I meant to call this Paquinou....and write about the Brock beer ads I've been seeing around in honor of the Easter holiday (Paques in French...Paquinou presumably a French-Baoule hybrid of some sort.) The ads play on the -inou suffix and suggest Brockinou....a beer for the holiday. (Gotta respect Ramadan, a holiday which inspired Maagi cube to post 10 meter wide images of family and food with some kind of tagline like 'add some flavor to your holiday.' Turns out the alcohol ad is a point of contention among Ivoirians. Paquinou has a reputation for "sex et alcool a gogo' among some.)
I've been told Easter is an important holiday for Baoule and the symbolism of rebirth is strong. They make pilgrimages to Yamoussoukro to experience mass in the largest cathedral in the world, as well as to their villages. The city sons and daughters return to their families to help with all number of village matters from settling disputes to holding funerals. The holiday also falls in conjunction with the beginning of the rainy season and all things agriculture come into focus. The most important agenda, however, is the development of the village. Meetings are held and decisions are made about where funds will best be spent to advance the standing of the village. Everyone must be present for this.
It is ironic then, that just this morning I passed a scene of the Breaking. The Breaking happens all over Africa, I am convinced (I have only witnessed it in 2 countries, but I feel certain it is a continent wide occurrence.)
There is a corner by the mosque that was in rough shape when I first moved here. The street in this area was comprised of half built - or half fallen- cement storefronts and exposed iron rebar. Slowly, the shops were repaired, painted and open for business. A hairstylist, a boutique, a women's clothing spot. Little stores, not much more than a 3 or 4 meters wide inside. But someone's livelihood.
Out front, the usual collection of cell phone minute sellers and women grilling plantains or peanuts, small stands selling bread and street snacks. Several someones earning a living.
This morning, traffic backed up at this intersection- not really so unusual on a Friday afternoon (the mosque draws a crowd) but on a Saturday morning, something was up. As we passed, I saw military with guns, a rare sight around town. They were blocking the turn off and guarding the line of entrepreneurial businesses. Men were working to carry a refrigerator out of their shop and across the road. Women grabbed all they could carry, making trips back and forth across the busy street.
A large yellow bulldozer cranked up it's engine and began ramming right into the first steel structure. It wasn't much, a shack really that had housed some women's dresses and hair supplies. It crumpled in seconds. The men were still struggling with the refrigerator a few meters away.
Crowds lined the street. Everyone came out to witness. To help. To express their disdain. The Breaking continued. I completed my few errands and was on the return about 20 minutes later. Two guys were carrying the sign for their barbershop across the street- a heavy, fancy sign designed with lights. A soldier was using a hammer to pull down the tin roof of the former boutique. All of the contents had been ferried across the street by now. They'd been dropped in a huge pile and a chain of humans was tossing the goods, fireman style, one by one down the line and finally into a waiting van.
I am never really sure why the Breaking occurs. When we'd first passed, a woman in the taxi was distraught. She mentioned that they'd done this once before. Visions of the crumbling walls with beautiful designs came back to me. At that time, I'd wondered why this stretch of the street was in such disrepair. Now I understood.
What I don't understand is how they'd been allowed to rebuild. Time, money, an almost sense of security. Then, broken again. There are many 'reasons'- from not being there legally to someone else "buying" up the land and deciding it will be developed for another purpose. I can't dispute or discuss the reasons. I don't have enough information about the details.
The method, however, clearly could be improved upon. And the timing. During this season that is supposed to be about rebirth, new beginnings, and community development, there's a whole lot of families who woke up employed, business owners, perhaps barely scraping by but scraping....suddenly out. Just done. Nothing. Doesn't bode for a good start.
I hate the Breaking. It's discouraging, confusing and reinforces the powerlessness of the people. Surely there is a better way. The big ugly mess on the corner will be a visible reminder for weeks, if not months to come of spirit of the people. They'll clean it up, clean it out, and rebuild.
Until the next breaking.
