Wagashi -juustoa fulaneiden tapaan

Toissa sunnuntaina päätin lähteä lypsylle. Villa Karon vartija Abdulaye lähti kanssani retkelle Agbanakin-kylään. Ensin kuljimme moottoripyörällä Grand-Popon markkinapaikan läheisyyteen, sieltä sitten ylitimme joen noin 30 sekunnissa veneellä ja pääsimme Togon puolelle. Parin kilometrin kävelymatkan aikana sohimme pitkällä puutikulla kypsiä keltaisia mangoja puista alas. Tähän aikaan vuodesta näkee paikallisten kävelevän kädet ja taskut täynnä mangoja. Vapaata riistaa! Jossain vaiheessa alkoi nenässä tuntua lehmien haju. Lantakasat höyrysivät. Olimme saapuneet fulanikylään.

Joen ylitys

Fulanit eli peulh-kansa ovat joidenkin lähteiden mukaan alkujaan kotoisin Pohjois-Afrikasta tai Lähi-idästä. Beninin fulaneilla on suurimmaksi osaksi sukujuuret Nigerissä. Fulanit ovat perinteisesti karjankasvattajia ja nomadeita. He puhuvat fulfuldea ja heidät on helppo tunnistaa ulkonäön perusteella. He ovat luonnollisesti kapeavartaloisempia kuin esimerkiksi Grand-Popon muu väestö. Heillä on usein kauniita tatuointeja kasvoissa ja nenät ja huulet ovat kapeat. Todella kaunista kansaa! Fulanit syövät paljon valmistamaansa juustoa eli wagashia ja maitoa.

Abdulayen ystävällä Gadolla on noin 140-päinen lehmälauma vasikat mukaan lukien. Hänellä on kaksi avustajaa, jotka lypsävät lehmät kerran päivässä. Lehmät syövät ruohoa lähimaastossa, mutta tulvien yllättäessä niiden kanssa saatetaan kävellä jopa 100 km pituinen matka. Lypsäminen on periaatteessa helppoa. Emolehmä pysyy paikallaan kun sen takajalat sidotaan kiinni ja kun sen vasikka päästetään lypsämishetkellä nuuskimaan emonsa utareita. Tällä tavalla lehmä luulee, että oma lapsi siellä imee maitoa.

Lypsy-yritys

Lehmien omistajat ovat rikkaita, mutta he eivät missään nimessä kerskaile asialla. Gado esitti vaatimatonta, mutta todellisuudessa hän hallitsee täydellisesti lehmäbisneksensä. Hän aloitti karjankasvatuksen tekemällä töitä apupoikana. Hän ei ottanut kuukausipalkkaansa vastaan kuin vasta lopuksi, kun kasassa oli tarpeeksi kuuden lehmän ostamiseen. Yhdestä emolehmästä voi muuten saada 350000-400000 frangia ja vasikastakin 150000 frangia.

Gadon kauniit lehmät

Gadon lehmät ovat todella hyvinvoivia. Emot saavat olla vasikoidensa läheisyydessä ja ruohoa riittää popsittavaksi. Olen kuullut, että fulanit eivät myöskään syö lehmiänsä kuin vasta silloin, kun ne ovat niin vanhoja etteivät enää tuota maitoa. Siksi liha on sitkeää, mutta onnellista! Gado itse ei syö lehmiänsä.

Ali pullottaa maidon

Gadon lehmistä saa maitoa noin 50-60 litraa päivässä. Ostin häneltä kolme litraa maitoa. Hinta oli 500 frangia eli noin 80 senttiä litralta. Sitten takaisin veneeseen ja juustonvalmistukseen.

Abdulayen vaimo Fatima toimi juustonvalmistajana. Maito pantiin tulelle ja sen annettiin päästä kiehumispisteeseen. Tällä välin Fatima haki pusikosta kasvin, joka ihmeekseni toimi juoksuttimena!

Kohta valmistetaan juustoa

Pitkän googlailun jälkeen löysin kasvista tietoa. Kasvilla on nimiä lähes yhtä monta kuin käyttötarkoituksiakin. Kyseessä on latinan kielellä Calotropis procera. Englanniksi se on esimerkiksi giant milkweed tai sodom apple, ranskaksi arbre à soie du Sénégal tai pomme de Sodome. Se on yleinen lähes koko Afrikassa sekä eri osissa Aasiaa. Kasvi on myrkyllinen ja sen eri osia käytetään esimerkiksi kutomiseen, tyynyn täytteenä, majojen rakentamiseen, nuolimyrkkynä, ihon hoidossa, hyttysmyrkkynä, ripulin hoidossa ja jopa härän sarvien kiillottamiseen. Kun nyt tunnistan kasvin, nään niitä itse asiassa joka puolella Grand-Popoa. Kuulin myös, että pikkupojat käyttävät kasviin muodostuvia isoja hedelmiä jalkapalloina, jotka tosin hajoavat usein ensimmäisen potkaisun myötä. Lisätietoa tästä ihmekasvista englanniksi löytyy muun muassa täältä.

