An Oasis in Sikasso

A young friend took me to an exquisite little museum yesterday. The museum, which celebrates and seeks to preserve, Senoufo culture, the main people in this region, was founded by a Spanish priest who came to the area 50 years ago.

The museum contains many stunning artifacts of the Senoufo people and has a gorgeous garden like nothing I have seen in this city. I haven't mentioned this before, but the city is not pleasing to the eye, in the way that Westerners see things. It is a dusty, garbage strewn place. Like lots of places, they have not figured out how to cope with the mountains of garbage and particularly the God forsaken plastic bags that accumulate everywhere. Sikasso doesn't have many paved streets. There is a disorder to things......giant potholes, lean-tos springing up alongside substantial houses. So, the museum was an oasis.

The main mandate of the museum is to educate and to preserve the culture. Père Escudero has been here for 50 years and has recorded the songs, the stories, the dances and rituals of the Senoufo. There are carefully catalogued cassette tapes and videos as well as stories transcribed in Senufo and French. He is working on a Senoufo dictionary. He also is brimming with ideas about the right kind of tourism, creating a sense of pride among the Senoufo, greening Sikasso, dealing with the problem of garbage. It was a real privilege to talk to him.

The PICTURES show(1) the many faces of women. Women are greatly respected in the culture for the many roles they play including fertility. As it was explained to me, you can't really ever know a woman hence the many heads. I took this to mean that women are capricious, however, is was not that.....it is meant to show the many roles women play in the culture. (2) The birdlike statue is used to congratulate someone when they have done a very good job of cultivating the land and (3) the last shows the lovely garden of the museum. http://www.senoufo.com/ is the website of the museum.