I got my hair braided like African women do... but that's not the important part. I really wanted to show you the woman who's braiding my hair. She is probably one of my best friends here. Her name is Mai. The next picture is of her daughter Mariama. Sometimes I go out to work in Mai's rice fields with her or go drink warga (concentrated green tea) at her house. Yes, she is a very dear friend indeed.
The next picture is going to be a plug for a project we have starting here in Catel soon. There are several men from the village who will running a cashew processing project. Chad and Sadja were installing the solar panels that will run the shelling machine once it gets here. I was diligently climbing trees to take pictures of the installation and was the “go for” on the ground (Go for this, toss that up on the roof, etc). If you would like to contribute to the work of the cashew project, you can visit this link for more information http://emm.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=943
I wanted to introduce you guys to Lia as well. She is also on our team here in Catel, but works through the CHE program rather than EMM (the organization that I work for). She is a very busy lady, and will soon be starting to teach Catel’s preschool. Go Lia!
I have many little buddies in the village. These are just a few. I was sweeping our wrap-around veranda one day and this herd of kids decided to "help" me. After we were all finished sweeping, I got my ukelele out and we sang some Creole songs. Though these little ones were a big distraction from the farm work I needed to do that day, I enjoyed having the opportunity to invest in their lives.
We are headed out of the wet season and into the dry season. This was probably one of the last really hard rains that we will have for a long time, so I needed to take a picture of it and share it with you. The camera seriously does not do justice to the rain's might and power!
I mentioned in my other post from today that the YES team is here (woot woot! I have roommates!). I have been occasionally planning activities for them. For this activity shown below, I split them into two groups for a scavenger hunt. They were sent all over the village to find clues, and even had the opportunity to try out their budding Creole skills to get some of them. What an adventure!
Because the YES team leader Peter (left) knows Creole, and the Gambian, Sang (right) knows his way around the village, I gave them both handicaps for the scavenger hunt (Peter couldn't talk and Sang wore duct-taped glasses as a blind fold). Andrew and I concocted a final challenge for this team to finish the scavenger hunt. The blind Sang had to find a verse in the Bible by listening to his teammates sitting across from him (not in the picture) telling him directions according to mute Peter's hand motions.
And finally, the news that I am so very excited about…. I planted my demo plot yesterday! Yes, I did! It has lots of good things in it like okra, bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, onions, and carrots. Later today, I would like to plant lettuce, amaranth, and bajiki (a local green). I hauled the neighbors cow manure over here for fertilizer and used grasses as mulch. You can put a farm girl in a remote part of Africa, but let me tell you - she can’t keep her hands out of the dirt!
Te lugu (until later)!
ANH
I didn't see bitter tomatoes in the list of veggies you planted - good work :)
ReplyDelete~Jacki