November 2009A thousand words to say good-byeA thousand words to say good-bye
by Jin Lu
There are a thousand words to say good-bye
But I can choose none
Snow is white and dark is my hair
And I see something’s there
There falls a snow on my land
As winter comes and autumn’s gone
There’s a name on my Chinese comb
It’s my black hair and my dreamed home
My name, my tongue and my home
Your name, your tongue and your home
I sleep and wake with that along
I read and write them all night long
They call my name and hear my chant
Outside the sky, the sea and my land
They are a thousand eyes in the air
Shining and singing, to see and to share
There are a thousand words to say good-bye
But I can choose none
Because there’s always more to come
Than what’s been read and what we’ve sung.
--Thanks and hugs to Nuala, dear readers and BBC Learning English Team!
posted on Sunday, 01 November 2009 | comment on this postFrom BBC Learning EnglishIt's November, and that means it's time to say goodbye and thanks to Jin Lu for her fantastic blog (poems and all) and to welcome Cheikh Vall who will be our blogger for November. Hello Cheikh Vall!
BBC Learning English team posted on Monday, 02 November 2009 | comment on this postHello from the Sahara desert
Hi, everyone!
I would like to thank all the BBC LE staff and Nuala in particular for the gift, they are handling me by offering this splendid opportunity of blogging here. I am grabbing this great chance with both hands, as we do here in the Sahara in order to show some kind of respect and gratitude.
I also want to greet warmly the former student bloggers, the commentators and all the readers. I promise, though I do not consider my self a great storyteller nor a poet, I will do my best to enchant all of you, tongue in cheek.
I can't describe my feelings right now? I think I have mixed emotions; I am over the moon, as I will have my writing checked by specialist English teacher and hopefully get some critical advices that could help me brush up on my language.
I am also a bit frightened and nervous. Because, believe it or not, I have never had to write even a long letter to a friend ,let alone blogging on a well known site like this one. I feel like I am getting ridiculed into addressing a bunch of people who are more eloquent than me and know exactly what I am struggling to say on this page.
All what I know about blogging is just I need to say a word about myself at the beginning. Well, in the Saharan traditions, we have taught not to talk explicitly about ourselves. Perhaps to encourage us to introduce ourselves to others with what we do rather than what we say. Nevertheless, I will beat myself down and break this rule for you guys.
Here we go, I am a 40-year old man, married and working as the international relationship secretary at a Mauritanian NGO called (Together for Development and Awareness) My job is to contact the International Organizations that are interested in reaching out to our country and offer our help and cooperation.
I am travling quite a bit and these days i am in Qatar About my studies I learned (Islamic law SHERIA and related themes) for 10 years: at the high school and the university. Therefore, I consider myself-without any boasting- a specialist in Islamic theories and ready to help those –if there is any-who might be interested in Islamic culture.
So, I live in the capital of Mauritania. Never heard of it? You are probably not a lone. It is ok. I will tell you about it. Though, we are known in the Arab world with this name (The million-poet country), we are yet to acquire a hallmark that puts us on the international map.
Mauritania is a far flung, West African, mostly desert country. It occupies more than one million KM 2. its border countries are Algeria, Morocco, Mali and we are blessed with almost 2000kl2 on the Atlantic ocean. Our capital Nouakchott is still too young. We start building it on 1960.
Our population is roughly 3 millions, consist Arabs, Barbers and Africans and we are a melting pot when it comes to languages; we speak Arabic French-our former colony language- and three more African dialects. I hope that you don't get bored with all these superficial information.
But I will tell you some interesting information about us .You just need to make some preparations that might be useful in order to grasp our nomadic thoughts. Just turn your watch back to the 17th century if you could.Then imagine that you are in a long trip of adventure rambling in the countryside, have pitched a tent and away from all aspects of the modern life.
You are also surrounded with few people who are so generous, humble and willingly run your errands. But they are probably see the world differently and radically stick up for their odd point of view and could go rogue for no reason at all. Keep that in mind and welcome to the Sahara desert.
Happy Halloween! You know what? Actually, we neither celebrate Halloween nor our day of birth. Can you believe it? You see.
Talking about Halloween, I think it is the high time to tell you the way we dress here.listen to this prank:
The men here wear Boboo which is a very baggy African dress. On 2000, I was in the US . It was the first time to hear about the Halloween; when the restaurant where I used to work held a competition in scary clothes and masks on that occasion.
Amazingly enough, I didn't need to add any changes to our normal Boboo, in order to participate in that contest. And guess what, I didn't win it, but all my colleagues admit that it was so strange and deserve the rivalry. I am getting tired of my maiden writing.
I want to thank you in advance Nuala, for the time you would spend reading this sort of writing. I can imagine what kind of job you have here. But my weak excuse is just what I reiterated here: I am trying to read too much, but I never push myself hard to write.
You can use my turn of words as a typical example for those who taught themselves the language without attending schools.
My PC failed to apload the pics i wanted to share with you . Sorry for that. 
