The Boys from Araouane
Araouane, Mali 2005:
Araoune is an important oasis in the Sahara between Tombouctou and Taodenni.
The mullah who taught at the Araouane madrassa was considered holy by all who knew of him. His blessing was sought by the Touareg men of the salt caravans before they headed to Taodenni and again on their return when they departed for villages in the south. Our leader, Alberto Nicheli, observed this ritual and our group received the blessing of the mullah before we headed north.
These boys are holding their “school books”. They are wooden tablets that remind me of the stone tablets that the Ten Commandments were written on when received by Moses. The Arabic script, much smudged, has most likely been written by the mullah. When they attend classes, the boys read and memorize the writings which are from the Koran. This is the main purpose of their schooling.
When I was in Chinguetti, Mauritania, I visited a family whose patrimony was a library full of ancient manuscripts. Some books were mathematical texts, astronomy, etc. Some were Korans or the Hadiths. We were told that often the ink flowed down the wooden or leather pages of these holy books threatening to drip onto the ground. The scribe would hold the page so that the ink would drip into his mouth. He would swallow this ink as it had become holy since it had been shaped, although temporarily, into the words of the Koran or the Hadiths. (Hadiths are writings by others, some of them contemporaries, about Mohammed.)
The boys wear clothing that has been shipped to Africa by charitable groups from western countries, mainly America. The clothing is sold in bales. The buyer, a small merchant, does not know what the bale contains. He pays and then sells whatever he has received in small markets throughout his home area. Buyers are pleased to have something from the west rather than their traditional clothing.
One boy wears orange colored selwar, or baggy pants, and the other wears a thob, which is like a djellaba but has no hood. You can see from the size of the coat the boy on the right wears, that fit is of no consequence. I have seen men proudly wear a woman’s coat. Really, no one but a seamstress or tailor would know as you need to be aware that men’s clothing buttons left over right and women’s buttons right over left.
(When I was in high school in South Carolina, we girls were required to take Home Economics. I didn’t want to take that class, but I must say that I am glad I did. The knowledge I gained has served me all these years.)