Girl Stuff

Gambian women are beautiful. Like really beautiful. I’m continually amazed at their facial structures, their skin tones, their body builds. Gambian women also do lots of things to make themselves more beautiful, and that is the topic of this entry. None of the practices discussed here are universal, there is no “all women in the Gambia do such-and-such” but many are prevalent, some more so than others, and there are slight variations by ethnic group and by region.

Henna! Women in the Gambia use henna to make geometric designs on their feet and hands. The designs are very different than ones I’ve seen done with Indian henna. Here they are more geometric, lots of intersecting straight lines and boxes, not the same as the more organic look that I’ve seen in the Indian tradition. In some ethnic groups, only married women are allowed to henna their feet, in other places everyone does it. Also, in some places, only the left hand is henna-ed (the left hand being the dirty hand, the right hand being the eating and greeting hand), but I;ve seen both done in other places. Tape is used to make patterns, then the feet or hands are smeared with a henna-and-water paste, then tied with plastic bags while the henna dries. When the dried paste and tape are removed, the result is rusty red designs that last a few weeks. Its possible, with the help of some mystery chemical, to turn the designs black, but I’ve been told that done incorrectly, this can result in a nasty burn.

Many women here have their gums tattooed blue, and often the upper and lower lip as well. This is done with a bundle of needles tied together and poked over and over on the woman’s gums, then the wounds are smeared with charred ground nut paste. As its been explained to me, the effect of darkening the gums makes the teeth appear whiter and the woman more beautiful. All the women I’ve talked to had this done voluntarily when they were in their teens.

Facial scarring is also popular. This is a series of three small vertical slashes, about a half inch long, done in a horizontal row, either on the cheek bone right under each eye, or on the temple at the outer edge of each eye. These hashes are made with a razor and then also rubbed with charred ground nut paste. Lots of Peace Corps volunteers in The Gam, both men and women, get this done during their service. I’m considering it (shh, don’t tell my parents), but not on my face. Maybe my feet. And yes I will use a brand spanking new razor directly out of the package.

Binbin! Binbin are strands of beads worn around the waist or hips, and they are a big hush-hush secret. The beads themselves are usually strands of glass seed beads of various colors, sometimes strung with a few wooden beads in between. These wooded beads have been soaked in some perfume or scent, and because the wood is porous, the scent is held for a long time. Also popular right now, if not traditional, are plastic glow-in-the-dark beads. Like I said, these beads are a big hush-hush secret. A women never wants her binbin to show. If they do show, then either its an accident and she is very embarrassed, or she meant to show them and is trying to signal to a man that she wants to sleep with him. Women are very conscious of their binbin, and usually, if you see them, its because she meant for you to see them (I’ve seen this happen, actually. I was walking with a male PCV, and a girl in her mid teens, very intentionally walked ahead of us, and lifted her shirt to show the small of her back, and there were her binbins. She walked ahead of us like that for, like, ten minutes. My friend was very embarrassed). I like binbin. I think they are pretty, and I like the noise that they make when I walk.

A practice worth mentioning, but I will not go into great detail about is the practice female genital mutilation (FGM), which is still alive and well here in The Gambia. Young girls, anywhere from age 7 to their mid-teens, are taken to the woods in groups, taught how to be a proper Gambian woman, taught traditional dances, and have this circumcision done. In The Gambia, the procedure itself is one of the most severe forms of FGM in the world. There are groups active in trying to stop this practice, (the biggest one, Tostan, has had good success in Senegal), but one of the major hindering factors is that people think that it is related to religion (its not in the Koran), which makes it hard for them to give up. Peace Corps volunteers are encouraged not to try and tackle this issue on our own, just because it is so tightly held by the people here, and might serve as a major separating factor between the volunteer and the community, but to work with NGOs or such if the cause is near and dear to our hearts. It’s a complicated issue, drop me an email if you would like to discuss it further.

Awesome, way to end the entry on a high note, Whitney.