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RYE BREAD & COUSCOUS

YOUTH LEADER EXCHANGE BEETWEEN DENMARK AND TUNISIA

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ONE BLOG - FOUR ELEMENTS

This blog is divided into four element, each one produced by one of us.
Here you can read about the different elements and then find blogposts related to the elements below.

Home: Meet the Team

DEMOCRACY AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT

This is all about the waves of democratic change that has hit Tunisia since the Arab Spring in 2011 and how young people on Tunisia contributes to this development

DAILY LIFE OF A YOUTH LEADER

Are we lying in sun all day drinking juice? Maybe! If you want to know what life as a youth leader is like and what kind of work we do, then it's here you should look

STEREOTYPES

Tunisia is one big desert and everyone rides camels and Denmark is full of vikings - no? Get a new perspective on the two countries and challenge some of your own stereotypes

BEING A SCOUT

What does a scout really do, what are the core values of scouting and how can we play a role in creating change?

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  • Writer's pictureRyebread & Couscous

A SMALL KITTEN, IFTAR, AND THE SIX QURANS

This blog post is written by Maria Kondrup - English version below


Ramadanen er officielt skudt i gang! 6. maj var første dag i fasten, og man kan tydeligt mærke en forskel her i Tunesien. Der er færre biler på gaden, folk har kortere arbejdsdage, og der er generelt bare mere stille. Samtidig har temperaturen sneget sig op på en 25-27 grader, for det er ikke nok, at man skal undvære mad og drikke i cirka 16 timer, nej det skal helst også være virkeligt varmt samtidigt. Jeg har menstruation denne uge, så jeg er heldigvis of the hook indtil videre. Der er nemlig forskellige faktorer, der fritager dig fra fasten: menstruation, graviditet, sygdom og rejser. Plus det faktum at jeg ikke er muslim, men jeg har alligevel overvejet at faste for prøve det og dele oplevelsen med mine kollegaer, mens jeg bor hernede. Jeg kan også mærke, at jeg synes, det er lidt underligt at sidde og spise i nærheden af en kollega, der faster.


Hver dag når fasten brydes, Iftar, samles familier og spiser et måltid sammen. Måltidet indledes som regel med et par dadler, der skal sørge for at lægge en bund, så man ikke får overspist. Den første aften i ramadanen blev jeg hjemme i vores hus, mens Yosr tog hjem til sin familie. Jeg sad midt i et Skype møde med de frivillige i Danmark, da Yosr pludselig bankede på min værelsesdør. På vej ned til taxaen havde hun fundet en lille killing, der lå på fortovet og kæmpede for livet. Dens hoved var dækket i blod, den trak stadig vejret, men havde det tydeligvis ikke godt. Jeg sad med den lille kat i skødet det meste af natten og prøvede at holde den varm. Vi tog killingen til dyrelægen næste morgen og plejede den i 24 timer, men til sidst kunne den lille mis ikke mere, og dens hjerte stoppede. Den var så fin og fredelig, som den lå der helt stille. Jeg havde navngivet den Rama, fordi vi fandt den på den første dag i ramadanen. Rama er nu begravet i det tunesiske hovedkontors baghave, og jeg håber, hun er kommet godt af sted til katteparadis, hvor hun kan rende rundt med en masse andre killinger.


Lille bitte Rama lige efter hun døde i mine hænder

Samme aften Rama døde, anden dag i ramadanen, var jeg med til Iftar hos Yosrs familie. Det var en enormt hyggelig oplevelse, og fra et dansk perspektiv mindede stemning om den familiære hygge, mange af os oplever i julen. Yosrs mor, Najoua, laver fantastisk mad, og jeg er særligt glad for hendes brik, som er en crispy friturestegt dej med forskelligt fyld, ofte æg og kartoffel – lidt a la en forårsrulle eller en samosa.


Yosr og hendes søster, Fatma, driller konstant deres mor med hendes engelsk niveau og griner af hende, hver gang hun prøver at udtale noget på engelsk. Najoua er dog ikke genert, hun bliver ved med at prøve, og hun og jeg kan sagtens have en simpel samtale sammen. Til Iftar talte jeg med hende om ramadanen. Jeg fortalte, at jeg godt kunne lide, at familierne samledes, ligesom de gjorde til jul i Danmark. Hun sagde grinende, at hun ikke ville tage til sin hjemby og besøge sin familie, fordi huset ville være fyldt med mennesker og ”talk, talk, talk”, og hun ville kunne ikke få ro til at bede, et ritual hun værdsætter højt. I løbet af ramadanen får Najoua læst koranen 3-4 gange, og hun opdager nye budskaber hver gang, fordi det er så kompleks en tekst.


Til det kunne jeg fortælle, at jeg er indehaver af seks koraner. Jep, seks. Og for at gøre det mere mærkeligt, så er fire af dem på arabisk, som jeg hverken kan tale eller læse. Historien er den, at jeg for et halvt år siden købte en koran på dansk. Jeg var træt af, at mine muslimske venner ikke kunne svare på mine spørgsmål – og her kommer samtidig en officiel undskyldning til alle de venner, jeg har bombaderet med komplekse spørgsmål om islam og koranen, som var de uddannede imamer, på grund af min ustyrlige nysgerrighed – så jeg købte derfor en koran med intentionen om at læse den. Hvis jeg skal være helt ærlig, er jeg kun kommet halvvejs igennem anden sura. Oh well!