I can not wait to read your post.
All best
Cheikh Vall
posted on Monday, 02 November 2009 | comment on this postLiving the dream
Hello, Nuala and everyone,
 Here is my friend ali wearing a boboo" >
I was planning to move on to an other topic, but your comments-which I really appreciate and will soon reply to - spurs me to carry on lyrically writing about our interesting customs. Are you ready?
ok , you remember the rules,let us go.
Hearing about superstitions is one thing, but living it is an other thing all together. You might have heard about some people who believe that ghosts do exist, but what would be your reaction when you hear others talking openly to them? Any mental disorder here treated automatically as an impact of jinn and it is futile to try to convince any one with an other reason or cause.
Some of us also ask the dead people for help and believe that their ancestors still have a great role to play in their own lives even after their death; they watch them and protect them from evil.
Therefore, do not get surprise when you meet some guys, who are struggling to make their ends meet, want to chip in to finance a very long trip to visit a graveyard tacked in the dunes or amongst scattered trees to slaughter an animal and catch up with their grandfathers.
Secondly,does dream have a meaning to say? We generally believe so.
Moreover, we think that our dreams at night must have prophetic meanings to tell about our fate and our destiny. So, when some guys here see a dream while they are sleeping, they carefully memorize its saga and start looking for an interpreter, who must be a religious scholars, and ask him to find out the sense that the dream ,or maybe the nightmare, had to say .
The interpreter would try to show off his impeccable talents, usually by citing some( holy) verses that mention some of the stuff included in the dream' story. Then he'd start elaborating his presentation by educing out the good or bad indications attached to the whatsis stated in the dream.
It could be a sign for events that would happen to the dreamer in the near future and accordingly, the interpreter would ask the dreamer to do certain things as precautions.
His skills could always be measured with how convoluted conclusion he could come up with based on liaisons between the dream and the verses he recited .
An other distinct fad here is that men used to praise women's obesity and prefer overweight wives. Although this gusto has started to die out, there are some girls still getting force-fed to gain weight so that they get married early as their parents think.
One last strange thing here, which is a bit more real than superstitions and dreams : People here use their hands for very different activities. One; they use them when they eat their food without forks and you probably have guessed the other one. Right, when they go to the bath room, with water of course but without paper towels.
The last but certainly not least, I have to mention the worst tradition ever man practice on this planet; slavery . Which is still a hot debate over here, whether is it still exist or not. Although we used to exert it and see it as a normal issue, the government did prohibit it long time ago and last year we passed a law that incriminates to call some one a slave.Why on earth do you do this?
But as early as yesterday, unfortunately the UN representative in Nouakchott assured that it is still there.
Now, I want you to know that I am not harsh with my people. In fact I used the pronoun( our-us) at times, to tell you that I am a part of those who are being criticized here. I am not fond of self-flagellation nor I am harsh with my beloved brothers.
Just because I lived for quite a while in the weste, I think I can determine what could be striking for them in our way of life and I want only to tantalize you and give you a chance to hear it from the horse's mouth.
But, if I were to write aiming to interest my people, I would probably be telling them about some parents in the west who kick their children out when they become 18 ,the well- equipped hospitals for animals there or about those who bequest their wealth to their dogs or cats while there are people dying of hunger every minute.
Not all that would be so appealing here in Africa.
So, the Saharan also have their side of the human story. I am writing here only about what we have and when you come to Africa you wouldn't probably expect to see the latest invented technology or to watch the last blockbuster film.So, this is what you get.
Ok, I am getting tired. Now I will do my home work.
1-some advice
2-this info
3-exactly, the word I was after was handing
4-I meant by (ridiculed into getting addressing )that it would be ridiculous to fail to write after I apply for it and people can ridicule me for that and make fun of it. Thank you Nuala for your help there and for the pics of the kilt . It is interesting but wait until you know what we wear under the boboo.It is Taya and it is not less interesting. I've just started to learn the ropes of uploading pics, so I want to add some and I hope my computer would not fail me this time.
Best wishes.
CheikhVall
posted on Wednesday, 04 November 2009 | comment on this postExtension and commets reply
Hello, again,Nula and all commentators,
I have something to add to my last post.
When I talked about the role the ancestors still play, I forget to tell you that a noble tribe descendent here gains respect of the people regardless of his or her contribution to the community.
Therefore, the common question, people usually ask while striking up a conversation with new acquaintances ( what do you do for life?) is almost missed here or at least, wouldn't reveal the financial class that person might belong to .
Because unemployment person from a well-born family can make a hefty chunk of money easily and constantly out of their tribe reputation.
I also want to add that our religious scholars, who generally lead the society here, are being trapped when dealing with the stigma of slavery.
Because, they either choose to accept it which could cause them the government support and consequently their job, or otherwise, to go with its illegitimacy which can cause them to lose their followers, who read it everyday in ( the Quraan) the Muslim's Holy Book and know that the Muslims have been accustomed to it through their long history.
