Jujus

Here in The Gambia, the vast majority of the population is Muslim. A combination of their tribal beliefs and their newer Islamic beliefs has led to a strong confidence in the power of jujus: verses of the Koran, written by a holy man called a marabou, bound in leather, and worn somewhere on the body.

I was about to head to Cape Verde on a travel-filled epic adventure, and Steve was coming so I needed a gift that was unique but appropriate and that he’d like. It was time for me to make some jujus.

I took a long time for me to decide what I wanted. Should I protect myself from knives? Should I go the safe route and get a juju for invincibility? Should I guarantee myself vast wealth in my future? Which juju would Steve most appreciate?

On our upcoming Cape Verde trip, I knew if travel plans were altered at all we wouldn’t make it to all the destinations I wanted. So the first juju I wanted, for both Steve and I, was for safe and efficient travel.

Then, I tried to think about what else we were passionate about. Of course, I thought of sports. So I made a juju for the success of the Green Bay Packers, and made Steve jujus for all of his favorite sports teams to be successful.

It was an incredible collision of my old life and my new one in Africa as I watched this holy man spell out “Green Bay Packers” phonetically in Arabic, then proceed to chant and make marks on a paper, continually cross-checking with his Islamic texts.

Apparently, as a marabou is making a juju for a person, he’s able to see things about their future. So, this is what my marabou told me about what my life would be like in the future.

- Where you live, people will love you. You will be much beloved and you will be rich.
- A government employee will try to befriend you, but you should stay away from him.
- You will go somewhere where they speak French
- You will be in the running with two others, and you will be the winner.

After he told me my future, he proceeded to make inexplicable marks on a paper, guided by Allah himself, I guess. When he finished he was left with three rows of little lines, each row with either one, two, or three lines in it. Based on the arrangement of the lines, it determines how successful your juju will be. As he drew one for the Cleveland Cavaliers, he made a satisfied clucking noise. I asked why, and he said, “They are in the second position. That is good.” That was the only point when I doubted his juju making abilities. I guess Allah doesn’t know the recent occurrences within the Cleveland Cavaliers organization.

When he was finished with all of the pieces of paper, covering all of the jujus I wanted, he told me that in order for all of the jujus to be successful, I would have to give some charities. He said I would have to do exactly as he said before I picked up the jujus, or they would not be as powerful.


The following are the gifts that I had to distribute.
- Give children milk on a Sunday
- Give silver to a disabled person
- Give three white kola nuts to someone older than you
- Give a prayer shawl to an old woman

So, one Sunday, armed with many dalasis and the power of Allah, I went to the market to purchase and distribute.

As I finished making my purchases and I was walking out of the market, I saw a blind man sitting and begging. I went to him and gave him the three white kola nuts, which are a sign of utmost respect in Gambian culture. As I put them in his outstretched hand I said, “Sadaa fele”, which means, “Gaze at the gifts.” Then I sat as he prayed for me, in the middle of the market, asking for Allah to bless me.

So my first charity given was awesome.

Later, I saw another blind man standing outside, clinking coins together. I awkwardly placed the silver ring on his pinky finger (that’s the only place it would fit, it was a tiny ring), but he also kept me there for a long time, blessing me with Allah’s praises.

So now, armed with the a double dose of heavenly blessings, I ventured to find an old woman and some children.

There was a woman sitting outside of the bank in a wheelchair, also clinking coins together, begging for money. I went to her, wrapped the scarf around her neck, and told her, “Gaze at the charity”. She gave me a quick thank you in mandinka, and then immediately asked me in English for money. I laughed and strolled away. Even if that less than stellar response canceled out one of my Allah blessings, I still had one to spare.

Then I went to find some kids to give milk to. I was sure this would be the easiest one, because every day, as I’m walking down the road, anything that I have, kids will ask for. If I’m drinking a bag of water, kids will yell, “Give me water!” If I’m eating a banana, they’ll say, “Give me banana!” So I thought as soon as I said yes to one of these requests, a horde of kids would come running and I’d have to fight them off.

I had three bags of milk to give away, so when I first saw a group of three kids, I said, Sweet. Perfect. But as soon as I nicely called for the boys to come over, they looked scared and ran away. I tried to explain in Mandinka that I had a gift for them, but apparently they had been schooled in stranger danger – or just didn’t know why on earth a toubab would be beckoning them.

Eventually, I found a kid sitting alone on a bike. I thought, aww, lonesome kid on a bike, who better to give my charity to? But then his well-dressed mother approached, looking apprehensive. I told her I had to give charities, and I wanted to give milk to her son. She said thank you, and in the tradition of the women gift receivers of the Gambia, promptly asked for some money too.

I found my last two kids sitting and waiting in a car park. I’m not sure they understood what they were getting, but their wise looking elder was sitting next to them, and he motioned that it was ok for them to take the gift.

In a country where if you don’t finish your coffee, you can give it to a four year old boy and he’ll guzzle it from the same cup, a country where when you throw out a coke can, kids immediately pick it up and start licking it for a few final sweet drops of liquid, who would have thought it’d be so hard to get them to take milk?

So, I completed my charities. I went to the marabou to pick up my jujus, and he said that on Sunday, he had sat for one hour, while the Packers were playing half a world away, and had prayed for their success.

I don’t want to jinx anything, but my jujus are awesome. The Packers are (as of now) undefeated, and Steve and I made it to all of our travel destinations safe and sound.

Cleveland teams are still struggling however… maybe no amount of heavenly power can make those teams successful.