"I have a rest when I get home. If mum is cooking I might help to wash the plates.
When I get the chance I warm up some water so that I can wash and get changed. I pray for
the last time at 8 pm. We eat together: me, Sali, and my mother. We almost always have wu,
but with different sauces. Sometimes we might have chicken, or omelettes. I like wu best,
with kurdu [okra] sauce. We can also eat it with kaladu, bahurdu, gridu, horledu,
sungulere ... (other sauces made from local leaves and flowers)."When I'm not at
school I help more with the cooking. The boys don't usually do it, just the girls. But I
wouldn't stop them -- I wouldn't mind if the boys did some cooking.
"I don't know anything about children in Europe. They must learn to read and write
like I do. But they wouldn't understand Bissa! I don't think they could make peanut rings (or croua-croua) or prepare millet and cook wu. They must grow
crops like we do, but I don't know what they grow.
"The last thing I do is sweep the floor and lay out
the sleeping mats. I might talk to my mum when I lie down, but sometimes she goes to sleep
first. We go to bed at different times because we visit our friends around the homestead.
I go to chat with Adjeratu and the others. Sometimes we tell stories to each other, or
adults tell us stories. Anyone can do it. I'm able to tell stories as well. The best
stories are the ones that make us laugh."
the end
Have a read of the story that
Mariam tells, or listen to
a clip of Burkinabč storytelling. |
