Shortish update, but fun
{Sorry for the lateness of this post. It took me a while to fix my internet woes. -Saramoira}
Bit tired of writing on silly keyboards at the moment, ergo shall be an otherwise truncated missive from your humble servant in BurkiFas.
Cat’s name has grown to ‘Sophie Gem Bastet’, but is still not written in stone. I figure her name day will be when she gets vaccinated, i.e; when the guy who needs to go to the capital to get the vaccine isn’t sick or something like that. Such was the latest word from the vet.
Second pic is an ACTION SHOT! of her playing with something. I have a fantastic video of her biting her own feet, which is fantastically amusing, and will endeavor to send that overseas soon. Last night Gem came out to a friends house for dinner, and was pretty well behaved after the first 30 mins or so. I think we bonded well, as I haven’t been in the house much as of late and hence the decision to take her out with me. We’ve also discovered that Gem totally adores these little friend millet cakes for breakfast. I don’t get it, but it makes life very easy. Also there is fried fish in my village pretty much every night, so I’m covered for kitty food. Yes!
First pic has me kind of back in my agricultural element… not that the picture is of me, but at least is evidence of me taking some time out in the fields once more.
Voila my friend Amadou, a pretty damn concientious farmer, and I do believe I’ll be out working is his fields some more as the rains come in. The exciting thing about Amadou’s fields, is that he has taken a lot of time to pre-dig little seedng holes called ‘zais’, and fill them with just a bit of compost he makes himself. The idea is pretty basic but damnably imortant – the soil here tends to suck, and needs compost. Broadcasting compost is not feasible for most peope, AND the fact that the soil is so bad at accepting water means that there is a ton of run-off anyway. So one of the nifty farming techniques here is to cover you field in small holes filled with compost – meaning you’ve effectively created a nutrified water trap. Amadou also tells me that the compost is good for three years of growing, which frankly is incredible. I should mention that Amadou has been working with a nifty ag organization here, the district rep with whom I am a good friend (in fact, Gem and i went to her house for the dinner mentioned above).
There is one other technique Amadou uses, which is likewise propounded by the ag organization, geared towards trapping water – basically, biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig rows of rocks, a physical barrier/dam to slow run off. They’re called diguettes, and earlier in the season I went out with like 24 women and a GIANT truck in the bush to break up rocks and put them in the truck. The guys who run the truck are super nice, and I should go out with them again bfore the rock-collecting season is through. I think the truck is contracted through the end of May.
Ok, patience with typing and keyboards is at a minimum, ergo bullet lists of upcoming things.
- Lots of work in primary schools re- hygiene, nutrition, and reproductive health
- One-on-one work with a woman named Fatimah making enriched porridge for her kids. If all goes well, we shall get them un-malnourished and able to properly hold up their heads at all times. If all goes really well, she can spread the word to others and we can get some sort of fun porridge group going.
- English classes! Way fun actually!!
- Lots of Moré (local language). It is actually legitimately starting to work in my brain.
- Baby weighings… these are odd and difficult when understaffed
- Random AIDS talk to a lot of fathers of primary school students. I asked them to come by and give me ideas for what they want discussed with their kids. One guy said ‘hey, no one tells us anything. AIDS AIDS AIDS blah blah, great for the students, but we never get any good info’. So we launched into a chat on AIDS transmission and its effects on the immune system. Consequently they asked for another meeting on hygiene… which will be may 14th, and I am PRAYING someone from the doctor’s office will make time to come. Maybe a theater group as well.
Time to jet.
I should note that things have been rough of late; apparently 6 months is about when I feel most acutely the lack of all the wonderful people I have left behind, and the easy socializations that come from a common language, culture, and simple history of knowing one another. I’d be lying if I said most days I didn’t yearn for my life and times back in Cambridge.
I daresay tis a part of ‘the process’ however, and will keep truckin on. And indeed we see now why contact / emails / letters from all of you so sincerely help me attack each day fresh.
Best to you all!
Aaron
