Together with Jean-Pierre we did maybe fifty miles in three days, almost running. Everyone knows, in the small villages we pass. He, however, does not greet everyone seems very selective. It gives me a little 'annoyance. Does not meet the children and greets almost never women. Of course, while trotting at his side, instantly qualifies him as a miserable male. On the other hand, comes from a culture of fearful subjugation of women. In villages, men are under trees and do nothing and women out in the hot sun to do the hard work: collect straw and firewood, carrying water in large containers on their heads, burst back to pound millet in the mortar, are hereinafter referred to goats and chickens. Meanwhile, take care and children grow up. Jean-Pierre is from these habits, it's no surprise - I say - for his attitude towards women.
But perhaps there is something else to understand: it could be all a bit 'more complicated. One night, after asking me if I have wives or children (the singular is not covered) Jean-Pierre explains why I can not have a girlfriend. No matter if you fall in love or not: it is simply too poor to pay the price to the family of the bride's dowry. Here how it works: you find a girl and offers father to a reasonable value for the dowry. His father, evaluate the offer and, if found suitable, you agree to marriage. Sometimes, she is informed: it is an essential element of the procedure. Traditionally, a reasonable dowry consisted of three or four goats (worth about 30,000 CFA, or 45 euro, each), plus an amount equal to one half of a mile of the annual need for the bride's family, plus a bottle of beer a clear and miles of red millet beer. In addition to this, the groom's family had to take over the cost for the great wedding feast, which lasts two days: meat and beer for all guests, which in practice are all the inhabitants of two or three small villages the district. A big financial commitment, for a normal family.
In recent years, then, explains Jean-Pierre, things have worsened dramatically. The "rich", identified in the owners of hotels and restaurants, owners of means of transport motor - hated, do not know why, Jean-Pierre - the owners of small herds of cows that we met, the rich, I said have begun to offer insane amounts of dowry. Until two or three cows for a wife (the equivalent of 3 to 400,000 CFA), and then several cases of beer 'true' and devilry as the small transistor radio, Chinese, of course. The effect of this inflationary maneuvers is multiplied by the fact that, according to the animistic religion of kapsiki, there is no limit to the number of wives one can have. Everything depends only on the amount of gifts that you can afford to pay. Result: For a poor boy like Jean-Pierre, and dozens of others like him, it is becoming impossible to find a wife and start a family. So if you can not find a way to earn money, using the army or something else, Jean-Pierre could also forced celibacy.
is a disgrace in itself. Exaggerated. It is also a social stigma. The point is that 'all' know that you're too poor to marry, the rich kids do not attend, the fathers of daughters you see as the smoke and mirrors, and the girls, on average, do you avoid or giggling with each other, when you walk. We understand that it's hard. Then becomes a bully and irritating. It does not ask for anything and pretends to know everything. It has a ridiculous cult of physical strength. And he wants to go into the Marines. It has a macho attitude. It makes me so much pain.
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