Another unusual habit here is that we have a certain class of the society who are exclusively inheriting the music art and are eligible, by unwritten but very strict rule, to enter any house and reveal their personalities as musicians. Then the visited, or extorted, house would have no choice to safe its reputation by give them a significant amount of money.
Now, I think that is too much information to know about a new country like mine. You are all now experts of our culture.
The comments reply: I want to thank you all for the tremendous wellcome that overwhelmed me.
Ana Paula, I read all your 2 blogs, and I liked them. Good luck in your exam. thnx.
-Raquel next time, do not hesitate, join your friend to Nouakchott and you are very welcome.
-Marianna, Thanks a lot for you comments, you bet, I was happy there but not necessarily for the reason you mentioned.
– Olivia, Mizan and Samar, thank you so much. You really made my day with your comments . Olivia, most tourists here are French.
-Beatriz, I don't know much about your country more than , that your country speaks Spanish . Besides I always watch Copa America and support Brasil ,next time i will support you if Ana agree.
-Ola , Merce, Robert , Josephineand Marina. Thanks a lot and enjoy reading this info about us.
-YPW, You are very welcome to my country, come and check Africa out.
-Mara , that is so encouraging . thank you and congratulations for your city win to host the next Olympic games. I hope I would be there.
-Soroush, I have been to your city, Toronto . it is very cold.
-Oly, I hope the pics on my second post helped a bit and next time you are searching the net do not use boobo, just write Mauritanie.
Vinhnt , you are so lucky, whenever you have a problem with any school subject, go to bed and resolve it while you are dreaming.take it easy.aclose look of boobo
Thank you all again.
Have a good weekend
Cheikh Vall
posted on Thursday, 05 November 2009 | comment on this postThe nomadic democracy
Hi Naula,
I was about to stop the bile criticism and say some thing good about my country. I am craving to do so.Then, I thought to myself :If you guys knew about the unique way of governance we are experiencing in the desert, You would all have asked me to say something about it.
The Mauritanian political distinction among Arab states is down to two folds: First , we have five former presidents living today. This is very exceptional in the Arab world, Where leaders must die first in order to( accept) to leave the power.
Second, the high number of coup d'états we have experienced during the short time we have lived as an independent country.
And the latter certainly has to do with the former.
It is disappointedly amazing to have one coup last year, even after we thought we have had enough coup d'états and thrown that era behind us and believe that they are no longer acceptable in the zeitgeist of the 21century. Especially, after the military leaders on 2007 decided to leave the office voluntarily and organized a transparent presidential election handing out the power to the civilians and promised not to poke their noses in the government any more .
When all of the sudden, a new military leader seized the power ,toppled the elected president and organized yet an other election , which he won massively and we are back to the vicious circle. But this what happens when people , who are still far cry from any kind of the individualism, import democracy. A person here is a part of his or her tribe and it is unacceptable even to think out side the clan's concerns.
I find it disturbing that our alliance to our ethnic groups is much stronger than to our country and our parties. Can you imagine someone who got elected to be a senator simply change the party he represents against some money. This is a common act in the Saharan democracy.
Most people here still believe that the government represents their former colony and therefore their arch- enemy. This is the best explanation a person could come up with for citizens who wake up every day to do what ever they can to deplete their own wealth.
Unfortunately, we generally still have a sheer lack of believe in the idea of state and mess it up with the regime that rules the country.
The appointed people for all official portfolios, seem to care only about their clans and relatives and pay no attentiveness to the every day people.
It is almost impossible to get any paper signed at a given department here, without resorting to bribe some if not all staff of the circuit that paper has to go through.
Any of our resources like fishing, or iron ore could simply transform us into a rich state, if only we manage to use it wisely.
Our people, especially our leaders, have chosen to make us very poor .
In fact, we rely mostly on the international aids to survive and many people live on a footy amount monthly. The disparity between the small number of wealthy people and the poor majority is hugely staggering. While the middle class is relatively absent.
The officials diligently try to invent new ways to spend their allocated budgets exclusively on themselves and their family. They work constantly on creating new spurious posts that suit their close relatives. The herculean discretion they give there is definitely enough to mitigate the poverty in our country, had them used it properly. But the normal people benefit seems to be out of their minds.
This is the unwanted truth but I hope all these misconducts going to mutate very soon.
Last month, the new president talked openly, for the first time, about barratry and declared a war against corruption. He also fling some former ministers in jail and order some sacked officials to pay back what they allegedly stolen. More importantly, he vowed that this is going to be a free mischief epoch.
Well, I have my fingers crossed, but I am sure that if he is serious about that, he has to prepare for a long and tough war against too many people who got addicted to corruption.
Now, let me have a try on my home work.
1-But your comments spur me to carry on.
2-Some of them also ask the dead for help and believe that their ancestors still have a great role to play in their own lives; they watch them and protect them from evil.
…3-who must be a religious scholar.
