Marketplace

Just when it could get any more interesting we were invited to the market. A good 5 minutes walk from the hospital. The chief of the market was supposed to meet us there and right as we walked up to the entrance of the market with Monsieur Idrissou we saw her on the back of moped taxi. She greeted us with the biggest smile and motioned us to follow her. We walked behind her on a rocky unpaved soil. There were dozens of stalls with produce, herbs, spices dried meats covered in flies, clothes, flashlites and other trinkets. The sound was one of a real marketplace. Constant talking and murmuring in the background gave the with zink covered space an agreeable busy feeling. You could tell this place had been here forever. Wooden poles holding up the rusty zink panels looked like they could fall over at any time. They did not....so many people hovering around trying to sell and buy. Everyone staring at us whispering "Americans" most have probably never heard of Belgium before. We reach our destination: a little space behind the peppers and tomatoes the market chef starts arranging the benches and motions us to sit. We sat down and as we were there resting a bit women start gathering around us sitting down on benches in front of us. Some are busy preparing herbs for sale and some are staring at us. They try to speak to us in local dialect but since we don't understand they mostly just stare and giggle. One lady next to me kept repeating a particular sentence and gesturing to us for lack of a better respons I just repeated what I thought I heard her saying. They busted out laughing and gave me big hand shake. Whatever I had repeated must have been something funny or I probably did not pronounce it correctly :) more women kept coming from all over the market young and old, all inspecting us and staring. Let there be no misconception....I don't enjoy being in the centre of attention at all. Personally I was starting to feel a bit awkward. I told my colleagues to ask Monsieur Idrissou what's going on but they refused hahaha they said it would play itself out. They are brave, but they were right. Chef came back and start explaining  that she had gathered the market elders to welcome us. The entire town has heard of our coming and our mission and they would like to thank us for being here and bringing potential aid to the area. It is one of the most amazing things I've experienced. What first felt like the tribunal of Nikki quickly started to feel like submersion in ancient cultural tradition. We have been seen by the kings, ministers and all prominent figures of the community yet this, this felt like the most substantial encounter of them all. As the women one by one petition for their cause and share with us the problems of their community you could feel the pulse of the nation. A vibration that lets you feel with every fibre in your being the unity and most important of all the suffering that is felt by all. I've always said it and believed it but now I feel it and with no disrespect to the men but women are the heartbeat of the community. I just felt it there in that moment in time, seated on a wooden bench in a West African community still so connected to their essence. What a breathtaking experience and as I'm writing I feel the tears rolling down my face as I still feel their suffering and their hope that we have come to save them....