Short Subjects & Current Events

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The Winter Holiday has begun, just in the nick of time.

We are leaving for Israel tonight, via Madrid, staying in Herzylia Pituach, where we lived in the early 90s.  I have several personal goals for the holiday:  visit with old friends and former colleagues, particularly Eva, Robyn and Loretta;  visit Maktesh Gadol (photo 1), a rich fossil site in the Negev Desert (where you are able to walk on a coral reef dating to the Jurassic);  visit the grotto beneath the Dome of the Rock;  wander through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem;  look for a hardware store for ROV parts;  and dive Apollonia.  

I'm bringing my dive gear and underwater housing on the chance that the Med calms and clears.  Eighteen years ago, I had the remarkable pleasure of assisting marine archaeologist Eva Grossman in her survey of the former Byzantine harbor of Apollonia.  Ironically, no serious research has taken place since this survey.  The opportunity of returning to Apollonia with underwater video gear is remarkable.  The sea, however, is changeable this time of year.  Finding clear, calm water will require some luck.

It is the nature of international schools that students come and go, as their parents' work assignments change.  We lost two students last week, Jade and Kesina.  Jade's father was reassigned to Jakarta, Indonesia;  Kesina is rejoining her mum, who is training in the Washington, DC area.  Kesina had a tearful departure after the ISD Holiday Program last Thursday night, as photo 2 shows.  Thankfully, the internet allows us to stay in touch, whether by email, instant messaging, Skype, or our class website.

Students performed for their families on Thursday night at the ISD Holiday Program.  Photographs, audio and video clips are available for viewing/listening at 

http://www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/PhotoVideoTRI2.html 

(Gallery 8).

Our current inquiry unit, entitled Lucy's Locking Knees, explores our human ancestry.  In photo 4 students -- Momodou (Gambia), Emily (USA), Filipa (Portugal), Charbel (Burkina Faso) and Anthea (Australia) -- perform a skit demonstrating their understanding of taphonomy, or how fossils are, or are not, created.  Photographs of the skits are available at

http://www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/PhotoVideoTRI2.html 

(Gallery 7).

Anthea's mum, Wendy, operates a little import/export business, trading in Africana.  She knows of my interest in creepy stuff, as juju-rich fetishes, and recently acquired two undeniably creepy objects, both from Congo, both with primate skulls (one is a baboon) incorporated into a closed woven basket (note photo 5).  Evidently, the objects were used for divination, as one might use the more familiar crystal ball.  They are certainly provoking, and led to much discussion in class.

Just Because I'm Holding Your Hand Doesn't Mean We're In Love: Electrostatic Forces Amongst Proto-Adolescents

We are electric beings, wired and charged.  Nowhere is this more evident than when a sixth grade boy is required to hold the hand of a sixth grade girl.  The result is electrifying.

In my classroom, we open the day with a series of theater exercises, the intent being to focus the room, transitioning from activities outside (typically involving some variation of running, kicking, chasing, being chased, laughing), to the quiet focus expected inside.  The exercises include a few stretches, and a few movement routines, requiring that students follow my lead.

We close by joining hands and sending a pulse -- receiving and sending a squeeze of hands -- around the group, first in one direction, then the other, then three times around, transmitting the pulse as quickly as possible.

The quality with which the class transfers the pulse is a good indicator of the group's collective focus.  Some mornings the pulse is sluggish, moving in fits and starts, or fails to make it around at all.  Other mornings it's electric, as if the pulse is thrown rather than passed, almost magical.

The holding of hands in a circle is a challenge.  Boys tend to gravitate to the east, girls to the west, with Mr. Spedding on the north end.  That south end is where the action is.  The girls tend to be settled, prepared to extend a hand.  The boy's end, on the other hand, tends to dance around like a free live electrical line sparking wildly in an intersection, with jeers and cackles and hoots, reminiscent of a Discovery Channel program on chimpanzees threatened by a predator.  

Ah, to be eleven and twelve!  I'm pleased to be observing them with an additional forty years of life experience.

ROV Scorpion Deployed By Boat Off Goree Island

You'll find lots of media from this day at Gallery 12.

