Realizations

The visit came and went and the verdict is that I’m staying here in Magta! I’m cool with that decision. Things here really have gotten a lot better. It turns out that it was just this one teacher behind the mess at school and one imam. The imam didn’t know anything about Peace Corps and thought I’d just come here on my own. The mayor did some talking with him and I think I’m in the clear for the moment.

I regret that my first two letters have given a negative impression of Magtalahjar and Mauritania. It’s been a tough first month, but it hasn’t been all bad. One of the good things about this place is how peaceful it seems to be. I can’t really describe it. There was always an edge to everyone in Chad, an aggressiveness right close to the surface. I don’t sense that here at all. I haven’t seen any fights or yelling matches in the street. People don’t carry knvies. The soldiers don’t have Kalashnikovs. When I comment on it people say, “Mauritania is a peaceful country. We don’t want problems. We pray. We do what’s good.”

Let’s look at this month objectively: I arrived in a small, conservative town in the countryside. I went to teach at a small middle school. Some of the parents and a teacher didn’t like the idea of a woman from a different country, of a different color and religion in a classroom with their 14 year olds. From the community’s religious house, rumors about me were spread. Could the same thing happen in your community? I’m concerned that my account of the situation last month might have resulted in some head-shaking about the closemindedness of Mulsims, the backwardness of an islamic republic. But, man, think what would happen if a black muslim woman from Africa, or even from a big American city, came to teach in my hometown of 800 people in southern Iowa…

In the same vein, here are some things I’ve been thinking about, especially since arriving here. They’re realizations I’ve gradually come to. They’ve taken time to undstand because they run against some of my gut reactions as a westerner, especially in the current political climate. Here we go:

• Turbans are for dust. That’s it. Think of them as cowboy bandanas over-the-mouth.
• Women covering their heads or bodies isn’t wrong or backwards and it, in and of itself, isn’t oppression. It’s just different. Think of the high collors, long sleeves, long skirts, hats, gloves of the days of old in America. Was that wrong? Backwards? Oppression?
• When you see footage on the evening news of a minaret (mosque tower) dominated Middle Eastern skyline and your heart clenches from the otherness of it, visualize your community. Is it dotted with church steeples? Same structure, same function.
• There are conservative people in every religion. There are fundamentalists in every religion. They’re the minority. The majority are in the middle just trying to lead good lives.

I don’t mean to preach, I just feel like I’m in a unique position and ought to share my observations. I live with a Muslim family in an islamic republic. I talk and laugh with muslim friends, who wear veils and turbans and speak Arabic. They’re good people. They’re my friends. They’re just living their lives as best they can.