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| Image Courtesy of Abigail Hayworth |
Again, we introduce to you, a new, yet very ancient cultural practice that is genuinely shocking to the Western Hemisphere, (of that which Life and Style Union resides.) Welcome to Mauritania, a small African locality off the coast of Algeria, whose practices are far more intriguing and buzzworthy than the Lindsay Lohan's jail send-off. Close your eyes, and envision a land of fat, black women - a part from the United States of America, where about 4 out of 5 African American women are overweight or obese. In Mauritania, it's acceptable to fat as it is a sign of beauty, glamour, splendor and rank. What a perfect paradise for us curvy kinds - smiles.
Well, here's the dish...and it is the least appealing, quite frankly. See, in Mauritania, young girls are housed in fat farms and are governed by "fatematous," (fat managers) who over a span of three time periods-morning, afternoon and evening- forcefeed their victims. Girls enter these fat farms at between the ages of 5-7 and are coersed into eating meals of crushed peanuts, blended dates and oily couscous. Water is then given to them by the gallons, and a mandatory "resting" period is enforced, to allow the food to settle. Goat milk which is high in fat and cholesterol, also comprises of the liquid, young girls are forced to drink by the liters.
Lejwana, a young girl from Tara, a small region in Mauritania, Africa explains "It sounded like a fairyland. They were going to send me away on vacation from school, and when I came back, it was promised that I will be beautiful." Lejwana, however, later found herself in a smoldering hot hut, deep within the Sub-Sahara, laden with gusts of sandy winds, eating breakfast with five other young girls. Breakfast was not a lightly poached egg with herbs garnishings. It was an unforgiving mixture of chokable, oildrenched couscous with peanuts and watered-down millet.
In a land where marriage and dowery are powered by governmental and economic policy, fat farms still exist and are in no way, extinguishable in the forseeable future. "Men love female flesh in excess" says the fatematou, " the thick, and sweaty layers of fat are not only comforting to potential grooms, but evoke eroticism in Mauritanian culture." Lejwana has approximately three more years to go until she will be auctioned off for marriage. At 16 years of age, she will be more than capable of bearing children. The Fatematou explained that girls who are fattened at an earlier age, like 3-6 years, can bear children when they are ten years old. The earlier the fattening process, the quicker the girl can be married off, the faster the Fatematou gets paid. This capitalist cycle continues day in and day out in Mauritania.
It's the day after Thanksgiving. Reflect on how much food you ate, and how fast you flew to the nearest sofa or bed to rest. Now, imagine this process of eating til' your belly bursts and sleeping, repeated three to four times a day, 365 days a year, for anywhere up to 2-5 years at a time. A true shock, isn't it?