It (slavery) is still a hot debate over here, whether it exists or not
4- I read your blogs both entirely.
5- We passed a law that outlawed to call anyone a slave.
Thanks a lot Nuala, your last corrections really make me pay more attention to agreements and try to keep the whole sentence agree.
I 've just realized that you have added the buskers'pic.
Thanks, again. I have seen this in Montréal-Canada
But I was nosey enough to join them on the stage and asked them about themselves.
They said they had came from outside the Quebec province.
Have a good one
Cheikh Vall
posted on Monday, 09 November 2009 | comment on this postCompass versus Watch
Hello Nuala!
Today, I want to write about the positive side of the Sahara.
Dissimilarity between the watch and the compass epitomizes, in my opinion, the differences between life in modern cities and life in the Sahara.
Unlike the compass, the watch never tells you where to go.
So, here are few questions to begin with.
Are you always feel you are behind, no matter how fast you run? Are your daily commitments calling on you constantly. Are you running out of your feet most of the time, looking frequently in your watch, and find it difficult to keep up with the chokablock life around you? Do you need to cram your self daily in strangers to get to your work or your school?
Have you just come back from a hectic day? Do you expect one frenzy tomorrow?
I hope that your answer was a resounding (no) to all of these questions, but just in case it was( yes) or (kind of), you are invited to visit the Sahara desert and get (time-out) of the hassle and bustle life.
So, let us assume that have kindly accepted that invitation. What does the Sahara have to offer you?
Well, looking outstanding stranger,
you would have an advantage here. You would be overwhelmed by the reception and our traditions of hospitality.
People here compete to invite visitors.
Here, you will always feel that there is plenty of time and never feel chased by any thing. This sedentary life would let you feel some peace toward both your soul and your body. Do you think you need this?
You would also wake up every day without alarm and get enough sleep before the dawn light. Which would gush slowly dispersing the dark gradually.
Then you would watch the lonely rising sun, which would accompany you all day long until it sinks fierily behind the sand dunes. _
Nothing here can stop your eyes wherever you want to take look ;you can use the full scope of your sight.
Mauritania is fascinating with its age-old culture kept unaffected through the centuries.
The Bedouins here
spend several hours holding a green tea ceremonies, when the tea maker has enough time to outdo herself repeatedly.
We let the evenings wear off waiting for the camels to loom swaying boastingly in their way back after a long trip of pasturing.camls swaying "
Then we'd professionally milk them, drink fresh milk, and keep some mulled milk for the next day.
The voice of lasses churning out the classical songs could be heard from afar. And the men would be reciting the well-known stanzas of the oldies poems.
 my friend and I" >
We are intrigued by the bare flesh and we always feel our firm belonging to it. Although the Sahara is bereft of the green trees that drip vibrant,
you can always feast your eyes with the vast golden sand under"sand dunes under widen sky"
 in a trip" >
the widen skies when the moon shines brighter or the stars become more glittering.
Under these circumstances, you can't help but start improvising poetry.
With these exotic landscapes, you would invariably feel
some solitude, quietude and serenity which are more than embellishment factors in human life, they are definitely innate needs.
Only under those gigantic celestial sceneries, you would have the time to think philosophically away from any kind of distraction about the nature, the universe and the human fate. At that moment, you would perform a new sort of meditation while you endowed with an unequivocal sober-mind.
That is the spiritual compass that tells you who you are, why you are here and where you are going.
At the end of the day we are a human beings not heavy machines.
The Sahara offers that compass. And you are invited to stop by and get some.
Though we are called underdeveloped world, we believe we represent the natural man on this planet, there for we prefer the compass to the watch that guides people in the modern civilization.
We have time to enjoy ourselves.
all the pics are taken on a trip my friends and I took to the north of Mauritania on 2008.
Best wishs.
Cheikh Vall
posted on Wednesday, 11 November 2009 | comment on this postHomework and Comments' replyHello Nuala,
And all commentators
Nuala, you have wondered on your post (Musicians and money) how you would do in Mauritania with your chords on the guitar.
Well, I think if you come here, you would be very busy doing more lucrative job, yet by virtue of being. Teaching people English. How about that?
Now, another try on my pending homework (you see each in one word )
1- I read your both blogs entirely.
2-we passed a law that outlawed calling anyone slave.
And here is a try on the articles' task :
2. You would wake up every day without an alarm.
5. … you want to take a look.
7. The Bedouins here spend several hours holding the green tea ceremonies
8. … in a modern civilization
9. Though we are called an underdeveloped world …
Comments:
Marianna, Thank you so much for your fast comments.
You are right those Bedouins find it difficult to practice individualism.
They need long time to understand it.
Mara thank you for your lovely comment.
Dennis, thanks, Since you are from US, I was expecting to hear the natural reaction to my writing from a native speaker who is not a special teacher like Nuala.
Do you find my writing smooth enough , or otherwise ?
Jason , you wrote a long and very informative comment thank you. I am interested in more info about China too.
