Aliou tasted the wijila sauce I had made all on my own and declared I had my diploma in wijila making. I appreciated the praise, but appreciated Zubbu's critiques more. Like the dried tomato powder must be reconstituted in water so the sand in it sinks to the bottom, and dede or fried, spiced onion flakes don't go in either (they turn the sauce blacker). She also thought I could have put more cumin in and a little more date paste. So next time I'll shoot for a masters...
Over dinner we discussed development. Aliou believes the approach of development has been all wrong and has created dependency. Look at the Songhoy, the Peulh, and the Tuareg--three of the proudest ethnicities in West Africa--have been broken by aid. People who would have never accepted a gift without work now come to rely on handouts. Which makes me wonder, and Aliou has brought this up as well, why did the West ever feel these peoples needed "developing"? Maybe they would have been perfectly content left to their own vices. He believes many people are ignorantly blissful here. It's the educated like him who a re the most cynical and jaded and have wants and dreams they sadly will probably never achieve.
He does commend the Peace Corps approach. We care. "You can't help from a distance," he says. "We need to engage youth and use volunteers to spread the word that the establishment is changing--that they won't accept complacency any longer." All right Aliou, now how do we change the establishment?
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