Eleven of us, including seven ISD students, headed out with both ROVs yesterday morning for our first boat dive.  We rented a boat with Oceanium, an organization offering dive training, dive trips, and operating a well-respected environmental program.  

The kids and I have thus far constructed two ROVs, the frames designed by 6th grade Derek (the SS-Sub), and 9th grade Davy (ROV Scorpion).  They have similar thruster/light/camera configurations:  three 800 gpm bilge pumps, two vertical, one horizontal;  two 20 w halogen bulbs;  a Wisecomm Oc295 video camera, rated to 90 ft, available through amazon.com;  tethered to the surface with three pairs of 18 gauge speaker wire to a 12 volt 7 amph sealed battery;  the camera split to a Sony camcorder and a Toshiba 11 inch DVD player;  all leads waterproofed using a product called PlastiDip.

The two ROVs differ in the length of their tethers:  the SS-Sub has a 10 m tether, the Scorpion was designed with a longer 16 m tether.

It was windy all Friday night, and still gusty on Saturday morning.  Our journey to the lee side of Goree was directly into the wind and the swell.  Progress was slow, and we were sopped with spray, as the boat operator navigated through the waves.  The kids, of course, loved it.  

We anchored in a relative quiet, wind-protected side of Goree in about 10 m of water.  The water was clear, with only a slight current.  The bottom was mixed sand and scattered rock, so the potential for getting snagged was low.  All in all, despite the windy crossing to the island, the conditions were ideal, as the video clips reflect.

The was the first in a series of boat dives.  The intent was, in part, to introduce ourselves to the folks at Oceanium, and to begin to build a longer-term relationship, particularly with the boat operators, who were obviously interested in what we were doing.  

I also wanted to sort out the logistics and give the kids further experience in setting-up the electronics and the console.  The ideal is to dive at night, as around one of the numerous local shipwrecks, but before deploying in the dark, we must be able to successfully deploy the ROV during the day.

Interestingly, for most of the kids attending, working with the ROV is no longer novel.  Most were present to the several pool tests, and several have twice deployed the ROVs at Ile de Madeleine.  For them, it's old hat.

Looking ahead to the winter/spring, I expect to see a marked advancement in ROV design, with the battery being placed on the vehicle (rather than the surface, where voltage loss is a major consideration), with the vehicle's components linked to a series of relays switches, which require a much reduced voltage to engage, allowing us reduce the tetherline (using CAT-5 cable).

The most exciting news is this:  Controlled tests by a member of a Yahoo ROV chat group has shown that bilge motors, of the type we're using, perform to 40 m of depth without the shaft seals failing (water rushing into the motor due to the enormous pressures).  This is huge.  The possibility of dropping a student/teacher-designed ROV to over 30 meters is VERY exciting, and an aim for the new year.  

Stay tuned.

Run And Hide! Sheep Guts Are Falling From The Sky!

What was made clear from our day with the Badiane's was this:  Everyone gets fed on Tabaski -- the family, the neighbors, the poor, the cats and dogs, the insects, and certainly the rodents.  Everyone and everything sleeps that evening with a full tummy, be it my size, or fly size.

The birds also enjoy Tabaski, as Heather, a middle school teaching colleague, shared with me on Monday.  A sheep's trachea fell from the sky while her friend Stacy was out for a walk.  Now think about this:  How many times can you recall seeing animal guts drop from the sky?  But on Tabaski, anything's possible.  Apparently the trachea proved a little to heavy for whatever passing bird was carrying it.

See Heather's blog.

Added 12.14:  In the past week, I've heard a number of similar stories:  E., who lives in the penthouse flat above us, has found sheep parts on his patio; C. shared that sheep entrails fell from the sky just missing the hood of his car;  at an ISD staff part on Friday night, several recounted discovering sheep parts around their homes, and flopped on their cars.

On Tabaski, celebrated throughout the Muslim World, no one and no thing goes hunger.   All the same, watch your step, and save the car wash for after the holiday.

Tabaski With The Badiane Family (Vegetarians Look Away)

Note video clips of this day at http:/www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/ScenesDakar.html (Gallery 30).  For another view of Tabaski, see the Ducharme's blog at http://africansbacon.blogspot.com/2008/12/tabaski-part-2.html.

