We left Cuttington and made the short drive to Suakoko. It was the weekly market day, and there were hundreds of stalls and sellers, yellow taxis everywhere, and a noisy crowd. The rest of the time it is a quiet spot, but the market is a central one for the county.
Firstly we went to visit the village Commissioner, the man who oversees all the formalities, and also judges village level misunderstandings. We sat outside his office as we arrived and watched a Judge Judy scene, something to do with a debated debt. Then we entered, and he welcomed us warmly. As we sat and talked, people started trickling in until there were around 15 in the room and another 15 pushed in the door and looking in the window. A prominent chair was set aside for a particular woman who stared at us intently. The village chief, Chief Weenah, then came in wearing ceremonial dress and carrying a staff. Apart from us, only the Commissioner and the Chief spoke english, the rest speaking a local dialect.
Chief Weenah then spoke to us in english and welcomed us to the village and the community. He then handed me a silver bowl containing a ten dollar liberian note, and a pine nut. He explained that the pine nut represented peace, and the note represented the land. The tradition was for all of us to bite into the nut, and for me to accept the note. Everyone in the room was staring at me but it was dead quiet. I then understood that this was a land transfer ritual. The woman in the chair opposite me represented the famiy who owned the school land. All land actually belongs to the village and is assigned by the chief, and today the village was formally handing over to us the 100 acres.
Speaking for the woman and her family, the chief explained the responsibilities that went with the land transfer, the understanding that our project should benefit the whole community and not the school in isolation, and the understanding that if the project did not proceed, or the purpose of the land changed, then we would need to hand the land back to the village.
There was a second part to the transfer which would take place the next day. All of us in the room would go to the land and walk around the boundary, then the transfer was complete. I am still not clear how this overlays with title deeds and foreigners. But out here in the villages, the Chief and the elders are the law.
The ceremony concluded, and we agreed to meet back at the Commissioner’s office at 8am the next morning for the boundary walk. I have to tell you that this was a very sobering day. I was very happy that we were making progress on the land. But I had just assumed a major responsibility. The woman who owned the land spent the whole time searching my eyes to see what sort of man she was handing the land to. As we didnt have a common language, I tried to just give the non verbal message that I was committed to seeing the school built, and committed to having it supporting the village. Finally she relaxed a little and smiled, so we ended up with an understanding.