Ainab ,I hope I can write like native speakers, but that is still a long shot. I will take that as an encouraging step , thank you for that.
Kawthar and AA ugust, and Kuldeep,I couldn't agree with you more, corruption needs to be dealt with globally .
Vinh, yes the weather here is relatively hot, but it is not that cold at night.
Walter, it is hard to summarize a religion in a reply , besides, I am not sure if this the right place to do so. Nevertheless, the most important rules in Islam are to believe in God and all messengers including Mohamed and believe that there would be a day of judgment after the death and to pray and do good deeds.
Alberta, I wish I have more to say about the jinn. But, I only hear people talking about them and they claim here they have access to them. If you are so interested in those issues, you can come here and contact those sorcerers , but watch out, most of them are just quacks.
About the novelists , we don't have English novels or poetry, to my knowledge ,I hope they would be translated to English in the near future
Thank you for your interest.
Thanks all and have a good weekend.
Cheikh Vall
posted on Thursday, 12 November 2009 | comment on this postScarcity against prosperirtyHello. Nuala, and everybody!
Today I am afraid I will talk too much just to say nothing. I am going to continue talking about the comparison between some aspects of modern life and life in the desert.
We humans, nowadays, are very developed. But, does this come at the cost of our morality? Let us see.
Today, you can drive your car and achieve many different activities at different locations in a record time.
We all should be very proud of that. We have reached a point where technology helped us accomplish what once had literally considered a miracle.
Today's discussion aims only to argue that we can't seem to get a benefit in our progress without losing another.
First,
why are people in the modern life feel more stressed out than those who still live in the desert?
Well, although I have experienced both lives, I am not sure I am the right person to answer this question.
All, what I can do is to think loudly giving you a chance to hear my thoughts and judge for yourself.
People in the desert have only few activities to decide about daily. Therefore,
they usually have the time and the patience to consider all pros and cons of all options and carefully chose the appropriate one.
On the contrary, when a person in a developed country engages in too many events, tries to accomplish too many activities and sometimes even plays different roles, like studying and working-not to say teaching and managing-, they get forced to take several decisions in a very short time and consequently they are more likely to miss the right choice.
I think ,because of the lack in cognitive abilities and the pressing activities, that each needs an immediate action; people habitually rush to act sometimes indifferently. And when they inadvertently make the wrong choice, let us say on a cosmetic operation, a divorce or a cessation of a rehabilitation program, their lives changes forever.
By the same token, I think that is why the Bedouins never resigned willingly from life. Vis, never decide , for that matter, to put an end to their own lives.
This horrible crime "suicide" has almost become a normal act in the civilized world. And I see no reason to pore in data to give you the statistics to prove it.
Second,
It is ironic that people in the developed world always praise civilization as a haven of freedom and claim that freedom flourishes only in the modern cities rather then the underdeveloped world.
In fact, the more your city develops, the more your hypothetical barriers grow. And as more rules and laws a person has to consider, his or her freedom shrinks and feel shackled all the time.
In the desert, there is a scarcity in almost everything but in freedom. People there have no rules to worry about all the time.
This is not a call for modern world to abandon its progress and go back to the medieval ages.
I am just writing this to encourage you to think differently about the world around you and to share with you the thoughts that come to mind when I try to think deeply to compare between the vary ways of life on our planet.
I am sure all of you guys can either rebuff my opinion or present an alternative analysis about this issue with more explanatory power.
I am afraid I've bored every one to death and some of you are probably reading this and say: why don't you just go and enjoy your desert and leave us a lone?
Well, that is exactly what I am up to . And i leave you with a promise to change the subject in my next entry.
But, remember people of desert, like me, do not have rules to keep in mind.
Lastly, Zillions of thanks to you Nuala for the useful advice you keep giving me. I am trying my best to get a new advice every time, by avoiding repeating the same mistakes.
Thank you all . please tell me what you guys think and have a good time.
all best.
Cheikh Vall
posted on Monday, 16 November 2009 | comment on this postWedding traditions.Hello, Naula!
Tonight I would like to tell you about some of our social traditions that might not be as strange as those I mentioned before. But still, I suppose most of you would probably like to hear about them.
There are too many social traditions here in Mauritania and sometimes they slightly differ from one district to another.
As you know, writing about a single social habit accurately would need a lot of knowledge and analysis, if somebody wants to thoroughly study the ritual and probe its roots. Therefore, tonight, I just want to pick some of our traditions that relate to weddings. I really expect them to interest you as an outsiders of this Saharan society.
First, instead of being proud of herself, her success and sharing with everybody her plan for the party, the bride here has to huddle somewhere and avoid meeting her parents' visitors, cover her face and stop talking days before the wedding. The explanation the society presents for these behaviours is to make the bride show some shyness and decency.
Acting normally while people discussing her coming up marriage is totally unacceptable.
Second, on the wedding day, the bride also must dress in black.
