Maybe, maybe not. Might as well give it a try. Perhaps it's good to remember that my daily life is drastically different from most of yours. I'll try to keep that in mind when writing this. Here, life is just becoming... daily. Let me know if this is boring. I suppose it seems so to me because it's just stuff that needs to be done, and often it's hot outside and I want to go in the shade and relax!
So I met a guy in my village while I was chatting with a friend. My friend and I were having a discussion about why I am not here to hand over free success to the people, without them doing anything. He wanted me to give the village forages and supplies, and he wanted me to give him 500,000cfa. I definitely won this argument by telling him that I am here to help people learn to help themselves. I told him that I am here to work with those who have worked hard, and are still working but not had the means to succeed. Anyway, I met this guy, as I said at the beginning of this paragraph. He was sitting beside us, listening. He was from a village called Gingara about 10 kilometers from mine. He told me he had a banana garden and was having problems with water, and asked if I could help him. We chatted for a while and I said I would go look at his field. So, a few days later I biked out to his village to look at his field. I must say, biking to a village you have never really been to is kinda a unique experience. Here you show up, a lone white person in a village of about 100 pretty isolated people. I can only imagine what goes through these people's heads. All the stereotypes they associate with us just jump right out. I was suddenly surrounded by women who were chatting with me in Pular, asking me who I was and where I came from, and one lady ran to get a rather strange looking clay bead necklace to sell to me. Of course they all burst out laughing several times when I said joke in Pular. The funny thing is, in this village, Pular isn't their first language. This village was a Bedik village. The Bediks live close in hand with the Pular's. The Bediks, in general, are Christian and the Pulars are Muslims. Quite often the Bediks live on the tops of mountains, which I think I've said before. But this particular village was just beside a nice bunch of mountains. Anyway, I asked where my guy lived, whos name was Samuel. Samuel speaks great French and Pular, as well as Bedik. Samuel is his village's Caticist, which is the man who brings people to prayer. Perhaps he is the equivalant to a village preist. Anyway, walked through his fields and discussed what he has been trying to to and what his problems were. Together we came up with the best possible solution to his problem. Now it is my job to go do some research and we will meet again soon to discuss how we will go about the project. That same day, after I went to his village, I went to another village close by. Thiokethian (choke-eh-chan). I have a friend I met in my village that really wanted me to visit her, so I did. Her name is Woori (woo-ree) I just kinda trinkled my way into this village as well, and asked about 5 people how to get to get house, which was the village chiefs house. Woori was thrilled to see me and, seeing how dirty and tired I was, immediately brought me water to shower with, and lent me some of her clean clothes while she washed mine. Then she fed me and mad eme lay down while she proceeded to sit over me and fan me, constantly talking about how glad she was that I came. I'm tellin ya, African hospitality... you can't beat it. While I had originally planned only to stay for a few hours, Woori talked me into spending the rest of the day and thenight there. I really didn't see much of a choice in it, because they killed a chicken for me. Anyway, I had a lot of fun getting to know about the village and the family. I went home the next morning and my sister proceeded to stand over me, yelling at me saying that she was up all night worrying that I was lost and alone in the woods, because I had told her I would be home that previos day. Oops.
A couple of days later, another volunteer, named Matt, came to visit me in my village. Together we traveled to five other villages in one day, actively looking for mango enthusiasts. Matt helped me out with really pushing to find the best farmers. His Pular is a lot better than mine, and he isn't afraid to use it! With Matt we would just arrive at a village, ask for the village chief, and then introduce ourselves, state out purpose and ask to see the best fields and meet the best mango farmers. The first two villages were really cute, quaint villages surrounded by mountains. One village was called Hamadi Heri and the other was called Ndaniaell. In Ndaniell Matt and I left our bikes at the house of a man we had just met (a perfectly nomral thing in Arican culture) and we were lead up a steep, rocky, mountain trail to our next destination. It was a lovely hike, it reminded me of hiking in the mountains at home in Colorado. The only difference was.. well, all of the vegetation and palm trees, and the oasis we stumbled apon that was a secret hiding place for crocs and chimpanzees, one of the last water sources in the dryest part of the year, aka now! It was beautiful. Anyway, we kept climbing and reached a city called Ethies (Eh-chess). Ethies has to be just about the most beautiful city I have ever seen so far in my time here. The houses mixed with the trees in complete harmony, unlike most villages that just kinda chop their way through the trees and stick a village there. Then, scattered throughout the village were some of the biggest Fromagio trees I've ever seen. Basically, they are really beautiful, giant trees. Can't explain them.. just can't. We sat under the tree and were served lunch (nice!) and watched a very old man make a metal hair braider thing while beside him a small black and white kitten scaled the protruding roots of the giant tree. There was one moment in time where the old man looked up and found him self face to face, eye to eye with the kitten, which stopped to look back at him. The old man smiled, and the kitten seemed to smile back. It just a nice moment.
Anyway, Matt and I, after a short break, went down one mountain and up the next to another village called Kessema. There we met up with the village chief who led us around for the next couple hours all over the mountain, showing us water sources, mango orchards in yet another village, called, Angusaka, and finally, he showed us some ancient caves, hidden in the forest just outside of the village. Apparently they were caves that the women and children of the mountain villages hid during war. The chief also told us stories about a woman who was fleeing from soldiers of war and was beheaded and her and her child were turned to stone, and the stone is still on the mountain trail and where the head is supposed to be there is a huge baobab tree. Matt and I saw that rock on our hike down the mountain (sorry, no camera, but it was amazing!). The day was very tiring, but more than worth it. The soil on the top of the mountains is some of the most beautiul, fertil soil I have ever seen. On the mountain villages they already have corn and peanuts 6 inches tall while in my village they haven't even started planting. There was a mango orchard there that has the biggest mango trees I have ever seen, and a banana garden!
So after that adventure I made my way back to Kedougou. There I went to yet another village. I went to Pondala, the village of a fellow agroforestry volunteer named Andy. Together one day he and I went to a roadside village called Diakhaba that "loves to build fences by cutting down trees." There we measured 30ish farms for a big live fence planting project set for July. This project is just the first step in finding a way to fence the entire city without cutting down trees. a fence made from dead wood only lasts a few years. Each fence takes hundreds of adult trees. Not good! Anywy measuring all those farms took a whole day, and a lot of walking in the sun, and it exhausted me, but I learned a lot by working with Andy! The next day we spent in his village and I got to see his tree pepeniere, and we discussed a lot about what kinds of projects he has been doing for his service. :)
Now I am back in Kedougou and waiting for cement to take back to my village so we can make some last minute douches before the rainy season kicks into full gear.
Ha, and today I "accidently" bought an Egret at the market for a dollar that some lady had captured. I set him free, but got a pic.