Da jeg så kom til Tunesien, var vi på en bogmesse med spejderne, og hold nu op! Aldrig i mit liv har jeg set så smukke bøger: koraner i forskellige farver, med blomsterprint, sider farvede som regnbuen! De var som små kunstværker, og jeg blev nødt til at tage nogle af dem med hjem. Dog var der den kedelige tendens, at alle de smukt dekorerede koraner var på arabisk, mens de oversatte versioner var kedelige og sorte, og jeg er en kreativ, farveelskende æstetiker, så hvad gør man? Man køber fire to die for smukke koraner på arabisk, og så køber man yderlig en koran på engelsk for at de fire første korankøb giver bare en smule mening.




Findes der noget sejere end en skrigpink koran?

Hvor meget har jeg så fået læst i disse koraner, tænker du måske. Omkring fem sider kan jeg oplyse om. Men er de smukke, og gør de mig glad, når jeg kigger på dem? I allerstørste grad.


Ramadan Kareem alle sammen <3



 


The Ramadan has officially begun! The 6th of May was the first day of fasting and you can clearly feel a difference here in Tunisia. There are fewer cars on the streets, office hours are shorter and it feels calmer in general. At the same time, the temperature has risen to 25-27 degrees because apparently, it's not enough that you have to go without food and water for around 16 hours, no it should also be crazy hot at the same time. I'm on my period this week so I'm off the hook so far. There are factors that will free you from fasting: periods, pregnancy, illness and travels. Plus the fact that I'm not a Muslim but I’ve still considered fasting to try how it feels and to share the experience with my colleagues. I also find it a bit weird sitting and eating near fasting colleagues.


Even day when the fast is broken – Iftar – families gather and share a meal. The meal is often started with a couple of dates, which are supposed to take the initial feeling of hunger so you don’t overeat. On the first evening of the Ramadan, I stayed at home while Yosr headed for her family's house. I was in the middle of a Skype meeting with volunteers back in Denmark when Yosr suddenly knocked on my door. On the way to the taxi, she had found a small kitten lying in the street fighting for its life. Its head was covered in blood, it still breathed but was clearly not feeling well. Most of the night I sat with the tiny kitten in my lap trying to keep it warm. The next morning we took it to the vet and for 24 hours we nursed and fed it but in the end, the kitten gave up and it’s heart stopped. It was so cute and peaceful as it was lying there, completely still. I named it Rama because we found it on the first day of the Ramadan. Rama is now buried in the backyard of the Tunisian Scouts’ headquarters and I hope that she has arrived safely to cat heaven where she’s running around with a bunch of other kittens.


Teeny tiny Rama right after she died in my hands

The same night as Rama died, the second day of Ramadan, I attended Iftar at Yosr’s family. It was a really nice experience and from a Danish perspective quite similar to the atmosphere a lot of us experience during Christmas. Yosr's mum, Najoua, makes amazing food. I especially love her brik, which is a kind of crispy fried shell with different kinds of stuffing inside, often egg and potato – kind of like a spring roll or a samosa.


Yosr and her sister, Fatma, are constantly teasing their mother with her English level and laughing at her every time she tries to pronounce English words. Najoua is not a shy lady though, she keeps trying and the two of us can easily have simple conservations. At Iftar, we talked about Ramadan. I told her that I really liked the aspect of families gathering the same way we do for Christmas in Denmark. She told me while laughing that she wouldn’t go to her home town to visit her family during this month because the house would be full of people and ”talk, talk, talk” so it would be difficult for her to find the peace and quietness to pray, a ritual she values dearly. During the Ramadan, Najoua reads the Quran 3-4 times and discovers new messages each time because it's such a complex text.


To that I could tell that I'm the owner of six Qurans. Yes, 6. And to make it even odder, four of them are in Arabic, which I do not understand. The story behind all this is that six months ago I bought a Quran in Danish. I was tired of the fact that my Muslim friends couldn’t answer my questions – and in that connection I would hereby like to give an official apology to all of my friends whom I because of my unstoppable curiosity have bombarded with complex questions about Islam and the Quran as if they were educated imams – so I bought a Quran with the intention of reading it. To be honest I'm only halfway through the second sura so far. Oh well!


When I then came to Tunisia, we attended a book fair with the scouts and oh my God! Never in my life have I seen such beautiful books: Qurans in different colours, with flower prints, pages coloured like the rainbow! They were like small pieces of art and I had to bring some of them home with me. It was a sad pattern though that all the beautifully decorated Qurans where in Arabic while the translated versions were black and boring and I'm a creative, colour loving aesthete so do you do? You buy four to die for beautiful Qurans in Arabic and then you buy an additional Quran in English in order for the first four Quran purchases to make just a little sense.




Is there anything cooler than a bright pink Quran?

How many pages have I then read in these Quran, you might wonder. Around five pages I would say. But are they beautiful and do they make me happy when I look at them? Absolutely!


Ramadan Kareem everyone <3


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