Our national dress for women ,by the way, is Mulaffah " a long piece of cloths that the woman wears by rolling it on her body in a certain way that reveals her face, hands and feet". It looks a lot like the sari that the Indian women wear.
So, I don't think you would find it as strange as Boobo which I told you about earlier.
Mulaffah also is not for us exclusively. Two more African countries Sudan and Somalia wear the Mullaffa too.It seems to be designed perfectly to cover all the obesity women used to have.
Some people in the east think Black is a sign of sadness and should be put on only for mourning and poignant events.Therefore, they find the color contradict the joyful mood people at the wedding should be at.
The bride also must pretend that she is crying on the wedding day to prove herself unhappy. Showing happiness about her marriage would be shameful and a sign of obscene according to our norms which still consider sex a taboo.
One more very strange tradition which is more common now in rural areas, is that the bride close female friends would try their best to kidnap her at any time during the wedding party which usually goes on for seven consecutive nights. When they succeed, they would hide her away from the groom friends. Sometimes even take her outside the neighborhood and make sure to limit the number of people who know her whereabouts.
Socially, the bride must conspire with them and abide by the plot instructions, otherwise she would be considered a bad girl.
Then the groom and his friends would have to embark on searching the whole area, house-by-house, looking for her until they find her.
And even then, the mission is yet to be over, they would have to fight the bride female friends until they free her completely and bring her back to the groom. Sometimes she manages to stay for several days in her hideout.
In some areas, failing to get her would mean that the groom has failed to live up to his responsibilities and consequently lose his bride.
Lastly, we have an interesting tradition that relates to the end of marriage rather than its beginning.
In the case of divorce, the man is obliged socially and religiously, to send a significant amount of money along with the divorce letter to the woman's family. No matter how angry the husband is about the divorce and even if the woman was the one who asked for it or her misconduct was beyond it, all of that doesn't change anything.
The man still has to pay at both the start and the finish of marriage.
That is all for now and I am curious to know as how you would react to those Mauritanian traditions.
Now it is the time for my homework.
Here is a try,
1-This horrible crime suicide has become an almost "normal" act in the "civilized" world
2-you can drive your car and do many different activities.
Would finish fit better here?
3-Today's discussion aims to argue that during human progress, we only gain a benefit by losing another.
Thank you again and again Nuala.
Await for my new mistakes.
I never expect to need four corrections in one sentence.But i am more hapy with my mistakes. Without which, i wouldn't learn more.
Thank you all for you reading and for your comments I will replay soon.
All best
Cheikh Vall
posted on Wednesday, 18 November 2009 | comment on this postHonor crimesHi there.
Tonight, I will try to interact with some commentators.
In Mauritania, we do not have what socalled Honer crimes. Thanks to our maternal barbarian society. Just keep reading to see why i used that title.
-Kuldeep, you are right, there are differences between sari and mullaffah. But, I think what you've described as disclosure of beauty when women wear sari, was an old belief that women need to expose their bellies to the sun "God" in order to have children.
You also asked whethe the divorce needs to be registered .It doesn't need any registration. Here, divorce is merely a word stated by the husband not the wife.
For example, if a man sworn by divorce to assure someone that something had happened, and he lately found out that the action had never happened, that would counted a divorce.
The wife doesn't have the right to divorce her husband. However, she has other ways to get rid of him, if she wants. She can buy herself from him or ask him to leave her and then he would be forced morally to appease and divorce her.
But, in all cases the decision or rather the word has to come from the man.
4- Taru from Finland, You have come clean by admitting that people who are giving their money away to animals while other people dying are simply idiots.
That is a harsh word,Taru, but let us hope that kind of language would prople them to think.
What do you mean when you described my opinion as a man's view.
What is wrong with males' opinion? I am afraid this is typically a false generalization.
In my view, man and woman may could play different roles but they are absolutely equal.
I am also not sure that your comparison between the Sahara and the Scandinavian countries was that accurate. There is no scarcity there. You are living in one of the most developed spot on the planet.
Unlike the desert, the frizzing weather forces people and governments there to provide every house with power just to save people's lives. Which plays, in my opinion, a good role in your wellbeing? Whilst the hot whether poses no threat to the Saharan lives.
Sunshine, although your comment was lovely and very short, I have tow remarks about your pen- name.
First, since you are from Saudi Arabia sunshine wouldn't be the best name, for the literally scorching weather ther.You need to move to the north to make this name more attracting.
I think, this is why the moon was much preferred in Arabic poetry when it comes to showing affection to gorgeous women.
Second, I hope you would be so nice and allow me to explain to the readers why you need to hedge your name.
Living in Saudi Arabia for five years,I have seen, the first hand, how they live and think.
In the conservative and paternal society there, women are extremely cautious about giving their real names. No man there can dare to mention a name of a given woman before her husband or her brother. That is totally shameful. If he does, it could cost him his life.
They still look suspiciously to any relationship between a man and a woman.
In fact, they can not imagine a clear relationship between them.
