Wo-men Without Hats and What the Hell is Wrong With the Phones?

Holly asked me about head coverings and it turned into this posting. I am in Atar which is used to western tourists so no; I don’t cover my head very often. All other women (older, married, and respectable) here cover their heads 7/24. I do cover my head when I go to visit any officials out of respect. Why bite the hand that hands out the approvals for your projects? Also, the first few days of Ramadan, I’d start out with my head covered. I didn’t want some ill-humored (hungry and thirsty) local getting irritated at my uncovered self. But I’m over it. No head covering for me unless I’m on an official visit. It’s just too damn hot to have your head all wrapped up. Also, not being Muslim, I am not compelled to comply with that particular regulation. The rest of the Volunteers around me are covering their heads, at least during Ramadan. In the more conservative sites, the head covering issue is a hot, hot topic. I have heard that the PC can’t require head coverings of us (not sure if that’s true) but the locals, in the more conservative sites, can get really, really, really pushy about it. One must pick her battles. Head Scarves and pants seem to be my battle of choice. But being a bit older, I get more leeway. At least I think I do. Perhaps, in fact, I just take more leeway and let them be damned. Whichever.

On a positive note, some of the head coverings are very appealing. The clothing here is extremely colorful and your matching head scarf is like wearing a hat to church. The women will stop you on the street to compliment you on a particularly lovely ensemble. Possibly if I had more fashionable, matching head scarves, I’d wear them more often. But alas, no one told me to bring them and I don’t recall seeing it in the flurry of Peace Corps information I was sent. I have always admired a woman who could carry off a chic scarf. I only have a handful of bandanas that mostly don’t match my outfits. The 2 Mauritanian made headscarves that I do own (one always comes as part of a new outfit) only match that particular blue and chartreuse tie-dye outfit. As you can imagine, they match little else. Thus my decision not to wear a head covering is as much about fashion as politics. If only I could explain all of that in French.

If you are trying to call me, Mauritel, my cellular service, has been mostly down for the last week. It has always required a lot of persistence to call here from the US, but right now, it's just impossible. It seems there is something wrong with a satellite dish in Nouakchott, at least that is the latest reliable rumor that was supposedly reported on the news. An earlier reason floating around explained the situation was due to a strike on behalf of Mauritel because of the heavy tax levied on them by the government although that strikes me as more conspiracy theory than logic. I have no way of finding out the truth of the situation, and really, it doesn't much matter to me. No matter the reason, we have no cell service. Which in turn means no internet at the PC bureau here in Atar? So here I sit, composing this post offline at the bureau. My intention today was to upload the long awaited photos from my time here in Mauritania, but damn it, again today, there is no reseau (reception). Although I sure do miss all of your phone calls, the really difficult part of having no reseau is that texting goes down as well and that is how we, v's, communicate. It's either text or walk around this place trying to find each other and as you well know, it's quite hot here. It’s far too hot to be strolling around from place to place trying to locate each other.

beep ba beep ba beep beep beep “This just in” It is a work slowdown that is causing the problems. I finally asked PC Nouakchott for the skinny. Something about Mauritanian Mauritel workers allowed to strike for 2 days a week in protest of the Moroccan Mauritel workers making a higher wage. This combined with the overall bad connectivity has made communication impossible.

Here’s a cultural tidbit that should give you some insight into some challenges in living, working and I would think to their development here in the RIM is that the bank is unable to conduct business because of the cellular problem/strike. Its computers, at least in Atar, are connected through Mauritel. Without reseau, they can't check your account balance to give you money. Can you imagine the national bank shutdown because a cellular provider is having problems? You banky folks can explain better than I the problems to an economy with an unreliable banking system It brings to my simple mind the scene from “It’s a Wonderful Life” when Mary and Jimmy Stewart can’t go on their honeymoon because he uses their bankroll to stave off a run on his Savings and Loan. If you’ll remember, the bank had to sell out to old, mean Mr. Potter. That can’t be good. Banking is not something that has really caught on in Mauritania, and this week’s performance probably won’t help. Many Mauritanians just don’t use them. They are charged a fee to do so and they don’t receive any interest on their savings. Charging interest is not allowed in Islam. (I’ll let you do your own research on that topic) What would be the incentive to use a bank I ask? It seems to be more cost efficient to hide your money in your mattress than pay to save it in this current system. Have I mentioned there are no ATM’s in Mauritania? Credit cards are unavailable as well. I believe part of the problem is that the Mauritanian Ouguiya (uglies as I have heard them called) isn’t traded on the global market which I assume makes it hard to fix an exchange rate with other currencies and in turn, makes it difficult for credit card companies and banks to collect or assess transactions. Again, you banky types can provide a much better explanation than me.

So for now, much of the country is without communication. Mind you that there are 2 other cellular phone providers operating in Mauritania, Matel and the new Chingatel, but it seems that Mauritel has the mother lode of the business. We tried to find out the rates at our local Chingatel office, but they could tell us little than the price of a new phone. Our questions regarding the costs of making phone calls and texting either within their service and as importantly, outside their service are still unanswered. One issue with switching is that all of Peace Corps RIM uses Mauritel and to make a call to or from another provider costs a bloody fortune. I’ve heard that it costs as much to call between Matel and Mauritel as it does to call the US. To quote Kathy, just another little slice of wonderful.

I suppose that if I had grown up in these systems they would seem acceptable issues to work around or tolerate or just the way life is. But I didn’t so I find it all just one more piece of insanity here in the RIM.

Okay there is your Mauritania 101 lesson for today