What an Obama Victory Means in One Tiny Fulani Village

To say that my village supports Barack Obama is an understatement. The night of the election, we held a party in an open area between the village mosque and the blacksmith's house. The blacksmith has a TV and I was gifted a small solar panel, so we tried to show election coverage (without any luck due to the time difference) to the many people who had gathered. At one point, I briefly told the story of Barack Obama's family. Grandfather was a Kenyan herder (Cattle are incredibly important to the Fulani ethnic group who are mainly herders), father grew up in Kenya, went to school and studied hard, and now Barack is (at that time) a candidate to be the next President of the United States.

I had cut out pictures of Obama, Biden, McCain and Palin and pasted on a piece of paper to show who was running. Most had heard of this Obama guy, heard that he was possibly "a balejo" (a black man) but had never seen a photo. Luckily the Newsweek I had contained photos of his father, mother and other family members and really helped my story. (Look for pictures on my flickr account in the coming weeks)

We had a mock election and people voted by making a tear on their ballot next to the stick figures of 2 men or a man and a woman. Obama won 57-0. Not surprising considering 1. Obama's family comes from a herding ethnic group. 2. the only Americans they know (me and previous volunteer) support Obama 3. McCain's running mate is a woman (Someone asked me if she really would be able to be the VP)

The next morning when I pranced around the village sharing results, the reactions were priceless. Everyone was thrilled that "a balejo" would be the next president of the US, but for some it went far beyond that. Multiple people clasped their hands to their mouth, grinning somewhat bashfully, their eyes sparkling with possibility; overjoyed and not sure how to react to the news that the grandson of African herders was gong to be the next President of the US. For some, this seemed to signify that for them to, the world may have an opportunity, not to be an American president, but maybe a teacher, a nurse, or a policeman.

I have no idea of the long term effects, but for now I'm trying to jump through the open door and promote education anytime someone wants to see my now tattered Newsweek with pictures of Barack Obama.

I would love to get a hold of Obama stickers, pens, or small items to give as incentives to the kids in my school for working hard. If you have any left over campaign stuff you are trying to get rid of, let me know and we can figure out how to get it to Burkina.