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| February 3, 2009 |
“I am from the valley. I am Fur because my roots are Fur. I am 77 years old. When I was young I simply followed my father who was a cotton farmer. We harvested the cotton then removed the seeds. We had a traditional cotton machine to make the strands, which we would weave then take to market. People bought the cloth to make clothes. We were big merchants. My father was a great man, famous for growing and for weaving cotton. As I grew older he took me to the Koranic school. So I was lucky. I learned the Koran and the cotton.
I went north to learn about the world and when I came back, I got married. I earned more money and became a well-known professional. When the chief died, the people appointed me chief of the area. I have been the chief for 40 years.
HOW A CHIEF WAS CHOSEN
1.you must have a fortune so that you can assist the vulnerable and you would never take from others—because you aren’t hungry.
2. As a cotton merchant I know about life. I know the Koran. I am an educated man.
3. I a close to the people. I am not going to stay far from them. I am humble and I am happy for the people. My background is that of a good man. I am honest. There were three men being considered. They chose me because the other two had problems in their background. I had only one problem but still, that is better than those who had more.
The village held meetings that included many people. It lasted one whole day. On the second day I was invited to be present, and they told me they wanted to appoint me as Chief of the village. This was the voice of all the people of the village. I said, “If there is anyone who disagrees, raise your hand. No one raise their hand. Then I said I will give you 7 days. If anyone has a problem, come to my house. No one came except to say hello and congratulate me. After 7 days I agreed to be chief.”
“It is the responsibility of the chief to be aware of the problems and to solve them. I consider what is good for the area and what is not.
I must judge the people. When the problem is very big, I went to the government. I was the mediator between the government and my people. “
“I will tell you a story of the time of my youth.
THE LION STORY
“We had cattle and so we made a fence around the area and there was a guard. The one who guards does not sleep for two days--his duty is to guard the cattle from lions for two days. When a lion jumped over the fence the guard would call the people and they would pull the lion off the cow. People chased the lion with a high voice and the lion would run away. But the lion only ran one kilometer. After that the lion stops—just like a man. And we stand too. The lion then goes somewhere else to attack. We respected the lion. And he respected us I think.
Now I am loving that time. In those days we dealt with lions. Now we can’t even deal with cattle.”
THE ELEPHANT STORY
Elephants like to eat the seeds. They are very big and strong. But when a rooster makes a noise the elephant will run away. So everyone had to have at least 3 or 4 roosters because you have to hit them to make them scream. It is the only sound that will make an elephant go away.”