West Africa: Visual Blog
Documenting a learning journey
In 2008 I journeyed through 11 countries in West Africa. As I travelled, I shared some impressions in brief blog posts. These are presented below.
They were not necessarily the best images or copy. They were simply moments snapped and snippets jotted in notebooks – a conglomeration of impressions. They have become treasured ‘bookmarks’ to remember observations and emerging insights from people and places that greeted me at that time.
For more about the journey, visit xxxxx. A book with conversational essay is available to view (and order) online.
“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
– Miriam Beard
Lindisfarne UK
Come to the edge.
No, we will fall.
Come to the edge.
No we fall.
The came to the edge.
He pushed them,
and they flew.
- Guillaume Apollinaire
11 May 2008
Dakar SENEGAL
“Go at our tempo,”
my welcomer said,
”then you can see
and learn and know.”
15 May 2008
Dakar SENEGAL
Lots of hooting yellow taxis,
hairdressers and
slow walking in the sun.
20 May 2008
Bamako MALI
Shady trees.
Fast scooters.
Courtyard tea.
25 May 2008
Kundu Dubah, Dogon Country MALI
Cliff hanging villages,
great plains,
open arms.
29 May 2008
Tombouctou MALI
Unimagined arrival into
ancient, remote city.
Awesome unknowns
of billowing sandstorm.
Easy rest into hospitality
of nomadic Toureg people.
30 May 2008
Tombouctou MALI
“It is possible to live well together. We need different things. It is impossible to have them all at the same time. We need to go slowly; be patient. We need to learn to live with less of some things.”
31 May 2008
Mopti MALI
Boat building cacophony.
Quieter perspectives
from a piroque.
Island football.
Splashing children.
Steady fishing.
1 June 2008
Djenne MALI
Rooftop sunset.
Glowing red city facets.
Old walls:
annual restoration rituals.
Famous market and
celebrated mud-cloth maker.
2 June 2008
Bamako MALI
Open air music
with friends of a Mission
and Toumani Diabate.
Danced with
weekend party people
to kora
and djembe rhythms.
6 June 2008
Bamako MALI
Plateau views
of a big city
stretching across
a wide, lazy Niger.
7 June 2008
Bobo-Dioulasso BURKINA FASO
An easy breeze.
An ensemble
of weaving traffic.
Cars, motos, bicycles, people
moving around and along
streets lined
with big old trees.
8 June 2008
Ouagadougou BURKINA FASO
Paving. Traffic lights. Grid streets.
Holy name humour Challenging
Big city anonymity.
Phoenix buildings from rubble spaces:
Red sand surface.
Grey sand guidance.
10 June 2008
Ouagadougou BURKINA FASO
Weight.
Rest.
Wait.
Receive.
14 June 2008
Ouagadougou BURKINA FASO
Me and Stella
on her scooter
Miles and miles
of cityscape.
Children dancing.
Students marching.
Family gathering:
food: festivity.
17 June 2008
Niamey NIGER
Communal dwelling
welcome into the family
of a friend.
Personal chauffeurs in
expanding cars.
Evening visits with the extended family:
sisters, cousins, brothers, mothers,
the father,
friends and neighbours.
20 June 2008
Torodi NIGER
Home of a mother.
Welcome of women and children.
And a beautiful old man.
Cooking. Eating.
Gifts. Kindness.
Sitting in curtained rooms.
And the single car
parked under a singular tree.
21 June 2008
Niamey NIGER
Outdoor water,
cooking and sleeping.
Indoor eating,
Brazilian soaps and shelter
from hours of
clamourous rain.
23 June 2008
Niamey NIGER
Government officials.
Local and international NGOs.
Concentration:
French. Themes.
Emerging picture of health context.
Le Défi. Le But.
The challenges. The goals. Commitment. Ideas.
Exhaustion. Bureaucracy. Funding complexity.
Detail of delivery.
Desires for deep change.
25 June 2008
Niamey NIGER
Food: day’s patterning:
Buying… making…
waiting… washing…
Eating…
More… and again…
Honoured guests.
Communal attention.
Kind flavours.
Mango conclusion.
26 June 2008
Parakou BENIN
Cheeky yellow birds.
Big leafed
green, green trees.
Green and yellow shirts
of moto taxis.
Rhythm of rain.
Rest and reflect.
A pausing place.
28 June 2008
Abomey BENIN
Low-lying red mud houses
And palaces
Crouching
In high green grass reeds.
Hidden weight of history
Midst mud decay.
Some things forgotten;
Some things to forget;
Some cruelties
and grandeur remembered;
And an unobserved
ongoing influence.
29 June 2008
Bohicon BENIN
Strip-mall feeling
Street-side sellers
Bus station snacks.
Watching very little people
Sit on stools
And totter in the sand.
30 June 2008
Ganvie BENIN
Stilt houses. Tin roofs.
Sounds of wooden decks.
Boats filled with market goods
– floating.
Women in big hats
– selling.
Men with nets and branches
– fishing.
30 June 2008
Ouidah BENIN
Heaviness of complexity
for those treating HIV.
Small town opening
to wide beach exhale.
Coconut trees…
pauses… teapots…
and the Atlantic.
3 July 2008
Cotonou BENIN
Multilevel buildings.
Paving stone streets.
A skateboard
and birthday cards.
Dodging moto taxis daily
and eating Mama’s
on street ablo.
4 July 2008
Porto Novo BENIN
The capital’s refrain:
school-taught children chanting…
“Yovo, Yovo, bonsoir…
ça va bien… merci”
(Waves and smiles
to these “maiweewee”)
5 July 2008
Lomé BENIN
Coastal capital
fringed by the beauty of
long golden sands, palm trees
and this blue ocean’s white waves.