Eric G., Randi and I celebrated Tabaski with A. and his family.  It was an all-day affair, begun with the killing and dressing out of three sheep, followed by the preparation of food for two meals, a mid-day snack, and the main meal, served at about four o'clock.  In the late afternoon/early evening, following dinner, neighbors took to the street, dressed in their finest, to visit and greet and share in the sense of community and charity.

We arrived at nine-thirty, and led into a single room, cinder-block building, separate from the main house.  This was A.'s father's quarters, who was away visiting another wife in the Casamance, located in southern Senegal.  (A.'s father has three wives, A. is the son of his second wife.) The room would serve as our digs for the day.  There we stowed our stuff, lounged, and had our meals.

There were three sheep to be slaughtered, their throats cut, and the blood drained into a large hole.  The process was surgical, matter-of-fact, without fanfare.  It was done, and each of the animals were dressed out (to use a hunting term), and butchered.  The process took a couple of hours, with all males assisting, save the toubabs.  The women were cloistered in the back of the house, slicing onions, frying potatoes, preparing the grill.

I shot a lot of video of these events.  An edited version will be uploaded to http://www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/ScenesDarkar.html in the next week or so.  Avoid it if you're squeemish.

Two meals were prepared this day, a mid-day lunch and late afternoon dinner, both served on one large round tray, as is common here in Senegal, shared by five of us (the three toubabs, A., and a friend).  

Traditionally, all get dressed up in their new clothes following the afternoon dinner and head out into the community.  It was quite a site, the streets filled with colorfully dressed neighbors, meeting, greeting, and digesting.

Tabaski: Not A Great Day To Be A Sheep

Families across the Muslim world tomorrow celebrate Eid al-Adha, or Tabaski in Wolof. Tabaski commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God.  After morning prayers, the head of the family slaughters a ram, allowing the blood to drain into a hole in the earth.  The animal is then skinned, and the meat is shared amongst the family and neighbors in a big feast.  It is a very expensive affair, and many families go into debt to afford the cost of the sheep, and all the extras.  

According to the Koran, the meat is divided into three shares:  one share for the poor, one share for the relatives and neighbors, and the last for oneself.  

What is clear is this:  The markets are packed, and there are PLENTY of sheep in town.  

If you're living in Senegal, it's better to have been born an iguana.  

Randi, Eric G. and I have been invited to A.'s home to celebrate the holiday, which we have graciously accepted.  We'll arrive promptly after morning prayers to witness the slaughtering of the sheep.  

For further information regarding Tabaski, see

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-01/2007-01-02-voa13.cfm

A Search for the Heart of West Africa 4

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For a few more photographs from this visit, and an audio excerpt of the conversation between A. and M., see

 http://www.becauseoftime.org/ISD/ScenesDakar.html (gallery 29)

Randi & I met A. this morning and wandered down Rue de Ouakam into the Medina District with the intent of engaging a vendor of traditional fetish items.  There are a dozen or more vendors along Ouakam, each selling a very similar array of products.  We settled on  a vendor with a particularly large selection.

The vendor, as many in the area, was from Niger, and his Wolof was spotty.  Initially, he was hesitant to speak with us, and offered little.  Fortunately for us, his Wolof-fluent brother happened along.  Over the hour we spent with him, M. gradually opened up, and proved to be a passionate and experienced source.  Not surprisingly, access is a function of relationship, and A.'s translation, cultural-understanding, and gracious, gentle demeanor makes such a personal connection possible.  

M. grew up in rural Niger, where a practical knowledge of medicine plants and fetish was commonplace.  It is his culture.  M.'s right hand was deformed, missing several fingers, and those that he had -- the middle and ring fingers -- were twisted.  He showed us an arrow-shaped scar on this right forearm.  His grandfather had made the incision and inserted a gris-gris under the skin when he was ten years old.  The shape of the scar was by intent, as the gris-gris would protect him from attack throughout his life.  

M. explained that vendors are hesitant to say too much about their wares.  My interpretation:  These are not tourists items, and their significance is not often appreciated by browsing toubabs.    

