The Big Shabang!
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2008
1
49
Trip End
Nov 27, 2008
Bayanga, Central African Republic
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
By Tuesday, all invitations had been printed and passed out and the cooking arrangements made. We would have the party at Sampson's dance bar/club as we expected over 30 people to attend and the attendees were wanting some serious dance action. Sampson agreed to turn the generator on early for us, and he had informed me on Saturday that he was having the sound system worked on for my party. On Wednesday morning, Hurbain and I set forth for Yandoumbe at 6:30 a.m. We went (with a wheelbarrow) to meet hunters on the way home; ensuring prime pick of that day's catch. We were there for nearly 3 hours with little luck. I only bought 2 blue duikers, which would surely not be enough to feed everyone! I figured as we returned, we would just hit the market to see what was available or buy some domestic meat if a goat or pig were slaughtered that day.
As we hit home, we were met by some of the market women who had been waiting for us and the food to begin cooking. We told them of our bad luck, and they told us how the dry the market was. Nothing was there! What was I going to do? Luckily, we found a kid walking the neighborhoods with 3 fresh blue duiker. We bought all three and called it quits with 5 blue duikers. Two would be grilled and the other three cooked in a tomato sauce. We had plenty of gozo to feed an army, a cooking pot of rice, and a small amount of fried fish. In the drink department: 5 liters of moonshine, 50 liters of palm wine, 2 cases of beer, and half a case of soda.
I also organized uniforms for this shindig. We had three groups of people coming to celebrate: the market women, research assistants (part- and full-time), and people who worked at my house. Each group had their own distinctive uniforms that they would attend the party in and eventually wear for the national holiday celebrations on the 1st of December. The market women and I sent off for fabric from Cameroon, I bought fabric from local boutiques for my workers, and had t-shirts made for my assistants. I'm quite proud of the t-shirts. Carolyn and I decided that for the 1st of December we would organize a new group for the parade: Equipe ti Recherche (Research Team). We had a placard made and t-shirts by a local artist for our two groups. Both of our t-shirts said Anthropological Research Team and were distinguished by color (yellow for mine and white for Carolyn's) and their printed locations (in the community or in the forest). Carolyn and I also created a logo that went on these t-shirts, which I of course, think is genius. C3 (C cubed); standing for our research domains (in French): chasse (hunting), commerce, and conservation. I can't wait to see the photos of our research teams from the upcoming holiday. I regret hat I will not be able to join them.
As usual, we were the first ones to arrive at this event. Most everyone showed up by a quarter 'til five. As we waited on people to arrive, we spent time taking photos. As everyone was seated and waiting for dinner, I was informed that I needed to make a speech to officially begin the evening. My neighbor, Gabin, grabbed the microphone first to introduce me and the reason behind our gathering. Then it was off to me and my impromptu speech in Sango! It went well, and I didn't cry! Dinner was fabulous! A group of market women worked hard on it all day, cooking at one of their houses which was just across the way from Sampson's. After dinner, the drinking progressed and the dancing took off. At this point, a number of people were complaining that I didn't buy enough beer for everyone to have one. Yes, that's true, but I didn't have enough money to buy everyone a beer and supply sufficient amounts of alcohol for the evening. The bickering over this really put a damper on the evening for me, but I decided to get over it. Sometimes now mater what you do, it's never enough. However, I think I did plenty... We all had a great time dancing to our favorite songs. As the night wore on, the microphone was heated up with more speeches about me and my work in Bayanga and a few more by me. As usual, Carolyn and I were the last ones there at midnight.
