The day I decided to Break Fast…

The day I decided to Break Fast…

Ramadan: 

What is Ramadan?

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims worldwide. 

There are Five Pillars of Islam: 

1.) Shahadah: declaring there is no god except God, and Muhammad is God’s Messenger

2.) Salat: ritural prayer five (5) times a day

3.) Zakat: giving (2.5%, but I think this is a lose idea in amount) of one’s savings to the poor and needy

4.) Sawm: fasting and self-control during the holy month of Ramadan

5.) Hajj: pilgrmage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime, if one is able

Sawam: Fasting

There are three types of fasting: (Siyam), which is Ritual fasting, (sura Al-Baqara), which is fasting as compensation for repentance, and (Al-Ahzab), which is ascetic fasting.

Ritual fasting is an obligatory act during the month of Ramadan for any Muslim that has reached puberty, unless s/he has a medical condition that prohibits her/him from fasting (we will talk about that a bit later..) abstains from food and drink from sunrise/dawn to sunset/dusk during the ninth month of the Islamic Calendar. They are also supposed to be mindful of other sins during this period and refrain from smoking, having sex, listening to music, violence/anger, gossiping, and trying to just get along and be in peace with other Muslims (and the rest of the world). Additionally, all other irreligious sights and sounds are to be avoided. 

Fasting is obligatory, but is forbidden for groups that the act poses a danger to their health/well-being, these groups include: pre-pubescent children, pregnant or breastfeeding women, people with diabetes or elderly people, and/or women who are menstruating. If people miss a fast, they are expected to make up the fast later on in the year. I hear, the penalty for breaking fast intentionally is 60 extra continuous days of fasting. Ouchhhhhh! Although, I am pretty sure that rule isn’t enforced that often... at least not in my surrounding villages. In my village, a lot of younger people say they are sick and do not fast, simply because they don't want to or that it is hard and tiresome. On the other hand, some women who are breastfeeding and/or are pregnant fast even though it is harmful to their babies’ health. It is a weird concept when and how far people go to be holy and religious in this month, and how others purposefully avoid it. 

I am not sure if I have mentioned the specifics of the Pulaar language yet, but they have verbs for the most specific things. They have a verb for jumping up and down on one foot, for covering a newly planted seed with dirt, for having something in your eye, you name it, there is an obscure verb for a very specific action. So, one would only imagine there is a whole set of vocabulary just for Ramadan and fasting. There is a verb for Ramadan, a verb for fasting, there is a verb for breaking the fast at dusk and being able to eat and drink, and there is a verb for early morning meal at dawn before the fast begins. Iftaar is the arabic name for when friends and family gather together to break the fast, it literally translates to “break fast.” Even if someone isn’t Muslim the solidarity of fasting and the tension leading up to breaking the fast is something precious to experience. 

Breaking Fast Appatizer-esk meal at Vanessa's House 

Let me just say this though… people get CRANKY during Ramadan. They are not the same people that you knew when they were weltima (happy and with fully bellies). People don’t want to work, they lie down all afternoon, and they sleep all day. When there are only a few minutes leading up to breaking the fast left, everyone is anxiously awaiting the mosque’s call to announce that they can now break fast. Most people go all out on their meals and have vegetables and meat, milk and kinkiliba tea, and other sorts of goods that we never, ever eat. Unfortunately, my family does not go all out, we just have mooney (what we normally have for breakfast, which is like a millet porridge) and then couscous with a hibiscus sauce (which is our typical dinner time meal)… every night. BUT other volunteers’ families really know how to do Ramadan breaking fast right! The other night, a few of us went over to Vanessa’s house to break fast and her family really did it up. Abigail, Brandon, Vanessa and I all were in the same language seminar class, hosted at Samba Kande's house, and since Vanessa lives in Kolda close to our Regional House (where we stayed for the formation's duration), we went over to meet her family and experience breaking fast there. 

Breaking Fast Dinner at Vanessa's House

So, my experience with fasting is/was… I got back from Dakar from being sick, and Ramadan was already in progress. I decided to experience the culture and fast with my community. I lasted a WHOPPING FIVE (5) days! It is rough! It is so freaking hot and I need to drink water. My stomach started to grumble at 5:30pm, and it was just overall not fun. 

