I lived in Ndélé, Central African Republic, in 1976-78. Ndélé
is a town of about 5000 people (at that time) in the prefecture of Bamingui-Bangoran
in the northern part of the country. The area has a rich history, documented
by Dennis Cordell (in his PhD thesis at the University of Wisconsin, under
Jan Vansina) in the mid-70s after he interviewed everybody within hundreds of
miles who could shed light on the events that occurred there near the turn
of the century.
The town was founded as the center of Dar al-Kuti by Mohammed as-Sanusi
(var. Senoussi), the last great slave-raider to fight the Europeans. Sanusi
moved to the region from up north, acquired arms, and proceeded to decimate
the northeastern part of what is now CAR. He settled many people in the
strategically located town that eventually was named for a rock that overlooked
the valley below. Sanusi was assassinated by the French lieutenant resident
in the camp below town in 1913, and the French eventually settled everybody
in the valley. The ruins of the original city can still be toured, as I
enjoyed doing many times, including going there with Sanusi's grandson Babikir
and a cousin.
There continues to be a sultan resident in Ndélé, which stimulated
some cultural activity. For instance, I became friends with a master musician
named Amara who could make a living by playing for the sultan and around
town. At the time I lived there, Ndélé was somewhat puritanical
because of the strong Islamic influence: there were no bars and people were
fairly discrete in many ways. That seems to have changed in more recent
times.
I was there as a Peace Corps volunteer. My main job was teaching at the
local secondary school. I also wound up in charge of a construction project
at the school, and for a time the construction of a catch-basin at the spring
above town.
Although daily life was often extremely frustrating because I was so far
from home and so many things didn't behave the way I would have liked, there
were numerous pleasures that I recall more often. I had great friends, like
Yaya the tailor who was from Sudan and didn't share much common language
with me; Jacques, Ali, and Malik, 3 brothers who were commercants, neighbors,
and tremendous supports to me; my students, especially those from the villages
of Kottisako and Digba to the south like Lopère Jean-Nestor; the
chef du génie rural, Thaddéus Ozzenguet, who saved me several
times during the construction projects and was always genuinely nice; my
colleagues like the brilliant Eléguendo Joel; Americans like Mark
and Tony and Pete and Barbara; and many others. The land was almost as important
to me, with the vast skies, the birds, places like Koumbala and the rocks
above town. This is one of the most beautiful places on earth, the people
are wonderful for the largest part, and it remains obscure. I wish I could
visit.
Various files - send me more!
Tingbingo Tere: Sango dialogs used to train Peace Corps volunteers
Modeles Finis: an article I wrote for the CAR math teachers bulletin about using finite models of the plane and groups, with examples produced by some students
These are huge files but very brief, poor quality movies. The originals
are in color, these are little samples that are in black and white. They
are not recommended unless you have a Quicktime player, a fast connection,
patience, and a whole lot of interest in seeing and hearing things from
CAR. Dinny Rasmussen and Ted Killham working
on finishing school building, with Musiki on soundtrack (7.7M) Mixing concrete at school construction
site, with Musiki on soundtrack (7.4M) Lopere Jean-Nestor, a student, working
at the board solving a quadratic equation - more Musiki (2.9M) Proclamation, where the students are
given their grades in front of everybody - yet more Musiki (9.8M)
Tearing down the roof of the old school,
with koundé playing on soundtrack (7.5M) Students goofing around just before
I left Ndélé in 1978, with Musiki singing about Sala Ngia
("having fun" is one translation) (9.5M) Tony Nathe pushing a wheelbarrow filling
up the floor with rocks, Musiki one more time (9.8M)
Some better quality, color clips as of August 2001:
Amara, a Tchadian keita player who lived in Ndélé for awhile
Playing for money, is a nice example of Amara's playing, with film shot before I knew Amara of several keita players and drummers earning their nguinza Amara and Ali, has amusingly distorted audio that should be ignored, but shows Amara and his horn Le Roi Pélé, is Makombo Antoine playing a little balophone behind Amara's audio. Moussa the Hausa is more of Amara, but shows a cattle herder who would come through town and scare and entertain the children.
kodro ti Senoussi, has audio by Musiki, the top band in Bangui in the 70s and 80s. The film shows some of the ruins of the original city of Ndélé, capital of Dar al-kuti, founded by Senoussi in the 1890s, and the people are grandchildren of Senoussi. Some finish work on the school, has audio by Musiki as well. Peace Corps volunteers shown include Mark Rand, Dinny Rasmussen, Ted Killham, Tony Nathe, and me.
Here is an excerpt of a message from Neil Kromash, who sent the above letters:
Things in CAR seem to have calmed down, although the city, according
to my contact sources, remains somewhat dead. Small-scale local activity
seems to be reemerging slowly, but the expatriate institutions which bring
in the jobs/money are mostly still gone. In this time of downsizing, CAR's
brief moment of chaos seems to have been enough of a convienient excuse
for NGOs and government agencies to abandon the country for more high-profile
or up-and-coming development prospects, like South Africa or Benin. It's
sad that a country that has so much to offer has been relegated to the backwaters.
This is especially so when considering the fact that we (the West) forced
elections and democracy down CAR's throat, and then we did nothing to support
it. One ounce of prevention....
The evacuated PCVs have all gone their separate ways -- some will be reassigned
to other countries, some will COS, and some are traveling. Peace Corps has
officially "suspended", not closed, its program in CAR, but future
prospects don't look good at all. Peace Corps has a finite, increasingly
shrinking budget, and CAR is a low priority compared to other new Peace
Corps entry programs such as Haiti, Jordan, and S. Africa. I hear the money
for CAR, in fact, has already been reallocated around the agency. One bright
note -- Pauline Voga, APCD/Health, has found a temporary stint working as
PC/Niger's APCD/Health.
By the way, Michael Shereikis, a CAR RPCV from my group, is responsible
for the 2 editorial letters.
Neil Kromash wrote an article that provides an overview of CAR's history, especially politically. Neil will probably send you a copy of this paper, titled "Swimming upstream: external dependence and political change in the Central African Republic", if you write him.
Friends of CAR
This organization is now long defunct. However, perhaps it will get resurrected.
Date created: 17 July 1996
Last modified: 19 September 2015
Maintained by: Alan Saul
Pendere Wali So