They think that women are not eligible even to drive cars let alone to be on the lead of a country. And in the absence of her independence and an affective law to protect her, the "guardian" man takes over.
A woman there is man's asset or resort for pleasure rather than an independent person.
She needs the man to travel with her, to cover her from other men's eyes, to sign the marriage contract on her behalf, to chose for her or rather to sell her to the person with whom she would spend her life with. to issue a verdict(Fatwa) for her when she gets confused about her own monthly period and more worse, to beat her when she disobey him.
Historically, they used to burry newborn girls to avoid the dishonor she could bring. That was a short cut.
Nowadays, they just burry her socially and legaly. They kill her only if she threats the " honor" of the family. Jordan in that region is the worst when it comes to "honor" crimes, but the statistics accuracy, to some extent, depends on the government's policy. So, it is hard to get the exact numbers in those societies.
Marianna,your comment is encouraging as always, thanks.
Hoyshil, Can I tell you something, Hoyshil? If I were you, I would be satisfied with my English. I have been following your comments on this page for more than a year and I have to admit that every time I read one, I come across useful expressions including today's comment. So, you too , keep the good work.thanks for your comment.
Jason, thank you for your wavering about the modern life and I hope you would visit the Sahara someday.
Asma, I wouldn't call your country a desert.
Dubai is now a well-developed state.Tanks to Med bin Rashed.
I meant by free life ,to live without regulations. Thank you for commenting.
Rajesh, thank you for the info about northern India, but I have a suggestion about the coin that believed to give domination to one of the couple. Wouldn't be fair enough if the new couple consider themselves two flips of the very coin.
Qader Husin said in his short comment that he wants to study English.
I want to assure you, Qader that this is the right place for you.
Keep reading BBC LE and commenting on this page.
Thank you all and have a good weekend.
Cheikh Vall
posted on Saturday, 21 November 2009 | comment on this postGrappling effectively with USHiya, Nuala!
Tonight, I will tell you two unusual experiences of traveling in the future.
You just need to be a good believer to accept the first one.
While I was wandering in the desert, for some description, suddenly the whole sky was lit up and I couldn't recognize what was going on.
All what I remember is that I felt I was traveling so fast. Then I joined a group of people who had put on some electronic hats . To my surprise, they were able to contact one another, chat and laugh without using languages.
Can you believe it? When anyone of them wants to travel across the planet, all he needs to do is to specify vividly the place where he wants to go and he is there in less then a jiffy.
If you find it difficult to believe this, then do not blame my people here in Africa when they failed to believe the second one, which was an actual reality.
They would never imagine what I told them about life in North America, no matter how wild their imagination can run.
How does life in the west look like? You probably know.
But have you ever tried to take a look to your own life through eyes of an alien? Well, as a Saharan person, I can tell you what I told the Mauritanians about you.
First,I resorted to the dimension of time to show the disparity between those locations. I told them: We are lingering behind the west by centuries.So, i have been to the futur.
I told them about the ideal organized system there, how the business works, loans and credit cards,etc.
Electricity is ubiquitous and constant. Everyone has access to the Internet. People are truly independent ; they have the audacity to express themselves and say what they really like. They don not care about the others' reactions like people in the tribal societies, who are not allowed even to think out of the common opinion in the society. Simply, they live the freedom.
Even pastors and preachers there tend to seek a logical common ground with non-religious people during their interviews on national televisions.
I told them: The experience I got there can not be taught or found in books. It must be lived and practiced.
I told them about the metro and how people get in and out in less then a minute. And about those who read while the train is moving.
I told them that I never met an illiterate in the US. Everyone there can read, use the computer, etc. All of that was very amazing to all of them but probably couldn't get it.
I also, told them about the other side of that system.
People work hard and study hard, but they mess up knowledge with professionalism. They do not know much besides their majors. Vis. They are studying to get a job rather than to form a broad view of the world.
It happened to ask one of my colleagues from Kentucky whether she liked to go abroad." My friends and I have been saving money to spend one week in California" she answered.
Another friend asked me whether Iraq is in Africa. A third asked me why the plethora of Arab countries didn't help them defeat Israel, etc. I noticed that the average person doesn't need and doesn't have time to think outside the US. Those who are old enough have probably heard about Soviet Union and China but calling the world map to mind is pretty rare.
The third question was logic, however it indicated clearly that the questioner was not aware of the role his government played and continues to play in that region.
I can not deny the contributions that most celebrities make in the poor countries. However, the affluent and fast life there kept the normal people busy with their own schedules.
This absorption enables the lobbies to use money, manipulate the media, and influence negatively voters' opinions to keep the selfish politicians at the helm of the nation.
Bill Clinton now, for example, is doing a great job in fighting HIV. But he could have done probably better on that issue while he was in office and even forced other nations to join him in good causes.
But the lobbies was hindering him, as they are doing now with Obama who seemed to be so determined to do many promises including two-state solution in the middle east.
And look at him now. He doesn't give a toss to any of those issues.