Kasvi murskataan morttelissa

Kasvia tarvitaan vain pieni määrä

Fatima ja Calotropis procera

Fatima hakkasi vartta noin kymmenen sentin mittaisen palan mortteliin ja pala murskattiin kunnolla. Hän kaatoi kuumentunutta maitoa pienen määrän murskeen joukkoon ja kaatoi sitten liotetun nesteen takaisin kattilaan siivilän läpi. Tämä pieni määrä kasvin mehua riitti juoksuttamaan juuston! Maitoheraa alkoi muodostua hyhmettyvän juuston pinnalle ja Fatima kaapi sitä pois. Lopulta Fatima kauhoi juustomassaa pieniin koreihin. Melkeinpä samantien hän käänsi juustot toisinpäin koreihin ja näin korikuvio antoi kauniin kuvion juustoille. Juustojen annettiin valua hetken koreissa kunnes ne sitten upotettiin kylmään veteen viilentymään. Näin ollen kolmesta litrasta maitoa saatiin neljä kaunista juustoa ja vieläpä ilman eläinperäistä juoksutetta.

Valmiit juustot myyntikunnossa

Kori antaa kauniin kuvion juustolle

Juustomassa kauhotaan koreihin

Illalla friteerasin juustoviipaleita maapähkinäöljyssä ja söin niitä tomaattikastikkeen, alokon eli paistetun ruokabanaanin ja kom-maissimassan kanssa. Hyvää! Seuraava tehtäväni on miettiä, miten Calotropis proceransaisi kasvamaan Suomessa.

Wagashi, kom ja aloko tomaattikastikkeessa

Villa Karo in May

One more month before it’s time for the last scholarship holders to leave Villa Karo’s residency and return to Finland. It’s been a good year with, as usual, many moments of happiness and times of being lost in translation, cultural faux-pas’ and moments of mutual understanding in Villa Karo. But it’s not the end of the year yet! Here’s what’s happening in the times to come.

This year’s second last sholarship holder translator, researcher Simo Määttä will reach Grand-Popo by the time I post this writing. He’ll be working at the residency for five weeks with a research project before coming back to Finland. Beninese painter Yves Midahuen, the last scholarship holder of this year, will arrive in Villa Karo on the 4th of May and stay there for four weeks. At the end of his stay he’ll put on an exhibition in Villa Karo’s Lissa Gbassa for the month of June. It’ll be this springs third and final exhibition in Villa Karo.

Fisher men by Yves Midahuen

Teni-Tedji, a marionette group, will be holding a workshop in Villa Karo for the children of Grand-Popo on the first weekend of May. We shall get back to you about this with pictures.

Villa Karo’s own multitalented board member Anna Ovaska and curator Tintti Timonen will be working on a new museum exhibition in Villa Karo’s museum during the month of May. The exhibition will open in September of this year to the people of Grand-Popo, scholarship holders and passing tourists. At the same time Anna will be laying down the foundations of Villa Karo’s upcoming first virtual exhibition. Yes, you heard me right! You’ll get to see what Villa Karo’s collections and the new exhibition has to offer even if you aren’t able to go and see by yourself! At the same time, hopefully, VK’s homepage’s appearance and content will be finally updated. The project is trarting now and will be finished by the end of the year.

But not all upcoming events are taking place in Benin. The 2nd of June Villa Karo will take part in a festival that will take place at Narinkkatori, in Helsinki. The other organisers are Walter ry, radio SPIN FM, 09 Helsinki Human Rights, Namika, Funk on ry and FIDA among others. We’ll have there our former scholarship holder Camilla Heidenberg performing and holding a workshop with her husband Georges Agbazahou. Also five artists affiliated with VK will take part in charity event with five graffiti painters. A big plate of street culture and sports with a flavouring of Villa Karo will be offered to you on Narinkkatori that day.

During the months of summer, although it’s quiet in VK, we’ll have a big piece of the centre’s heart here in Finland with us as VK’s director Kwassi has kindly agreed to lend us here our chère Georgette and cher Richard from VK. They will come here in July to meet friends and acquaint and learn from their Finnish colleagues in August. Welcome Georgette and Riku!

