If life could imitate school

Mariama Fula
Originally uploaded by mchughtie.

I wish everyone in my village would wear a name tag for one week. I know it shouldn't be hard to remember them since there are only about five names, but that's deceptively simple I'm afraid. Sure, every compound has a Mariama, a Fatou, a Lamin, an Isatou, so there's a statistical likelihood of simply guessing correctly, but having some written thing pinned to them to blaze into my memory would make a lot of sense. And why can't we queue up at the pump so I know when it's my turn to get water? The ambiguity of a system where why you are fetching the water, who you are, and when you arrrived at the pump all factor into to when it is actually your turn is confusing. I guess some things are left for me to figure out, and to keep asking, long after I feel like I should know. I guess I either have to admit I don't know peoples' names, or keep saying, "yes, hi...." to passersby, and act clueless when I bring my bucket forward lest someone thinks I'm intentionally cutting them. We'll see just how long one gets away with being the unknowing guest.