Without that busyness of the crowd and their fast lane life, the politicians wouldn't persuade people to spend their money on unnecessary wars instead of fighting diseases, illiteracy and hunger.
The selfish politicians consider dictators around the world stalwart allies while their citizens are chafing under their fist.
People there do not have time to think seriously about their priorities as human beings. Homeless people there, for example, need help more than the dogs.
But the coarse individualism and the interference of the government, through regulations, to protect children, for example, has caused a flaw in relationship across the family and consequently the lack of confidence amongst people. That is why people, in my opinion, unconsciously seek compensation by resorting to pets.
A dog in The US enjoys many rights that most African population would kill for it.
Sure, animals also have their own rights under the modern inclusive power, but luckily, they don't know about it. Vis. Your dog wouldn't take you to court for any misconduct from you. That is why people like them. They give you a chance to be nice without an outside scrutiny.
Now as always my home work.
1-PROPLE was a misspelling of propel.
2-coming up marriage , I meant her up- coming marriage.
So, are these two ok now?
3- there are a number of social traditions here.
4- One more very strange tradition which is more common now in rural areas, is that the bride close female friends try their best to kidnap her at any time during the wedding party which usually goes on for seven consecutive nights. When they succeed, they hide her away from the groom friends. Sometimes even take her outside the neighborhood and make sure to limit the number of people who know her whereabouts.
Socially, the bride must conspire with them and abide by the plot instructions, otherwise she will be considered a bad girl.
Then the groom and his friends have to embark on searching the whole area, house-by-house, looking for her until they find her.
And even then, the mission is far from over, they have to fight the bride female friends until they free her completely and bring her back to the groom. Sometimes she manages to stay for several days in her hideout.
In some areas, failing to get her means that the groom has failed to live up to his responsibilities and consequently loses his bride.
Thank you very much for your time.
I do not write long entries to give you a hard time.
But, with the lack of command on the language, I have to write much to say little.
This is not an understatement. It is the truth.
Do you have Thanksgiving in UK?
Thank you all for reading.
All best.
Cheikh Vall
posted on Tuesday, 24 November 2009 | comment on this postHVP vaccinHello Naula.
Congratulations to my nascent country, which was 49 -year old yesterday.
It is amazing that we commemorate our country's birthday or independence while we do not celebrate our people birthdays.
So, I think I have to say something about what so-called independence. In fact, we never tasted the independence. France is still here. It manages our crisis, supervises our mischief, chooses our leaders and devours our iron ore with the next to nothing.
But since you might be fed up with classical dissing, and hate to hear about the nasty game of politics, I have to find another way.
Hmm, I would like to imagine a BBC anchor has read something like this:
Also on the program; a humanity breaking through.
HVP is a new medicine reported to be circulating amongst politicians all over the world.
Many poor countries rely on its success to enjoy their real independence. Reporters believe that HVP will cure the world worst disease and change the map of this planet forever.
Last month, all the leaders of the developed world ordered it mistakenly as a vaccine of the Swine Flue.
After they had it, they start to sense some rather unusual feelings.
The UN secretary general reportedly called for an urgent summit, right after he took the new vaccine.
In his speech, He threatened to resign unless those countries who obtain nuclear weopons destroy them immediately. He called for an open UN council to all countries and for the veto to be given equally to all nations, with some clear and specific conditions.
One EU leader addressed the summit and said:
It is high time to apologize to all our former colonies, the countries we invaded in the past and to those we regularly pleaded their resources.
It is time to pay you back by helping you get rid of those borders we drew long time ago.
We will help you to follow our steps until you form your own great union like our European one.
Instead of preventing the immigrants, who are trying to flee their suffer created mostly by our crisis' management, from reaching our shores, we are going to diversify the population all over the continent and gradually take them in.
The leaders of the UN permanent members' representatives alternately called to form one universal government expressed their acceptance of the destruction of nuclear powers.
The leader of the most powered country said after an HVP dose:
I feel now that all humans are my brothers.
We will no longer wage any wars.
I want to show my good will to the world by destroying all our weapons of mass destruction right on the bat.
From now on, there won't be a big or a small country on the earth.
It will only be one large state. We are working on a universal constitution to be implemented in the next 8 years.
This morning, I called some African leaders and told them that the developed world has decided to boycott their countries unless they make tangible reforms toward real democracy and toward the one universal country.
I warned them that we will no longer stand with them against their defenseless people.
The leaders finally called their doctors to check the vaccine that changed them into good people unwillingly.
After a series of tests, a group of doctors has discovered what was "wrong" with that magical vaccine.
Actually, it was a special medicine formed originally to help monkeys adopt feelings that are more human and has nothing to do with Swine Flue.
The doctors also managed to decipher its acronyms H.V. P which mean humanity vitamin plus.
Thank you Naula very much for your efforts to develop my writing skills.
Thank you all and I will reply to your all comments tomorrow
Best wishes
Chekh Vall
posted on Sunday, 29 November 2009 | comment on this post | November 2009
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