COMPUTERS AND INTERNET IN GRAND-POPO

These two words are sufficient to keep alive a generation. Before computer era the world was as natural as ever, post men were happy to ride and distribute mails here and there, ships and planes made brisk business but this was subverted by invention of computer and internet. Western world and industrialized nations rapidly grew with these new technologies that bade farewell to an older generation.

Despite great unemployment created by this innovation, the world seems to be happy. Back in Grand-Popo, the craze by the youth to possess a computer, get connected to the internet for a chat with friends and relatives abroad is felt everywhere. If we comb our memory back to early years of Villa Karo’s operation when Scholarship holders are happy without internet, it was another world of communication when telegrams took days and days to reach Finland. In those days slow connection 28kbs modems were appreciated with modest desk top computers. Inhabitants of Grand-Popo queued up in the Library waiting for messages from Finnish friends (Stipendiates). Downloading and sending mails took irritating hours, a real “corvee” in the past especially when there is an attachment.

Today, it is a different story all together; people of all ages seek for nearest internet café just to get in touch with the outside world. All hotels with internet access are inundated with more clients every weekend even if they are expensive. Internet network companies like MOOV, GLO, KANAKOO and MTN revolutionized the system with MOKKULA services, a system well praised and accepted by all as the only means of internet communication though relatively slow compared to ADSL or WIFI.

In Villa Karo almost all Stipendiates are surfing satisfactorily with MOKKULA in their studios, under the akasia trees or anywhere in the open garden whilst in town, folks seeking for news, students and pupils besiege the two available internet cafes for researches and chatting with friends on facebook.

FUEL CRISIS IN NIGERIA AND ITS REPERCURSIONS ON WEST AFRICA

Economic measures announced by the Nigerian Government to impregnate sanity in public finances also provoked total instability in neighboring countries. On the 9th of January, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced subsidy suspension on petroleum products which resulted in price increase of petrol, a controversial decision taken and aired during a nationwide radio and television broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan became a point of discord between Nigerian and her population. Few hours later strike action was pronounced by various Nigerians trade unions who unified their forces to force the iron hands of Goodluck Jonathan to revert to the old pump price of N65. The new pump price of N141 was judged too exorbitant by a populous nation of 150,000,000 inhabitants.

This situation rapidly generated panic in countries like Cameroun, Togo and Benin. Artificial scarcity was suddenly created by illegal road side vendors of gasoline. One could openly see these vendors everywhere in Benin, who procure their petroleum products fraudulently from Nigeria through middle men who smuggle them across the borders both by land and sea at a price three times lower than the official pump price thus paralyzing the officially registered petroleum companies in Benin. The strike action negatively affected motorists and nearly crippled some commercial activities throughout the country. Most of these commercial activities between these two sister countries almost came to a standstill as most customers from Nigeria were unable to make the trip across both borders for normal business.

The biggest market in West Africa “Dantokpa” in Cotonou keskusta got paralyzed for days. Motorists thronged one time abandoned Government filling stations to fill their tanks as unauthorized informal street vendors tripled their price per liter to make more profit. Long queues were noticed everywhere, cities most affected were Cotonou, Porto-Novo and Abomey though other cities like Lokossa, Bohicon, Dassa, Natittingou, Comé were also slightly affected. Transport fares tripled, prices of food stuff received sky rocketing shocks and market ladies who normally chant to attract customers became sour and slightly rude to express their disagreement with fares charged by zemidjans and taxis.

For days, Benin felt the importance of Nigeria, as a powerful cum important neighbor. Every home in Benin felt the pinch of the Nigerian strike action as if we are living in Nigeria.

vendors stall

serving client

Vodou day in Grand-Popo

For a decade now, I had witnessed almost all the Vodou ceremonies regarding annual commemoration of Vodoo festival that takes place every tenth of January. Those who had migrated to Benin and witnessed this event in the past should count themselves lucky. Lucky because they had received blessings from number of Vodou spirits present during the ceremonies.

As a preacher, I admire those who are driven by curiosity to deepen their knowledge and discover more about Vodou and I am ready to dish out some secrets holding aloft our religion in exchange for a transparent bottled liquid, not trying to sell my religion but transparent oblige as in other religions.

