by Rolf Engelbrecht

La Mission Evangélique (New Tribes Mission)
Boké

My wife and I have been living and serving in Guinea since 1990 (minus furlough breaks here and there.) We are working among the Nalu people (north-west corner of Guinea), and live on an island there called Katrak, in the village of Katufra.

Some years ago, one of my teenage daughters introduced me to a new word. As we were strolling along the Katrak beach observing a beautiful sunset, she sighed wistfully, commenting what a "ro-tic" setting it was.

"'Ro-tic'?, I asked, a bit concerned about this unfamiliar word's proximity to the word "erotic"?

"Yes", she replied, "'ro-tic' is 'ro-man-tic' without the 'man'!"

Little did I guess, as I chuckled over this creative addition to my aging vocabulary, how handy it would be in describing an event in the hopping social life of our little village of Katufra.

You see, Ibrahima, one of the Chief's sons was to be married. Fatu, the bride-to-be, along with her entourage of relatives and friends, arrived with the usual singing and celebration from her village on the north end of the island. But, soon an interesting twist developed. Fatu decided that she would rather marry Ibrahima's older brother, Suleman, instead!

Never mind that Suleman was already married - she would rather be his second wife than the first of Ibrahima. It seems that Suleman had become somewhat successful, having left the village and established himself in the capital city of Conakry with a good job. The presumed thrills of "big city life" were very appealing, and Fatou wanted to get out of the village. Well, Ibrahima didn't much care either way. After all, his father had paid for the bride, so no personal loss to himself.

But, the Chief was not about to lose his investment, which was apparently non-refundable. In deference to Fatu's desires, he decided that the older son, Suleman, would be the recipient, so a runner was sent off to fetch him from Conakry - a good two days journey away. In the meantime, the villagers felt defrauded - after all, they had already been looking forward to a big dance, and now there threatened to be none! So, an impromptu dance was thrown that night as insurance against the possibility that a real wedding might not come off.

Meanwhile, the guests from the bride's village were getting impatient to return home. So, it was decided that Fatu would have to be married to the older son the very next day - whether or not he had shown up yet. This they did, with the usual trappings, speeches and rituals - but minus the groom. A very "ro-tic" event. A young man of the village sat in the groom's place on the mat during the ceremony, so that the plural pronouns in the speeches and exhortations to the marrying couple wouldn't seem too out of place.

The villagers were happy, and threw a real shindig of a dance that night. The chief was happy - his investment was not scuttled. The guests were happy, and went home. The younger brother didn't much care. The older brother (alias "the groom") wasn't around to be asked, but everyone figured he'd be quite content to just pick up a pre-packaged, pre-paid bride with no fuss or muss.

The only remaining question is, will Fatu be happy after all? We hear now that Suleman may not be able to afford supporting two wives in the big city, and will be moving back to the village soon!