Day 5

Monday, February 13th, 2006

Cohen is highly respected in the community for several reasons. He was the first to learn Hebrew, he can chant almost all of the synagogue services, has a great singing voice and has been made the Cantor or Hazzan of the synagogue. He is also a teacher at the local school, has a wonderful wife, Che Che, and is believed to be a descendant of the Cohens – the ancient priests of Judaism. He is a charismatic guy with big dreams and a big heart. I followed Cohen to school that morning as he taught Simple Interest to his students in a tiny, dirty room, with no decoration on the concrete walls. The kids seem to love him, understand the lesson, and when I ask them about their teacher afterward, each has sweet things to say about him. The principal of the school had never met a Jew before Cohen, and went out and did some research on Judaism when he joined the school. I found Habbakkuk’s kids at the school so there are at least six Jewish students, and I was pleased to hear that the principal has encouraged Cohen to teach Judaism since Christianity and Islam are taught there too.

I did a few more interviews with some of the younger guys, and started realizing I had only one interview with a woman. Most of the women are less fluent in English and seem to have had less access to education. In the community here, women definitely have a secondary role - assigned to the kitchen and laundry, and separated from the men in the synagogue. I am unclear whether this comes from African traditions, colonialism, Judaism or a mixture of all three. I was especially surprised when I asked a few of the guys the name of one of the woman who had been with us for the weekend. Nobody knew. They tried to convince me it’s a greater honor to call her mother or auntie. Turns out they didn’t know most of the women’s names.

It seemed even more important to do an interview with the woman in question, whose name I learned was Batya. From her interview, I learned that she is a mother of three, a widow, and lives on her devotion to praying to Judaism. She supports her family by selling snails at the market, and when she is not raising three boys, she comes to the synagogue to be with her sister (Cohen’s wife, Che Che) and the community. During her interview, she began to sing some of the songs she says in the morning to thank God for the new day. She got up and began to dance in the afternoon African sun in the middle of this field where we were filming. The footage is beautiful.

I had complained the previous day that the special treatment Howard and I were receiving were not giving us the full Nigerian experience. Our meals were prepared separately and we were forced to eat them alone inside, while everyone else ate together outside. I happened to sneak a peek the previous night at what they were eating, and they offered me a taste. On a communal plate was pounded yam, a yellow, sticky, starchy, almost gelatinous mass – made from African yams which look like small wooden logs. One was to pull off a piece of pounded yam, form it into a ball, and then dip it in the pot of red, fish soup. I tried it and got a thousand laughs. Somehow chewing doesn’t go along with the meal, and you are supposed to roll the food to the back of your mouth and swallow. I told them about being told to chew your food 10 times, which they thought was equally bizarre. So, tonight I’m having my very own pounded yam and fish soup. I’m still relegated to eating inside. I guess one step at a time.