Many men in army vehicles
and many men on scooters.
Little local street banter.
Shoulders massaged
by a kind soul;
Her friend suggesting:
“Small country, small problems.”
7 July 2008
Atakpamé, Akparé, KéLépé BENIN
From a big town
to a small town
to a very small village.
From a taxi-bus
to a market
to a simple home.
From roadside peanuts
to millet beers
and then some earl grey tea.
From a minibus and a car
to long distant motos
to company and rural calm.
9 July 2008
Accra GHANA
Dual carriageway divided:
Slums. City slickers.
Big city spirit
of Atlanta and Jo’burg.
Trees. High walls.
Them. Us.
Smiles and scams.
Kindness and queues.
11 July 2008
Kumasi GHANA
Old city humility.
Ancient kingdom pride.
Symbols. Cassava.
And hospital reality.
Market breadth and depth.
Blaring horns.
Taxi spaghetti.
And roadside shoe displays.
13 July 2008
Elmina GHANA
White castle, sands and atrocities.
Tight houses on the shore.
Bright vessels
in a lagoon harbour.
Standing fishermen
Clapping rhythms
Over the waves.
Unwanted gifts
Bringing gift insight.
And a boat called
‘Ideas: I shall return’.
15 July 2008
Cape Coast GHANA
Small boats. Big Sea. Blue nets.
Tight central streets
around tiny
London Bridge.
Rolling ridges with hilltop schools.
Centre of education.
Conversational pace.
Kindness and connection.
16 July 2008
Accra GHANA
Rough road to kind spaces.
Swimming in the sea
and sitting in lamplight.
17 July 2008
Mahara, Lungi SIERRA LEONE
Trees between houses
Dark night, big rain
Long shore, fishermen.
Afternoon football
with sea and city views.
Cup of tea.
18 July 2008
Freetown SIERRA LEONE
Houses climbing
beautiful misty hills
dense with rain
and people and NGOs.
Beachfront space
and boats and bill boards.
“Attitude is everything!”
“A man of quality should not be afraid of a woman in search of equity.”
21 July 2008
Kambia SIERRA LEONE
Trees, big river
and spread-out houses.
Pre-emptive visit to vigilant border police alert to white-skin of freetown’s drug-bust.
Night work to free mud-slipped truck.
People familiar with war: shorts, stories and welcome.
Determined community radio: creating space for dialogue and debate.
22 July 2008
Conakry GUINEA
Peninsula city
Crammed with
Traffic and beauty.
And veins of poverty.
Ocean sunsets. Contrasts.
Lethargy or contentment.
And the accompaniment of
kind-hearted people.
24 July 2008
Labé GUINEA
Low-slung.
Undulating.
Smelly streets.
Slippery rides.
Rural beauty.
26 July 2008
Koundara GUINEA
Town without lights.
Late night home of welcome.
Morning bench of conversation.
27 July 2008
Bissau GUINEA BISSAU
Weathered and war-torn.
But with latent energy
and calm fortitude.
Exterior impressions of decay.
Interior glimpses of order, participation, resilience.
29 July 2008
Dakar SENEGAL
Unexpected return:
a flight facilitating
Cassemance avoidance.
Familiar and new.
Preparing for manic taxi point.
Lingering in calm cafés.
Busy streets. Bashed cars.
Square buildings.
Constant chat.
30 July 2008
Keneba THE GAMBIA
Morning greetings.
Afternoon baking.
Dusk walking
through changing bush:
village houses, shops, gardens,
baobabs, returning workers,
fields, fallen trees
and wide salt flats.
Evening candles. Rest.
31 July 2008
Banjul THE GAMBIA
Island capital surrounded by swamps and sea.
Shore walking.
Salty rain.
Friendly intentions.
Easy to be a tourist.
Harder to be a journalist.
Economic aspirations and
astounding declarations.
3 August 2008
Keneba THE GAMBIA
Brown houses hosting
White houses.
Brown roads carrying
White cars.
Long pauses.
Slow gathering.
Big thunder.
Lightening sky.
Reflected in
Horizons of water.
8 August 2008
Dakar SENEGAL
Congested roads.
Constructing freeways.
Pool refreshment.
Balcony views
of Dakar’s dusk.
Unexpected welcome.
Rest.
9 August 2008
Keur Moussa SENEGAL
Big journey
Small church
Rambling plants.
Black monks
White robes
Bold frieze.
Quiet moments
Soft drums
Clattering bus return.
10 August 2008
Saint Louis SENEGAL
Shuttered light
And grey buildings
Joined to a mainland
By a secondhand bridge.
Lines of
brightly coloured washing.
Rows of
brightly weathered boats.
Many men standing, sitting.
Many women walking, lifting.
Tourists with backpacks.
Expats with laptops.
And a freckled African
with memories, clues
and questions.
11 August 2008
Saint Louis SENEGAL
On leaving, the African man
settled her bill and said:
“No-one believes in Africa.
Except maybe you.”
……….
Truth flows alongside our flawed vision.
And we fish and swim
in an ocean without borders.
12 August 2008
Yoff SENEGAL
Taxi’d away from the calm home and crazy city streets.
Swimming in the waves of a continent’s westerly shore.
Watching the sun set, slowly, into the Atlantic.
A good end.
A good beginning.
14 August 2008
Edinburgh SCOTLAND
Grey stone,
grey clouds,
grey room.
Festivals,
flags,
friends.
Welcome. Familiarity.
And tea in a red cup.
16 August 2008