The month is intended to improve morality and character and work on personal positive traits and thoughts. Fasting during Ramadan is supposed to give Muslims a feeling of being mentally and physically cleansed and closer to God. I, however,  only felt closer to God because I thought I was going to DIE!! When people now ask me if I am fasting and I tell them I am not, and they ask me why, I always say that my body doesn’t agree and it is too hard. They laugh and they agree that it isn’t fun to fast and it is very hard. I know they are disappointed in me, but I might fast a few more days at the end of Ramadan and just prepare not to do too much. I have a lot of gardening and In-Service Training preparation to do in the next few weeks that I need energy that only water and food can provide. Korka kaa wonii welanni. (Fasting isn't fun/nice/good)

Ramadan lasts for 30 days, it began on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 and ends on the evening of Friday, July 17. In the Islamic calender, holidays begin on the evening of the previous day, so observing Ramadan started on the 17th, but the first day of Ramadan was, in actuality, the 18th. At the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr, which is one of the two major holidays of Islam (the other being Tabaski, Aid El Adha, which is in September). Eid is the single day of the Muslim calendar where fasting is not permitted, so the final Day of Ramadan is celebrating the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast. Families buy and slaughter goats to celebrate and I hear it is a huge ordeal. I will for sure do an updates post on the this big celebration. 

Wish me luck on my upcoming fasting attempts!! 

The day I understood the saying, “It takes a village”…

The day I understood the saying, “It takes a village”… 

Double Digging My Garden:

After coming back to my site from Dakar, I decided it was time to start my gardening project. The thing about the soil in Senegal is…. well, it is usually horrible. So, in order to get a good crop it is best to do a double digging technique where you separate the topsoil from the subsoil, till each layer and add supplements to each layer. The supplements that are “readily available” here in Senegal are wood ash, peanut shells, manure, and charcoal. It’s important to have the correct ratio of nitrogen and carbon in the supplements for optimal water retention and plant heath. 

Currently it is Ramadan (My next blog is going to be about Ramadan in Senegal) and people are fasting all day (not eating OR drinking ANYTHING ALL day from 5:30isham (after sunrise) until about 7:30ish pm (sunset) in the extreme 100+ degree humid heat), so most people are resting/sleeping the hot parts of the day because they don’t have any energy and if they get too hot, they can’t drink anything to rehydrate themselves. I was also fasting to experience the culture, but I decided that I couldn’t rest like everyone else and I had to start my garden project. I got as far as measuring out my three beds, sectioning them off in thirds, taking off the top soil and tilling the subsoil in all three beds before I realized that I still needed to gather the soil supplements. My little sister, Tida, came over and she volunteered to help me after she saw how much work I did already alone. Here, the pecking order for work around the house is the younger kids pretty much do everything, so if you are an adult, you command the younger ones to do all your work, regardless if they are already super busy with other chores. In that sense, I think she might have felt obligated to help me, but, I accepted her help regardless of the guilt. She helped me go to compound to compound to collect all their wood ash from their cooking huts, collect all the cracked peanut shells, and then scoop up random piles of manure to mix into the soil. Then, she helped me mix the soil and dig, when my blisters popped open and it was painful for me to till, she called a few other boys from the village to help till and shovel. When my supplement supplies were exhausted, she called for her friend to go gather more manure and wood ash while we continued working. (Let me just say, at this point my work consisted of breaking up large poop clumps into a small dust like consistency. Yea, I wanted to title this blog, “The day I played with poop,” but I decided against it.) Then, when it was time rake and water the soil, another girl came to get my buckets to draw water from the well. I started the venture alone, but by the time my three flower beds were finished being dug, my whole village was involved, either by giving me their supplies, gathering goods, helping me with the actual labor, or just coming to check out the progress of the work. When I was finishing up building the walls for the beds, I thought to myself, “this must be where the saying, ‘it takes a village’ came from.”

It is incredible how people work together and help each other out here. In so many ways I feel overwhelmed by the differences in culture and standards of living, but when I sit back and reflect on the positive aspects of those differences, I am truly grateful that I am experiencing all of this first hand. There is definitely beauty in the imperfections. 

Coming up Next: Ramadan, aka, the month of starvation, and how my experience with it thus far..