BECA Travels: Meeting the Chief

Meeting the Chief

Yesterday, Edem arranged for the HardtHaven group to meet a village chief who has been very supportive of HardtHaven’s efforts at helping AIDS orphans and who has sent a number of children to the home.  We traveled to a village about a half an hour away by car and conducted an interview of this man. Although he said he was seventy, he looks no more than 50 – a tall, imposing man with a welcoming personality.  During the interview, he and four other men from the village were seated under a specific tree.  At first, we were told that women weren’t allowed under the tree.  Then someone clarified that it was women who were having their menstrual period who weren’t allowed under the tree.  The reason was not made clear. The interview went well.  The chief talked about AIDS in his community and the manner in which his village has combated it.

Once the interview was over, the chief took us around to see the village, which gave us a good chance to capture B-roll. We met two older women – one the chief said was around 114, the other not quite so old, who were both in good shape – alert and comparatively active. We saw several mango trees, and a small forest of plantain trees that supply the village with a lot of their food.  There were several coconut palms, and although the coconuts are not in season, one of the men from the village climbed a tree, machete in hand, to show us how it is done.  The chief picked some grasses for us to take home to put in water for tea or to use to cleanse one’s hands.  They had a familiar scent, and we realized they were lemon grass. We wandered over to a home where a woman was cooking small fish – ranging in size from about 2 to 4 inches – in a pot of oil.  The chief told us they were tilapia, and gave us some – whole – to eat. Those who ate them  (I was the only one who abstained, due to a lifetime issue with fish heads) said they were delicious! Shortly afterwards, it began to rain, so we ran for shelter, as much for the equipment as for us.  We stayed under cover at a home where someone had a basket of palm fruit, and the chief explained how the flesh is used to make a sauce, the nut is used for oil, and the juice is also used to make palm wine.  At the same house were several of what looked to us like tamales – dough wrapped in banana leaves.  The chief broke one apart and let us try a bit of the dough.

By this time, it had stopped raining so we headed back toward the car. Along the way, the chief pointed out a couple of medicinal trees. Someone brought a basket of ripe mangoes to the car for us to take back to HardtHaven.  Each of us had a mango right there.  They were delicious!  And our faces were orange, our teeth were clogged with mango fiber, and the juice was all over our hands.  What a sticky, orange delight!  Fortunately, someone came along with water for us to clean our faces and hands before getting in the car. As we drove away, we pondered a community that could be so self-sufficient and sustainable – and how slow the life is there.