Bedick Village

On our way to Mali we met 2 French guys and a FrancoSenegalese woman (Julien, Guillaume and Amiko)travelling to Keidogou in order to visit a near Bedick village. We joined them in the shattering SeptPlace trip from Tambacounda to the Keidogou that I calle d"La Ville Pussiere" for its red sand roads that invade every side of this town. Early the morning, as usual, we spent more than 1hour trying to get the info about public transport to Ibel, every local try to make tourists and Toubab use expensice 4x4. Finally, after a coupple of hours waiting for the bus crew finishing their breakfast and loading every kind of items, we moved to Ibel. This is a small vialleg Poel inhabited by a mixed community of muslims and catholics, therefore the lovely kids aldo have catholic and muslims names. To our bigger surprise we started a difficult climb up to the 435m tall Bedick Village of Iwol, we all had an heavy backpack but step by step after 80 min of sweating we got to Iwol where Jean Baptiste welcomed all of us. He explained that Iwol is one of 7 catholic/animist villages of this region (the Bassari Villages are 40Km further toward Guinea Conakry border), its inhabited by 527 people coming from 4 different families whose one if the chief, the second take charge of clothes knitting and the last 2 organize festivals and ceremonies. JB took us around the small lovely village with its wonderful mud and straw huts, always followed by curious sweet kids with their interesting pigtailed hair, both femail and mail have it but in a different style. He took us to the small petrol powedered mill, to the tissues knitting open air laboratory, to the beautiful straw conical tatched church, to the biggest baobab of the region. We have then had a simple lunch made of rice and wallnutsauce. He explained that we had the great chance to assist that night to the circumcision of a score of kids, this ceremony is meant to introduce kids to their adult hard and full of resposibility life, or better after this ceremony the boys will have to spend 3 months in a sacred forrest along with a spiritual guide. From that moment they will be Bedick adults. We then had some rest in our mud huts, surprisingly able to kee a pleasant fresh temperature inside despite the strong sun of this afternoon. The bed were made of mud and bamboo branches, a bit hard for our civilized backs but even so, we were so tired that we took a good nap. As the night arrived, after a good, deeply wished, open air fresh shower, we headed to the lowland village ceremony where we were explained what was going on. Lets say that the families of the circumcised boys were receiving presents from the rest of the village, consisting of mile, corn grains and flour, gombo (made by baobab leaves)flour, palm wine and millet beer. then the procession moves between dances and songs from one  family to another, always carrying this gifts baskets, always bringing happines and smiles. In every stop males and females keep separeted , the women dancing and men sitting down, discussing and eating To (a kind of millet polenta) with Gombo. At one oclock I and Ale hurried to bed because we were really too shattered whereas the french guys, especially Julien, thanks to the Millet beer energy continued for other 2 or 3 hours. The following morning JB who has many important duties in the village(doctor, teacher, Public relations with visitors, part time priest)took care of my small infection as soon as he finished with a young woman affected by heavy chronical Malaria effects. I loved the time we spent among this nice people and really appreciated all the new things we learned but I should also say that the few tourists regularly coming here (the first Toubab arrived in the 1981) brought their negative effects like the continuous request for money or presents even if we already agreed with JB to give some good money, yet I guess that when there were no electrical lamps the circumcision ceremony, lighted by natural wood and resins would have been far more charming however this is the progress with its good and bad sideeffects. Before returning to Ibel, I dod needed a toilet, probably the night before To had a good lassative effect, thus, despite the very little inspiring toilet descriptions of my french pals, I ventured into the toilet fenced compound, removed the "famous"stone covering a hole on the ciment floor and discovered a world of disgusting but perfectly ecological tiny white worms waiting for my fecal contribution to the Bedick Soil.