eid and practical jokes in libreville

what i found out about blogs is that you don't have to write some huge thing every post. just a few paragraphs, some pictures, and before you know it we'll have ourselves a story unfolding. i promised not to make this a standard travel blog, but come on, i am going through some pretty cool and unique experiences, for me at least, so i'll share a few.

this past friday was eid, the celebration of the end of ramadan. i've spent some time in nigeria and so have experiences with muslim culture, but it still fascinates me. gabon actually has a very small muslim population (primarily traditional religions and catholicism reign here), but there are quite a number of people from other african countries (nigeria, niger, mali, cote d'ivoire...) and many of these folks are muslim. friday was a national holiday (the president is muslim - the story has it that his family converted after the libyans promised various forms of support). it just so happens that our office is right next to the national mosque and royal palace (the name for the home of the democratically elected head of state). we had to work and ended up having to walk through crowds of people as we headed to the office and they headed to worship. i must admit, i felt not only out of place, but disrespectful - what with our suits and computer bags draped over out shoulders. but everyone was very nice as we walked through a sea of people in brightly colored dress (i hate to group all of africa as being one place - there are so many different cultures and people and countries here, but there is something very african, west african at least, about the clothes, the smell, a sweet smell). and beggars lined the streets - many women and small children, but also many physically crippled people, shaking little plastic bowls. as we headed in the building, the call to prayer was in effect...Allah abar...Allah akbar...Allah akbar...men and their sons gathered in the yard in front of the mosque, sitting or kneeling on their prayer rug, as women and daughters gathered on the far side, across the street. we watched some of the prayers from our 4th story window. an ocean of people and color, standing or kneeling in unison with the prayers. it was beautiful...

we didn't have internet all day, maybe we shouldn't have gone to work.

and now something funny. i'm always one who appreciates practical jokes, even if done to me. but some people here have raised the bar. tonight we heard a second hand story about how various leaders take care of their own here...one guy's head had gotten a little too big, so the head guy took things into his own hands. the big-headed guy went to visit a distant town. on his way, the big boss had arranged these thugs to attacked him, place a bag over his head, stripped him down, roughed him up a little (whatever that means!), had him confess to some various things, and then they brought him into a house where the big boss and all of his people had gathered, they had the thugs remove the bag and GOTCHA!!! everyone had a great laugh. and the guy telling the story told it as if they had placed a thumb tack in his chair. good one, huh? wow. i hope i stay on their good side - that's one way to stay humble.

random picture of the day: this is a tree down the beach from where i'm staying - its my thinking tree. enough to keep me humble for a while.

and here's an article on the mirebalais hospital in haiti that pih is helping the government build: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/13/1818533/rising-haiti-hospital-a-symbol.html . i'm so proud of the team and thank jeff, dan, and victor for helping make the ground breaking happen on friday. wish i was there.

but i'm glad you're here and really appreciate the comments of those who posted. i guess we'll keep the name, welcome to the table.