Mamans of Altonodji

Meet: Deoulemgoto Marie
Marie is one of the ten "Mamans" who live here and take care of the 120 orphans at Altonodji. She was born here in Moundou and was raised in a family of 8 children, though one sibling died while she was still young. Marie attended school for a full ten years in Moundou and in another town called Bangor. I'm amazed by the amount of English Marie has retained since she studied back in the 70s.. She often tells me she wants to learn and the first time that I tried to teach her some basic phrases such as, "I am preparing the boule for dinner," I was impressed that she could do it with little instruction. Marie was married in 1976 and the couple had one daughter, but today both her husband and her daughter have died. In 2007, when Marie heard that there was a school being designed for orphans and widows, she applied to come live with the orphans. She likes living here. "At our homes," she says, "we have many difficulties. But here, it is calm. Despite all the work that we have to do, there are not the same difficulties." Marie values her role here at the school. Her responsibilities include preparing food, giving advice, and educating the children on subjects of how to be obedient, to work hard, and to be respectful to others. I asked Marie if she had a message she would like to send to America and she said,"A number of years ago Americans came here to the school with gifts for the orphans and the widows, but they haven't come for a while..." I asked if she was saying they should come bring gifts again and she just nodded!

Meet: Mandebeye Marthe
What a sweet woman! The first thing I want to say about Marthe is that I love her smile, and it feels like such a shame to me that when I pull out the camera she quickly wipes it off her face. (I feel bad but I'm  using a picture where she turned away to laugh.) I will remember Marthe as one of the Mamans that came into my living room my first night here at Altonodji and immediately hugged me and started dancing with me.
Growing up, Marthe had 8 brothers and sisters. Unlike Marie, she stopped school after only a few years. Instead, she decided to take up a trade. According to Marthe, she ordered a dress to be made, and upon seeing the quality she lamented that the
tailor had done such an awful job, saying, "You know what, I can do this myself!" She began apprenticing at the tailor's shop and by the age of 18 she was working herself. Marthe has been working here at Altonodji since 2012, but she has a full life off campus as well. She has 8 children in school, 2 of which attend here, she continues to sew dresses, and she teaches Sunday school at her church.i also just learned that Marthe is the official "chief" of the Mamans. I love that title. Marthe loves children and has a particular love for orphans and feels called to help take care of them.

Meet: Toualeyo Debora
Debora is a maman I was happy to get to know a little better because, like many of them, she doesn't share a language with me unless you count a handful of Ngambaye phrases. However, after my first two interviews, I was told that she was excited to participate too.
Debora was born in the town of Koutoutou (my spelling) in 1953. This means that she spent her first decade living under the French colonists, but she was too young to remember how things were different due to that. Debora had a very large family, with 10 brothers and sisters. Her parents were farmers, and instead of attending school she learned from a young age how to help them in the fields. The fields were far from their village, but each day she walked with her family and worked cultivating sorghum, millet, and other grains. She loved working in the fields, and during our interview she spotted a gardening tool and promptly grabbed it to start demonstrating. When it was time to get a picture of her, she marched straight out of the kitchen and into the garden where she bent down and started breaking apart the soil.
Eventually Debora stopped working in the fields to get married and move here to Moundou. She had 11 children of her own and worked to raise them. Now, she is here at Altonodji where she is very happy. When asked why, she listed the things that make her happy in the same way someone might rave about their recent Caribbean cruise. With a big smile she said she is at peace here... She eats BOULE, she drinks BOUILLE (water, sugar, flour, rice) she SLEEPS, she has a good HOUSE... she is happy. She made grand gestures as she listed each of these things and had everyone around us smiling and laughing with her.
When Debora found out the meeting was over, she seemed like she wasn't finished. I asked what else she would like to say and she said she didn't go to school, but she went to church and there she learned to read and write in Ngambaye. She is thankful to God for her education through the church. I'm thankful for Debora!