edie's africa

The African Bath

I'm seated in the courtyard of a modest cement house that is surrounded by mud huts that are all about the same size and colour. I'm contemplating how I'll ever meander my way back to the one assigned as my sleeping quarters, the one where we deposited all our baggage.

hummm .......... didn't I walk through a patch of corn to get here ?

No matter. It's all good, so very, very good ! 

My three travelling companions and I have just passed a very long night travelling from Guinea's capital of Conakry into the interior of the country and eventually finding ourselves in this charming village of Komboyu. We came by bush-taxi. I'm not sure how many miles we covered but it took roughly 14 hours. In many areas, road conditions were so poor, we moved at a snail's pace.  I think I could safely say, had we had good roads for the duration of the trip, we might easily have arrived in half the time. Truly true ! And to add to the total pleasure of the journey, we were literally crammed into a passenger van designed to seat 12, comfortably.  There were 17 of us, seated UNcomfortably; oh yes, 18 counting the baby. But who was counting. (probably only me !!!)

Gosh, life is taking place all around me; lots of kids, hens with chicks in tow, baby goats bouncing and butting one another, ducks with ducklings scurrying through the dust being kicked up by a rambunctious group of boys ...

they giggle and laugh behind clenched-fits-to-mouths at this 'fote' (white person).
            
I have become the entertainment of the moment.

Bintou calls to me and I turn in the direction of her voice. She's holding a brightly colored plastic bucket; "m'fafe-na" (Come) ! I rise and follow her, leaving lambs, chicks, ducklings, and kids behind, past the two young girls pounding rice in a mortar with pestles larger in diameter than their skinny little arms ...

pound  - pound - pound -  pound

No wonder these people are so full of rhythm,
everything they do is with rhythm !

Bintou places the bucket in the center of a grass enclosure that's about 5 ft. in diameter; I can just see over the tops of the fronds in places. She ties a piece of fabric splattered in a riot of color and African patterns at the door to afford me privacy. I look up into cloudless blue sky and catch a glimpse of ripening avocados on the neighbours tree.

I bend and scoop up a cup full of delicious warm water .... the perfect African bath !

Surely I've died and gone to heaven.  Truly-true.