Photo 5 above shows the objects I purchased today.  I'll refer to each by row (top, middle, bottom) and number from left to right.

top 1     This gris-gris is designed to ward off the eye, the evil eye.  It is based on the belief that some people can bestow a curse by the malevolent gaze of their magical eye.  

top 2     This small gris-gris, wrapped in the hide of a relative of the crocodile, is designed to attract good fortune.

top 3      A marabout, like a physician writing a prescription, might require that a particular item be inserted into a lamb's horn, and sewn into a little pouch, to be worn as a gris-gris.  All fetish vendors seem to carry goat's horns, in various sizes, for this purpose.

middle 1     This gris-gris is composed of a goat's horn containing a leaf from each of seven different tamarind trees.  It is meant to be hung in one's home to repulse intruders.  M. explained that the gris-gris would freeze a intruder in their tracks;  they not be able to walk away.  

About the collection of the tamarind leaves, M. explained that trees, being spiritual beings, required compensation.  To this end, oil from cows is applied to each tree after picking leaves.  (I'm not sure here what oil refers to.)  M.  said that it was not unusual to see a snake in the compensated trees, in the very place where oil was applied, representing the appeasement of spirit of the tree.  M. offered to demonstrate this, in person, over two consecutive Sundays.

middle 2     This barrel-shaped gris-gris, surrounded with goat's hair, is designed to ward off the influence of a jinn, as is the little vulture bone (bottom 2).  Note photo 3 above, taken at the Medine market.

middle 3     This little camel hide box is a cure for stomach ailments.  It is to be soaked in water, then the water is to be drunk, or the box worn on one's person.  There is nothing inside.

middle 4     This little gris-gris is designed to ward off bad dreams, and is to be placed under one's pillow.

middle 5      This little rounded stone was found in and around the sea, thus it is imbued with the properties of water.  It is used in the context of one ablutions prior to prayer, when one has a wound and is not able to wash the area with water.  This stone is a substitute, and may be dabbed on an affected area.

bottom 1     This pouch is designed to appease a potential conflict or fight.  By example, were I wearing this gris-gris and walked into a classroom-full of arguing children, this gris-gris would assuage the tension.  Of course, as soon as I were to leave, all hell would break loose again.  I think this gris-gris should be available to everyone spending the holidays with family.  Note photo 4 above.

bottom 3     This red nut (from a vine) attracts good luck.  See Photo 2 above.

bottom 4     I recognize this as what we referred to as sea beans growing up in Florida.  It is a seed from a freshwater vine common in tropical regions.  In this context, the seed is worn around the neck of a pregnant mother, then transferred to the newborn, again to attract good fortune and protection.

M. was quite chatty, and clearly passionate about the subjects of magic, jinn, gris-gris, and traditional knowledge.  He has had contact with various toubabs with similar interests over the years, including a film crew (he was on television), and an American with whom he traveled to Niger, so this is not unfamiliar ground for him.

M. shared a number of anecdotes.  By example, he described an experience in which he had an encounter with a lion after conducting a ritual which involved circling seven times around a particular tree.  The lion, he explained, was not a physical lion, but a spiritual entity, not visible to all eyes.  He was born with this ability, a reflection of the context of his childhood, and the influence of his grandparents.

M. and A. both made it clear the juju acts and operates in spite of one's skepticism and disbelief.  It is a material force that operates independent of one's opinions.  A. offered to take us over to meet a traditional marabout located near the national stadium.  He explained that this marabout would tell my future, that it was her specialty.  Feeling that we were pretty full-up from meeting M., I opted to save this marabout for another time.

I continue interested in developing a relationship with a number of marabouts, and having a series of conversations regarding their practice, training, and beliefs about the world.  

A. carried a thermos in a little back bag.  I assumed it was water.  On the way back to our rendezvous point, as I confided that I was interested in meeting his 84 year old traditional marabout (residing in Kaolack), A. opened the lid of his thermos, and explained that this was the medicine prescribed by his traditional marabout.  In the thermos was a wrapped leaf in a liquid, a kind of medicinal broth.  When we was thirsty, he was to drink his prescription.

M. enthusiastically agreed to meet with us again, and continue the conversation, which we will.