quote:


PAST THE BAOBAB TREE

Farmers still terrace the steep slopes to grow millet, groundnuts or beans. Blacksmiths make farming tools in traditional forges powered by manual bellows, high in the hills rich in iron ore.

The Hidi, or king, can resolve disputes and take decisions that affect the whole community, while in his spiritual role he presides over the cult of the ancestors and religious festivals.

His palace is a compound of stone huts with roofs made of woven mats, protected by an ancient circular dry-stone wall. Every corner has a specific function in the annual cycle of festivals celebrating farming, cattle and the ancestors.

Villagers say two giants built the palace in a single night before vanishing.

What makes Sukur special is that its tradition of terracing is for ritual as well as farming purposes, experts say. The terraces incorporate graves and shrines whose layout is strictly codified according to the community's religion and social order.

The footpath winds its way up to the Hidi's palace through fertile terraces, burial grounds and stone gates marking the boundaries of the kingdom, past the perilous baobab tree and its enticing dark green fruit.

While the committee report that recommended Sukur be given World Heritage status hailed its "unusual symbiotic interaction between nature and culture, the dead and the living, the past and the present," the villagers who daily lug heavy loads of water or produce from their farms have had enough.

"Anything we need from outside, we have to carry up the path on our heads, even bags of cement if we want to build something new," said Ezra Ke Bako, 26, a member of the Hidi's family.

Ke Bako returned to Sukur to teach after studying English in a faraway city, but he said more and more young men were leaving for good, moving to Lagos in search of an easier life.

"When someone gets sick, especially a pregnant woman, it's very dangerous because there is no doctor here and we have to carry them down. We make stretchers from branches," he said.

(More)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071022/sc_nm/nigeria_sukur_dc_1;_ylt=AnruBTlzJlkJlxuoCigyvWoE1vAI

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity

Do you think it's okay to force people to remain primitive because some think it's fun to look at them?

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
Not at all but when most people go in search of modern life in the towns they end up in slums and exploited by capitalist factory owners and end up in worse conditions than they left. That is their choice but to suggest they are leaving a primitive life behind to find a better one is disingenuous. The suggestion of a better life was what was said to English labour when they were forced off the land and into towns. Of course there was no better life, the life they found was worse. It took a lot of deaths, deportations, riots and the threat of a potential revolution that won better conditions. No doubt that is what many of the rural labourers and their families will have to go through. These people are only tracing the same path as what many poor westerners took 150 years ago. You can't save people from themselves and no doubt they really do think there is a better life in the towns but the overwhelming evidence is that there isn't and probably won't be even for many of their grandchildren.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity

My problem with this situation is that the UN is putting a boot on these peoples' throats and forcing them to stay primitive against their will - at least, according to the article (if you've read the whole thing).

"We're from the UN, and we're here to help."

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
Not at all but when most people go in search of modern life in the towns they end up in slums and exploited by capitalist factory owners and end up in worse conditions than they left. That is their choice but to suggest they are leaving a primitive life behind to find a better one is disingenuous. The suggestion of a better life was what was said to English labour when they were forced off the land and into towns. Of course there was no better life, the life they found was worse. It took a lot of deaths, deportations, riots and the threat of a potential revolution that won better conditions. No doubt that is what many of the rural labourers and their families will have to go through. These people are only tracing the same path as what many poor westerners took 150 years ago. You can't save people from themselves and no doubt they really do think there is a better life in the towns but the overwhelming evidence is that there isn't and probably won't be even for many of their grandchildren.

I take it you're packed and ready to head out to the jungle in order to live out the rest of your days in relative peace, comfort and luxury then.

Or maybe you're ready to go help pack pregnant women down muddy trails in Nicaragua, on stretchers made of branches... where the good life is, and you won't have a single Capitalist pig to curse at, anywhere

quote:


The men of Sukur pooled resources and effort last year to start building a road. Villagers said the state government had not explained its decision to halt construction.
A spokesman for the state blamed the previous administration and said the new government was planning to build a road, but he could not say when.
So tourism infrastructure remains limited. A few rusty metal signposts mark the way up the path and around the Hidi's palace, and at the foot of the hill are five simple guest huts, locked up except when visitors come.
The guest book contains about 30 signatures so far this year. Hardly any foreign tourists make it to Nigeria because of its reputation for crime, few Nigerians have heard of Sukur and little practical information is available for those who have.
For Sukur, even that small number of visitors is a break with a past of near-total isolation.
"The main difference to our lives since Sukur became a World Heritage Site is that we see so many tourists now," said the Hidi, 76-year-old Gezik Kanakakaw, who greets all visitors in the shade of a huge tree just outside his palace.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
Not at all but when most people go in search of modern life in the towns they end up in slums and exploited by capitalist factory owners and end up in worse conditions than they left. That is their choice but to suggest they are leaving a primitive life behind to find a better one is disingenuous. The suggestion of a better life was what was said to English labour when they were forced off the land and into towns. Of course there was no better life, the life they found was worse. It took a lot of deaths, deportations, riots and the threat of a potential revolution that won better conditions. No doubt that is what many of the rural labourers and their families will have to go through. These people are only tracing the same path as what many poor westerners took 150 years ago. You can't save people from themselves and no doubt they really do think there is a better life in the towns but the overwhelming evidence is that there isn't and probably won't be even for many of their grandchildren.

