Can I see the bees that killed the attacking Muslims?

Bedik tribe village of Iwol in the remote southeast corner of Senegal, Africa.

In the history of the remote Bedik tribe in remote southeast Senegal, Muslims wanted to convert the tribe to Islam. The tribe didn't want to be converted. So the Muslims attacked. 

"It was terrible," explained Chief Keita. "Many Bedik were killed." Then the Bedik prayed. Their Spirits had mercy and sent bees to kill the attacking Muslims. 

"Yes, the bees live in a tree right near here in the middle of the village," explained Chief Keita. When I asked if I could photograph the bees, the chief replied, "of course you can." 
 

"They look like ordinary bees. I will show you where they live in a tree here in the center of the village. Right near here.

"And it’s totally possible to take a picture of the bees.
  

We can send a boy to see if they are there.  If they are there, you can go and take a picture.  If not, you did not come at the right time."

Here's what I saw.

Chief Keita explained that the bees live in this tree. Bedik tribe, Senegal, Africa.

From my journal that night:

As we waited for the messenger boy to come back, a gentle breeze came over us. Somehow I felt I was listening to a story that, like a musical score, needs to be interpreted to fully understand. 

I felt I was like Napoleon’s soldier who found the Rosetta stone, but instead of linking texts, might this be the Rosetta stone to a deeper understanding of the roots to today’s spiritual and cultural beliefs? 

Somehow here with the Bedik we still have a balance between Mythos and logos. Yet somehow clear understanding seemed tantalizingly just out of my reach.

Please respect that all images are copyrighted 

© Janis Miglavs 2016

janis@jmiglavs.com

Which of my submissions for the new Family of Man project work for you?

Here's my submission for the new Family of Man project photographs. 

In 1939 Edward Steichen curated a show called the Family of Man for New York City's Museum of Modern Art. He asked 30 photographers, including Cartier Bresson, Eugene Smith, and Dorothea Lange, to document the common links of humanity worldwide. 

Family of Man became the biggest-selling photography book in the history of photography. 

So this year an outfit called IPA (not the beer but the International Photography Awards) takes inspiration from the Family of Man Project, to document parallel circumstances in the world today. 

The categories are Birth, Childhood, Youth, Love, Marriage and Old Age. I submitted the following photographs:

Which ones work for you?

Childhood: Children at the Gate.    These Konso children came out to greet me; then proceeded to give me a hard time because I was an adult and only knew a few words of Konso.  Konso tribe, Buso village, Edge of the Omo region, Ethiopia, Africa.

Childhood: Growing up with Booze.   A drunken Himba mother in traditional clothes allows her child to play with the booze bottle she just finished drinking at the open market in the frontier town of Opuo, Namibia. Himba tribe, Namibia, Africa.

Youth: A Himba tribe girl (already married as seen by the head gear) reacts at seeing herself in a photograph for the first time in her life. I think I've seen this same look on girls in Portland area malls. Himba tribe, Namibia, Africa.

Youth:  As part of their tribal initiation into manhood, these 12 and 13-year-old Bedik boys run all day for one month through their village of Iwol. Then they will spend 5 months living in the "bush" by themselves. Tribal chief Keita told me the initiation is for the boys to "learn the secrets of life." Please sign me up.   Bedik tribe, Senegal, sub Saharan Africa; West Africa, Africa.

Old Age:  Old lady with her grandson in the Bedik tribe village of Iwol.  Senegal, sub Saharan Africa; West Africa, Africa, 

Old Age: On my first trip to the Bedik tribe in remote corner of Senegal, the Chief's mother wore traditional clothes. Three years later on my second trip to the Bedik, she still had the porcupine quill in her nose but was wearing an elaborate hand-me-down European style outfie. Bedik tribe, Senegal, sub Saharan Africa; West Africa, Africa. 

All photographs and text © 2016 Janis Miglavs

www.jmiglavs.com

www.FiveFingersProject.org

janis@jmiglavs.com

Remote African woman to Janis: Looks as if not all whites are bad

Two women chatting in the Bedik village of Iwol, Senegal, Africa.

It’s time to leave. After more than a week of camping in the remote Puel village of Ibel, I’m hiking out towards the road, the car and the beginning of my journey home. Thoughts and emotions wash over me as I reflect on all that I have experienced in this village and the neighboring Bedik tribe.

This is the Puel tribe village of Ibel, where I stayed for more than a week while visiting the neighboring Bedik tribe, Senegal, Africa.

 

My translator/guide Pacoo and my host Omar Ba walk in the lead with a tail of kids laughing and following behind me. Totally absorbed in my thoughts, suddenly I hear a woman’s voice.  At the entrance of her family compound she saying something loud enough for us to hear. And she’s pointing her head towards me.

Janis: “Pacoo, what did she say?”

Pacoo replies: “She say, it looks as if not all whites are bad.”

Wow. I teared up. At first I felt honored, special. Was that a sign of acceptance?

But as I continued to trudge along the grassy path, wave after wave of thoughts washed over my mind.

What made this grandmother-aged woman in this remote pocket of Senegal first classify whites as bad? It was us versus whites, us versus them?

I even thought, oh what a cruel hoax God played on us by painting humans different colors. Was it a test to teach us lessons?

Here I am surrounded by Konso tribe women in Ethiopia, Africa.

 

And what had I done to change her mind about whites? Was it playing with the kids each morning, taking notes as elders talked, instigating a meeting of chiefs to talk about how tourism could bring money to pay their taxes or …?

Traveling by myself, I think a lot about the importance of belonging to something bigger than myself.  The woman belongs to a tribe, kids belong to gangs, the Tambacounda shopkeeper who kicked me out because I wasn't Muslim belongs to a religion and I’m headed home to my family and my tribes.  But the older woman’s casual statement reveals a great divide between groups she has delineated, whites and her tribe.

How does this happen? The little children who greeted me each morning were curious, totally accepting. What changes these children? Is it our human craving to belong? 

This photograph of Konso children at the gate is a symbol of my hope for the future. Konso tribe, Ethiopia, Africa.

And what is the secret to dissolving the calcified barriers we build as we age in place?

All photographs and text © 2015 Janis Miglavs

www.jmiglavs.com

janis@jmiglavs.com

Bedik tribe dilemma: tradition or religion

Keep one foot in tradition so the other foot can wander.
Thomas Merton 

Christianity presents a soul-searching conflict for the Bedik tribe hidden in the most remote corner of Senegal. A Christian cross and view of the large church with a newly-thatched roof in the background are the first things visitors encounter in the Bedik tribe village of Andyel.

Bedik tribe village Andyel (sometimes spelled Andjel). Senega, Africa.

The chief of Andyel struggles with the tribe's dilemma: follow ancient traditional animist beliefs or the teachings of the Christian missionary. 

Chief of Andyel weaves a new basket, a typical job for the village men.

On the one hand, the chief stresses the importance of holding on to traditions. In fact, when I asked him what advice he would give world leaders, he replied: "Traditions. Tell them to hold on to traditions." 

But then there is the helpful generosity of the missionary. "He has helped build a school, and provided a machine to peel rice," reports the chief. "And with his own money and car, he takes our sick people to the hospital in Tambacounda and even Dakar."

So the Bedik balance on a tightrope between traditional beliefs and the new Christian teachings. And all of this cultural and spiritual battle in a very Muslim country, Senegal. (More about how Muslims attacked the Bedik to convert them in a future post.)

All photographs and text © 2015 Janis Miglavs

www.jmiglavs.com

janis@jmiglavs.com