", seemed worthless in light of their loss, but it's just what you say here.  "Baasi fu wala" was their response.  I don't think that would have been my response if we had been the ones that had lost a child the day previous.  Fulani culture doesn't give you a choice on how you respond to a tragedy.  Self control must be maintained at all cost, especially in the area of emotion.  To shed a tear in public is extremely shameful.
 
As I looked at the mother she was still smiling, but I could only imagine the pain she must have been experiencing within at the loss of her beautiful little girl.

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