During our West Africa trip, my son Mike focused on having at least one deeply memorable experience in each country we visited. For Guinea, on November 2, 2023, that was a drumming concert sponsored by a local non-profit. From the moment the drummers picked up their drums and the dancers walked onto the stage, we were mesmerized. The rhythms were compelling, the costumes vibrant, and the dancers passionate and athletic.
I couldn't resist getting in on the act!
Guinea is a large country, compared to its neighbors. In its mountainous interior are the headwaters of West Africa's largest rivers, as well as vast mineral wealth. However, it is still impoverished.
The drum concert was the best, but we also took an interesting boat ride to Kassa Island, within the Iles de Los. As with other African coastal cities, the Conakry port was full of picturesque fishing boats.
These huge cranes in the harbor were transporting containers of Guinea's products.
Our tour group was game for anything, led by one colorful local guide after another.
On Kassa Island, our local guide led us uphill to the moldering remains of a bauxite factory. It created prosperity for the island during the 1900s, but has been superseded by factories further inland. Kassa Island is called "Factory Island" because during the 1700s the Portuguese used it for ship repair, and it has had an industrial base ever since.
The remains of this mining town were as evocative as our mining ghost towns of America's west.
There was even a moldering night club.
On the other side of the island, fisherman tended their boats. Fishermen along the Atlantic coast of Africa worry that huge Chinese fishing rigs have invaded their territorial waters, sometimes with the agreement of corrupt African governments, and are decimating the fishing stocks.
Motorcycles are a huge status symbol in West Africa. This fellow had several, so he was the top of hill!
Cell phones are another status symbol. This was the village charging station, since many homes don't have electricity.
In villages without air conditioning, both men and women gather under trees to chat.
This was a curious place to put a sign advertising a restaurant!
And this was an odd choice of statue for the town square!
I loved the infinite bright patterns African women choose for their dresses, pants, and scarves. We saw many babies tied to their mothers' backs.
Kassa Island felt like another world from dense, bustling Conakry, but the big city was as close as this view across the bay.
Back in Conakry, we visited the grounds of the National Museum, where treasured African statues were in storage pending completion of a new museum building. It had been years since construction began. "This is Africa," our guide told us, again.
I was always interested in the images of "strong men," or dictators, who often derail African states. This poster was in the office of the museum. Africans rail against colonialism, but so often their leaders choose images of power borrowed from the West. Look at this man's epaulets, medals, cap, and suit, so much like that of an American general. There is ambivalence, I think, about the West and its colonists. Africans resent them, but, consciously or not, they adopt many of their symbols.
The heroic statues in the courtyard of the museum were also interesting. I think the baby is nursing Mother Africa.
This strong man in his Western suit is actually, it appears, one of those bad colonists.
No comments:
Post a Comment