This year’s celebration was stuffed with colorful activities enrolled in different performances involving all Fetish priests and Priestesses followed by adepts of Heviosso, Mamiwata, Tron-Kpetodeka Zangbeto, Sakpate, Age-vodou etc who converged at Gbecon, Grand-Popo to demonstrate their fidelity and attachment to Vodou religion. A great multitude defied the heat, struggled to witness a five hour procession through sandy couloirs between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mono River. All started with the sacrifice of a goat to all the vodou spirits by a famous fetish priest from Gbecon.

A beautiful scene that attracted the attention of the crowd for a while was a fleet of canoes that transported beautifully dressed Mami Wata adepts across the river from Hève. The men aboard responded rhythmically, with their bodies and paddles to chants from adepts, unified their movements and ferried all to their destination; “PLACE DE VODOU”.

Kokouhoun Adept in Trance

Interesting performances during the procession were so mysterious that visitors, new to such occasions bombarded me with questions to which I was unable to answer publicly. More questions without answers rained lot of doubts in the minds of numerous visitors who adventured for the first time to Grand-Popo and Ouidah. The departure of the supreme head of Benin’s Vodou religion DAGNRON GUEDENGUE signified the end of 10th January vodou day celebration. People got dispersed into their respective communities for a big feast mostly organized by Chief Fetish Priests for adepts and friends.

Villa Karo hosted a group of important Vodou personalities who took refuge in Lissa-Gbassa to avoid being drowned by admirers. A delicious dakoin served with barracuda accompanied by some centiliters of unidentified transparent hot stuff proclaimed the end of an interesting afternoon.

Heviosso Chief Fetish Priest

NB: I am creating a special platform for Questions and Answers for vodou in the near future. A Bientôt

2.2.2012: and here it is!

A Crash Course in Beninese French: Part III

You go to a restaurant. You spend quality time with your friends, you have a lovely dish of grilled barracuda with some wine. After eating, you ask for the check and you pay. When you get your change you ask for the toilets. And as the waitress wants to know whether you “wanna piss or take a shit” you suddenly realise that you are very far away from the images of a travel agency’s advertisement. Yes, you are in real place that is called Grand-Popo! And the waitress’ question is merely practical: the place to go at that point depends on the quality of your need.

A sign forbidding to take a shit on the beach in front of a restaurant in Grand-Popo. 'Scuse my French. Photo by Laura Pörsti.

A certain kind of bluntness is quite typical in Benin – or at least when the locals speak French. Or, one could also argue that the use of euphemisms is very usual in Western countries. Here in Europe we are more or less taught to speak about certain body parts or bodily functions only with close family members or trained medical professionals as if they were dangerous.

I’ll give you another example of Beninese bluntness.

One time, after I had missed a monthly concert at Villa Karo because of having… err… stomach problems, a person came to say hello to me the next day on the street. Although I didn’t know him, he quite typically new who I was, as there weren’t that many white people in town at the moment. By the way, when many people know you, what you have done, are doing or plan to do when you don‘t know them, you get a confusing feeling of being part of a strange live performance of the Bold and Beautiful. Anyway, after mentioning to the fellow that I had unluckily missed the concert, he replied that he knew that already. Why? He had heard from someone that I was “puking or something when the band was playing“. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Some time later I was having a drink with a local musician. As the waitress came to bring us our beverages my friend was telling me that he had a cuticle infection that made his djembe playing difficult. When the waitress heard what we were talking about, she said that the infection could be treated by inserting the finger in a woman’s vagina. I asked the waitress if the treatment was common and she said yes. The musician nodded as a sign of agreement with her and the two of us resumed our conversation about Islam in Benin as if we were in a weird Aki Kaurismäki movie.

Of course, the manner of expression varies in Benin as it does in any place depending on one’s social, economical and cultural background. During my time there I’ve also met people that speak so overtly polite, correct and poetic French that they could be characters from a classic novel by Honoré de Balzac.

However, to me the interesting point about the anecdotes I’ve cited above isn’t really the way people talk in Grand-Popo. People talk in all kinds of ways all over the world and when words are taken from people’s mouths and put in odd cultural environments they turn into funny stories. What interests me the most is that on these occasions I obviously had an impromptu meeting with my own cultural boundaries. These situations created a reaction in me: they surprised me or made me laugh as they collided with my own notions of politeness or behaviour in public places and among strangers. The logical question at this point is: how often does my way of speaking create a reaction, whether good or bad, among the locals in Grand-Popo or any place else where I‘m a cultural stranger?