I take it you're packed and ready to head out to the jungle in order to live out the rest of your days in relative peace, comfort and luxury then.

Or maybe you're ready to go help pack pregnant women down muddy trails in Nicaragua, on stretchers made of branches... where the good life is, and you won't have a single Capitalist pig to curse at, anywhere

quote:

ORIGINAL: thompsonx
Sanity:
I am not sure what your point is.  The article seems to say it is not the U.N. who is keeping these people from building a road it is their local government.
You might want to take a class in geography.  Nigeria is in Africa.  Nicaragua is in central America
thompson

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen

Sanity, I'm so utterly sick of your trying to twist things to suit your purpose.
Quoting the inconvenient part of the article:

quote:


The men of Sukur pooled resources and effort last year to start building a road. Villagers said the state government had not explained its decision to halt construction.
A spokesman for the state blamed the previous administration and said the new government was planning to build a road, but he could not say when.
So tourism infrastructure remains limited. A few rusty metal signposts mark the way up the path and around the Hidi's palace, and at the foot of the hill are five simple guest huts, locked up except when visitors come.
The guest book contains about 30 signatures so far this year. Hardly any foreign tourists make it to Nigeria because of its reputation for crime, few Nigerians have heard of Sukur and little practical information is available for those who have.
For Sukur, even that small number of visitors is a break with a past of near-total isolation.
"The main difference to our lives since Sukur became a World Heritage Site is that we see so many tourists now," said the Hidi, 76-year-old Gezik Kanakakaw, who greets all visitors in the shade of a huge tree just outside his palace.

So the UN DID NOT interfere with this community getting a road and the 1999 declaration of Sukur has resulted in the locals getting more contact with the outside world.

The place seems fascinating and I'm sure it would draw more tourists and more tourist money if it wasn't located in the petro-corrupt slimepit that is Nigeria.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity
From the article, it looks to me like the reason they're being forced to use muddy trails instead of being allowed to build a road is that it's a UNESCO "World Heritage Site" and as such the "local government" is being bribed by the UN to force these people to live like animals. And so it's Nigeria, and not Nicaragua - I misread. So sue me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
LOL You are making it appear that the alternative these people have to living their primitive life is living in a nice all American suburb with all the amenities of the affluent white American on tap. You know that is not true, you know what these people will face is probably going to be worse than what they already have. If these people were being stopped from having the life you imply I would race to your cause but you know damn well you are selling a lie. If these people turned up in an American suburb you'd have them deported as a host of leaches.

quote:

ORIGINAL: DomKen
Go find somewhere else to grind your axe.

quote:


While the committee report that recommended Sukur be given World Heritage status hailed its "unusual symbiotic interaction between nature and culture, the dead and the living, the past and the present," the villagers who daily lug heavy loads of water or produce from their farms have had enough.

quote:

A wide gash in the hillside is still visible from where the village men started digging a road before the government of Adamawa state, where Sukur is located, told them to stop.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity

quote:

ORIGINAL: thompsonx
Sanity:
I am not sure what your point is.  The article seems to say it is not the U.N. who is keeping these people from building a road it is their local government.
You might want to take a class in geography.  Nigeria is in Africa.  Nicaragua is in central America
thompson

From the article, it looks to me like the reason they're being forced to use muddy trails instead of being allowed to build a road is that it's a UNESCO "World Heritage Site" and as such the "local government" is being bribed by the UN to force these people to live like animals. And so it's Nigeria, and not Nicaragua - I misread.

Sue me.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sanity

quote:

ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
LOL You are making it appear that the alternative these people have to living their primitive life is living in a nice all American suburb with all the amenities of the affluent white American on tap. You know that is not true, you know what these people will face is probably going to be worse than what they already have. If these people were being stopped from having the life you imply I would race to your cause but you know damn well you are selling a lie. If these people turned up in an American suburb you'd have them deported as a host of leaches.

There are indeed Nigerians living here in Boise, and no I haven't had them deported as leeches - things must be different where you live. America has a very good record for taking in refugees, but I see that the Swiss are getting ready to make just the move that you've ignorantly accused me of making here. Are the Netherlands headed that way too? Is that why you're lashing out at me this way, are you projecting on me here? Because you don't know what you're talking about, otherwise.

And I've been in the jungle, for the life of me I can't understand why you would condemn others to living there without modern conveniences, while you're enjoying your toilet, hash bar, trolley and your computer.