Love of Kabyle

[New_Friend]

Hello Sacha,

It's refreshing to hear of a "Western" woman's positive experience visiting Kabylia. I'm still hoping to visit Kabylia myself, one day....if the sagas of life ever work them themselves out! ; )

I have an extra manuscript that is helpful for learning Kabyle, and if you're serious about learning and your husband is willing to teach you, I'd be glad to send you a copy. It's English/Kabyle, originally written by an American professor for the U.S. government project.

You can contact me via my alias.

The olive trees are indeed beautiful...can you imagine all the living they've seen??

"New_Friend"

[Sacha]

I'm touched by some of these replies - thanks. It's true that sometimes it is possible to have romantic ideologies about a place. I guess that's partly true with my love-affair with Kabylie and the quaint beauty of its villages dotted around the mountains. At the same time, I can't ignore the less positive aspects: the lack of infrastructure, the over-crowding and the obvious poverty in some areas. But it's partly the under-developed coastline and age-old customs that hold the attraction for me. My viewpoint isn't one of a comparatively wealthy westerner looking 'down' sympathetically at these people. For me the place is unassuming - people carry on with their lives and couldn't care less that some British chick is staring around in wonderment! By the way, it'd be great to get some help with learning Kabyle - can you give me any advice? I have a guide in French (que je parle bien), which is fine, but it doesn't go into the 'grammar' in much detail. Without learning the grammar of a language, you miss the threads that pull everything together! What's the point of me memorising a few phrases like some parrot if I would never understand the response!