A surreal morning

written Friday, 1 February 2008

 

This morning as we were finishing up breakfast my host sisters chirpily asked me, "Do you want to go visit Mariama with us?  Her husband's brother beat her yesterday, so we're going to see how she's doing."

 

Um, okay.  So we trooped down to Mariama's and found her lying in bed in her hut.  Chirpy voices again: "Mariama, get up!  We brought you some porridge!"  But she just lay there and ignored us, so the women fed her baby, and then we sat around for a few minutes and chatted (with each other, not Mariama - she didn't talk the whole time) like it was a normal social visit.  And then it was time to go.  So we said good-bye and headed back home, greeting everyone along the way.

 

Sometimes here I feel like I'm losing my grip on what's normal...