Awful traffic

What is the most chaotic place on Earth? It has got to be Cotonou due to it’s 150 000 zemidjans in a city of one million people. And what is a zemidjan? It is a moto taxi usually driving recklessly and a profession for approximately every sixth or seventh person living in Cotonou. Zemis are also the source of massive amounts of exhaust gas in a city known to be one of the most poluted ones in West Africa. Not to mention the cause of death for numerous drivers and passengers every year (I‘ve never seen a zemi driver or a passenger wear a helmet in Benin, except for a few people that looked like American voluntary workers).

Busy streets and grey air of Cotonou by Jen

But guess what? The townhall of Cotonou has announced a new public transport system to be launched in the city in 2012. It will comprise 52 buses and over 200 bus stops. If this is really taking place, the buses will surely reduce the amount of zemidjans and their negative consequences in the city. The air in the city will hopefully be less grey and it’s habitants a little bit healthier.

But then again, how to find new jobs for the zemi drivers that will lose their clients to the buses?

More about this topic on Adjinakou (in French).

The get an idea about the traffic in Cotonou, take a look at the video on this blog.

A Crash Course in Beninese French: Part II

As I already discussed in the first part of this writing, Beninese French is often used in a different way than European French. Here are some more useful tips for visitors of Villa Karo and Benin.

As words such as “bonsoir” sometimes find new meanings, expressions may also take new forms. That is the case of the exclamation “doucement!”. Literally this means “gently”, but the expression translates perhaps best into “behave yourself“ or “be more careful” in English. Whilst in France the phrase would be most often used by a authoritative figure such as a teacher to give immediate negative feedback to a raging pupil, that is not the case in Benin. Remember, that when you hear that word, it doesn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong. It’s merely something to say when, for instance, your napkin falls down from your knees. “Woops” would perhaps be the best translation. No need to apologize when you here it!

Phrases actually tell a lot about mentality. One of my favourites is the friendship- or deal-sealing “on est ensemble!” (Eng. “we are together!”). This one has multiple uses. It’s almost a substitute for goodbye. It’s a phrase to say when negotiations are going in a bad direction as a reminder that everybody want this deal to happen. It sometimes means “no problem” if you apologize for some harm that you’ve caused.

Another one I personally like very much is “le sang est rouge” meaning literally that blood is red. It has got something in common with “on est ensemble”, but this one is used when white and black people are doing business together. I’ve heard it as I’ve been bargaining at the market, in Grand-Popo, or discussing the rent with the landlord. Sometimes it is wise to state something that has real relevance: human beings come in many colours but blood is always red.

A Crash Course in Beninese French: Part I

La Francophonie, the community of French speaking people, is worldwide. French takes different forms all over the globe as over 250 million people speak it as either first or second language. For those of us who have learned to speak French in Europe, the Beninese version of the language has some interesting elements. Let’s take a look at the French spoken in Grand-Popo’s streets.

Although I suppose that “bonjour” is probably the most well-known French word in the world, you won’t hear it often in Grand-Popo. For a curious reason the locals prefer to employ the expression “bonsoir” at all times. And it’s almost always “good night” in Grand-Popo, even at 8 o’clock in the morning!

“Comment?” is the question you often hear in Benin when you meet somebody you know. Of course, this is a shortened version of the common phrase “Comment ça va?” (Eng. how is it going?). As you answer to the person by saying “ça va bien” or even “très bien” he or she may pursue with other questions that tend to be as short as the first one: “et la santé?”, “et la famille?”, “et madame/monsieur? “et le travail?” (Eng. “and health?”, “and family?”, “and the husband/wife?”, “and work?”).

But before asking you any questions, the person will greet you. If he or she is not using the typical “bonsoir” and especially when you arrive somewhere, you will probably hear the words “bonne arrivée” instead of the typical “bienvenu” (eng. “welcome“). Directly translated in English this means “good arrival”. Sometimes, in the morning, you may also hear people ask you if you’ve slept well or if you have woken up alright (Fr. “Bien dormi?”, “Bien réveillé?”). What a bunch of nice questions! According to Herman Rechberger’s French-Mina dictionary these are cases of the main local language, Mina, influencing the official one.

“Tu as fais un peu?” is a something you’ll hear when the day’s work is done. A literal translation in English goes “have you done a little bit?”. It’s always heart-warming to hear that the premise is that one has only time to do a little work during one day.

Last but surely not least comes “yovo”. Every person in Grand-Popo with light skin will very, very soon become very, very familiar with this word. Yovo is from Mina And Ewe language and it’s used to describe white people. Some say it also means “guest”. The word is part of a lilt probably known by heart by EVERY BENINESE CHILD (and some adults as well): “yovo, yovo, bonsoir, comment ça va, merci!” If you ever go to Grand-Popo or Benin, you’ll hear it.