Gaoua Things to Do

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The European/American Aid agencies have done a wonderful job of reaching out and placing fresh water wells in many villages. These are hand operated, in this case with something resembling a bicycle, and produce healthy bacteria free water from the earth. As a consequence, the attitude among the Lobi and other tribes toward Americans and Europeans is quite good. Seeing my curiousity, my guide and his friend were quite to show how it worked. The cleaning of hand-me-down garments from the USA and Europe are but one of many uses encouraged by the ready supply of water.

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After browsing around the mud structures alone, a various family members showed various degrees of interest in my visit. They were not engaged in any particular activities except entertaining the children. The family consisted of an older mother with several daughters and sisters, who themselves had children. The men were gone for the day, except one young man who appeared very serious when he appeared. I became concerned that my visit was an intrusion, but then despite the seriousness in his look, he became interested in the camera and in showing me around. A young woman who appeared to be his sister also became interested in the camera, but I had a difficult time extracting smiles from either of them in their portraits. But, I somehow learned from them and an older woman that I was indeed welcome. The older children and women were more fully dressed than in the first household I had visited, but their again their clothes were worn factory produced garments that had either been purchased in town or donated to them. Thus, I saw no traditional clothing and would presume that traditionally at least they would wear very little if anything in this hot dry climate. In the photos, notice the scar on the cheek which is a Lobi tribal mark.

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The Lobi homes were distributed throughout a small valley. On one corner of the valley was the village headman, or king, who lived a lifestyle much improved over those whom he ruled. Because there was another small group of tourists, we talked for only a moment to obtain permission for futher visits around the valley. As the guide settled himself down to singing songs to himself and then entertaining a child, I managed to visit several sisters who also had a number of children. Their homes were more numerous than in the first household I had visited and in better states of repair. The purposes to served by the structures shown here are numerous, including grain storage and basic shelter from the sun and rain. The inhabitants were an extended family that shared some resemblance and overall appeared slightly better dressed and fed than the more outlying household that I had visited first.

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My pesty Lobi young man finally persuaded me to rent out a couple scooters. After some delay, we proceeded out of town and up into a hilly area, stopping at various villages. The villagers were considerate, considering the inept introductions made by our guide. At one point, after we had parked the scooters, the guide rush ahead, and so I had the chance to ditch him for a visit to a particular household minus his interference. Two women were watching over a large number of children in a very simple, many would say impoverished, lifestyle. The homes were simple mud brick in need of repair. Younger children were completely naked, and some of the older boys and girls wore very worn T-shirts that appeared to be from some clothing donation program. Nobody wore shoes or sandals of any kind. One woman, who greeted me and then relaxed to breast feed a child, wore a simple but brightly colored cotton dress, while the other had only a little fabric tied loosely around her waist, nothing covering her breasts. Neither woman appeared in the least concerned about their nakedness until I began to fiddle with my camera. Communication was difficult, and the woman were at first afraid, and then after I showed them some images on the camera LCD screen, they became more interested. I tried to demonstrate how to pose for a portrait shot, but found only limited success with the children who were very excited and silly. The bare breasted woman wasn't shy for my having seen her, but didn't want her portrait taken with breasts showing. I wasn't exactly sure why, but I'm generally interested in facial features anyway and she was a good model for me. I had to leave when the guide came back mad at me for having gone my own way. So, we had only a brief moment for photography, but I stayed long enough to create prints of the pictures taken with the women. Then, through the guide I thanked them, and we left for another home.

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As said, there are a wide variety of interesting locally produced foods to observe being sold at the Gaoua marketplace, and the adventuresome will try eating some. Most living in this area should have plenty to eat as I didn't see any real shortage of food.

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The Lobi are reclusive and communication difficult even for those that speak French. I tried to capture a few portrait photos of this proud people. Not all those attending the market are Lobi, however, we didn't visit long enough to distinguish between the many tribal groups that live in the area. However, I'm pretty sure that those I picture here are Lobi.

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In addition to selling produce, condiments, and meats, the Gaoua open market also has a covered labyrinth of a wide variety of consumer goods, electronics, and clothing, much of which is cheap junk. The more interesting stuff sold are the native products sold by Lobi in the open area under the trees. Much of the fabric sold here is African print cotton fabrics produced by India and China. Most of the manufactured consumer goods are cheap Chinese imports.