Personal News

Diafarabe, Niger River, January 2002

April 2002.

I have spent the winter in Djenne, Mali, for the third season running. Last year I had started to buil my house on the Bani river, just outside town. Ihad built the ground floor, the watchman's house, and the wall around the courtyard. When I returned in September I found that the rains had eaten away most of the mud plaster on the walls. The house faces east, towards the river, and the rains always roll in from the east.

I moved into the two rooms on the ground floor that were ready. My watchman Salifu had married while I was away, with a local girl called Fatou. My mango plantation was doing really well, the plants were already over a metre high. The first thing I did was to hire a small crew and replaster the front of the house. After that, we got to work on the second floor. The plan, which is based on the traditional townhouses of Djenne, slowly took shape.

In the meantime I had started to work on my second novel, 'The Sand Castle', which is all about a guy leaving his country and going off into the depths of Africa to build the house of his dreams.

It was great to be back in Djenne, which has become a true home for me, with many friends. This has been my third season there, and I have really begun to feel it's my town. I made several trips into the bush with my Toyota 4 wheel drive, and started to discover all those amazing remote villages where it seems that time has stood still.

Unfortunately in January I got malaria for the very first time in my life, and again in early March. It seems that I'm over it now. I really hate that disease, it's the scourge of West Africa.

I had a lot of friends who visited. Sebastian Schutyser, who made a wonderful photo book of Mali mosques, stayed for a while, and Aart van der Heide, an old Africa hand and famous White Marabout, and so did Marnel Breure, a Dutch radio journalist who made a programme about me for IKON national radio. So far no one from Amsterdam has turned up, see you next year I hope...

I got two puppies from the local fishermen, and they're growing fast! It's a dream come true, I grew up with dogs but ever since I left home at 17 I never had one of my own. They're called Zulu and Pascal and they're real great African dogs.

In late March, the house was ready. It's become really beautiful, have a look at the photo's under 'Sanouna', and I'm very proud of it.

I am now preparing a documentary for Dutch TV (52 minutes) about traditional African architecture, which I will shoot in November of this year. I waited 2 years to get the money but finally it has come through. For the script see under "Heavenly Mud' on this site. My new novel will be published in October, and then I will return to Djenne.

So..all is well with the New Nomad. How are you? Send me a mail....

For some pictures: see the photo section.

Facade of the house after it was finished in april 2002

In October 2000 I started to build a house just outside Djenne, at a place called Sanouna on the banks of the Bani river. The Bani flows into the Niger about 150 kms downstream at Mopti. The design is inspired by the traditional houses of Djenne and the building is supervised by one of the town's master masons, Boubakar Kouroumansse.

All the building techniques are strictly traditional, and all the proper rites and sacrifices are performed as the building takes shape. Everything is done strictly by hand. I am recording everything on digital video.

The house is on the banks of the river, which means that from August to January the water is almost at the front door, but that later in the year, the water retreats gradually until at the height of the dry season it is 150 meters from the house. The photo's below have all been taken in the dry season.

In 2001we managed to finish the ground floor. This year we added the first floor in the socalled 'Toucouleur' style.

Front of the house under construction

Archways at the back , and banco (mud) being mixed

The back of the house; under the arches is the veranda. The river is on the other side.

A fishing boat on the Bani river; the water is at its lowest here

Front of the house seen from the dry river bed

View of the river through a flowering nerey tree

View rom the roof

View from the roof towards the back. You see the main gate, next to it the watchman's house, and part of the garden wall

The mudbricks are transported by donkey cart

A traditional door in Moroccan-influenced style

The roof is first covered with wood, then plastered with mud

I've started an orchard with 50 mango trees, also oranges, papaya and lemon trees.

Some friend and workers

I often drive people from town to the river to wash their clothes

During the rainy season (May to September) heavy rains from the east did extensive damage to the front, and all was replastered in November, then we started on the first floor.

Here the first floor and the roof decorations, or sarafal, are already in place after 4 months of building. The front was plastered with the longest ladder in town, which we borrowed from the Grand Mosque of Djenne. All the wooden windows were made and decorated by a local cratfsman in the traditional or Moroccan style.

The bricks are being transported by donkey cart. In thecentre you see the socalled 'gum-hu', a doorway with a low eave, rising up in two columns towards five central sarafal, and below them you see five protruding 'torons', palm tree wood placed to support the masons who plaster the sarafal

In the meantime I have started a garden withinh the enclosure. We grow salad, aubergine, carrots and other vegetables.

Here are Salifu, a Dogon who lives on the grounds, with his wife, and Haweena, a girl from the fishing village nearby. Salifu is my watchman, and together we do the gardening,the maintenace and all other work.

This is the facade in the orange morning sun, just after dawn. The house is practically finished and I'm very proud of it.

A view from the back, through the archways, into the vestibule. The water jar keeps the water very cool.

A view of the facade in late Marfch, 2002. I have planted fire trees ('Flamboyant') in front of the house.

This is the result of two years of work. I'm happy with it, and I'm grateful to the people of Djenne who made me feel at home, and helped me to achieve my dream.