Harvest Season

This year I had the opportunity to harvest coos (millet), rice, sorghum, peanuts and beans. Ha, I say opportunity- but really it’s like saying I had the opportunity to clean the bathroom, or do the dishes… But it was actually really great. I feel like I’ve contributed to my family food bowl in a meaningful way.

First came the bean harvest. I think I mentioned that I urged Chinese to plant a bean field in the field behind the compound. Before I went to America I bought the beans for him to plant, and in October they were ready to harvest. I spent mornings and afternoons filling buckets with beans. The freshly picked pods dried in the sun until they could be shelled. With the family we probably picked 5 or 6 rice bags of beans. Of course, after you shell them they take up a lot less space, but I think we are still eating beans we grew. It adds protein to the diet that we didn’t have a year ago, and I’m going to encourage Chinese to plant them again next year.

Corn was harvested at the same time beans were, but I didn’t help pick corn. I’ve done that before, and I just couldn’t get into the corn here. I miss sweet corn too much, and am a bit of a corn snob it turns out. But the family did grow a small field of corn, or tobaňo.

We spent one day harvesting sorghum. This was a new grain to me, but it’s very tasty. (I didn’t take a picture of it, sorry.) Like coos, it grows several meters tall and the seed heads are cut off. Chinese, Amadou the Fula, Samba and I harvested sorghum and brought back 4 large bundles (maybe half pecks?) and put them on the roof to dry.

About two weeks later the coos was ready. To harvest coos we break the stalks at the base. After a row of stalks is broken we work back up the row cutting the heads off and piling them. We move up and down the field in rows cutting coos. To transport the coos we make a large bundle and tie it with locally made rope. Two bundles are joined together and tied for transport. Then you carry it back to village on your head if you don’t have a donkey cart. One bundle will feed our compound for about 5 days if we only eat coos. After it dries Fatou pounds it off the stalk and winnows it. It is then pounded again to remove the hulls. (Same with sorghum.) For every nine bundles harvested, one must be given to charity. I think Chinese harvested about 20 or 22 bundles from both his coos fields.

And rice! Funeh and I went to Chinese’s sister’s village 3 k away to help harvest rice. I had really no idea what to expect. All I brought was my knife and a hat.

We went with Maladou (the sister) down to her rice field- a marsh tucked along a small depression shaded by tall palm trees. ‘Are you going to take off your shoes? I think you are afraid (not brave) of the mud!’ Maladou asks as she leaves her shoes on the dry bank and steps into the rice. Now I have gone barefoot before in this country- I did all the groundnut weeding with no shoes- but this is something else. Who knows what lurks in that water- leeches, snakes, grody algae and slimy things!? On the other hand, I can’t really step in with my shoes on- they’ll get stuck and ruined, and I’m not very useful harvesting rice from the bank…

So leaving my shoes, I gingerly step into the water and immediately squish in. I am brave of the mud. I can do this. It’s time to harvest rice.

After a while you get used to it, and ignore the fact that there could be yucky things in the water. I think I got pretty good at harvesting, picking the ripe seed heads from the unripe and cutting them quickly. Maladou grew a few different varieties of rice including NeRICA, the rice that Peace Corps and other aid agencies are pushing.

We carried the rice back in the afternoon, and I’m pretty sure Maladou gave me half of what we harvested to take back to the family. There’s my rice harvest, a whole days work for about 6 cups of rice and a day spent working with my ‘extended’ family.

The Kids of Keita Kunda

Every time I bring out my camera I have to take pictures of the kids. (And Pondo) So here’s the update on their lives:

Omar is growing up an outgoing 3 year old, who plays hard and loves to read. All the kids love reading, actually, and I look forward to reading with them almost every day. Omar has been my good buddy this last year. We play all the time and he helps me learn Mandinka. His few English phrases are pretty funny- taught by Samba- ‘Are you hungry?’ ‘No’ ‘Are you crazy?’ ‘Yes!’

Amadou is still growing slowly. He’s small for his age and a little behind developmentally, but I think he’ll be fine. He finally started walking. I’ve been talking to him about it for a while. He’s still the cutest kid. I have one picture of him reclining in the chair at night; classic Amadou. He’s a little more trouble now that his mobility is increased, and we haven’t really started reading yet. But I imagine that will start soon.

Isatou came to live with us from Senegal. She came to go to school and live in our compound. Her mom is Chineses sister I think. She doesn’t speak Mankinka, only Fula, but her Mandinka is getting better and better. Isatou and Funeh are both in grade two at school. She’s a sweet and somewhat shy girl, who was really unsure of me at first. I may be the first white person she’s seen. (And when I say from Senegal I mean from less than 10 miles away…) She has become a part of our little family here and I hope she’ll stay through her schooling.

Funeh is one sassy girl. Now that Isatou is here she has a younger sister to boss around. She also acts as her translator and guide to the village. And the girl is ripped- her arms and back are so strong! She’s getting better at reading and seemed to do well in school last term by Gambian standards. Funeh is fearless! I have a picture of her and Samba 25 feet up in the tamarind tree, out on slim branches knocking the pods down.

Finally Samba. He’s growing up to be a man of the house. Chinese has him going to the bush every day to bring back firewood or coos stalks for fencing. He goes to school in the afternoon and then plays football with the team the boys have formed. Samba is in 4^th grade and is by far the best reader of the family. He is actually able to read, not just recite based on memorization. Eventually, I think he’ll be reading simple chapter books!

Pondo is practically a child of Keita Kunda. I take enough pictures of him anyway… He’s finally growing up to be a real dog! (He healed fine from his operation in September!) I’d say he’s about 30 lbs and medium dog sized. He sits and comes pretty well on command, and is learning to lie down. Gambians get a kick out of him following commands, but he really only listens to me. Fatou will show off Pondo to visitors saying ‘He sits when you tell him- look’ and then I’ll make him sit and the visitor will say the equivalent of ‘Well, I never!’ And Fatou laughs. Pondo has been on several excursions with me- to Kanyubeh (10 k), Basse (20 k), and Diabugu (18 k). He’s a trooper! He has to run while I bike! But he has endeared himself to Kanyubeh, and when I bike without him people always ask where he is.

Beating the October Blues

Kasey and I visited a Volunteer (B) in Ker Katim, a Wolof village on the north bank of the Gambia. The volunteer we visited was going back to America soon, and this was a great chance to see what a site can look like at the end of two years of service.

I went to Ker Katim knowing about five words of Wolof. Basically, I could greet and that’s it. Luckily, B.’s host, the village alkalo spoke fluent Mankinda as well as Wolof. It was an amazing cultural experience and exchange to have a conversation in three languages simultaneously. Kasey and I spoke Mandinka to the alkalo, who spoke Wolof with B., who spoke English with us! I think one of the richest and most unique cultural aspects of Gambia is the multiliguility of its people. I have rarely met a person, even a child, who only spoke one language.

I went out to B.’s field that he’s been working on with his host. The success of his project and his relationship with his hosts reinvigorated me and inspired me to go back to HK and do the same in my village. After a difficult two months it was just what I needed to get back on track.

We also stopped by the Senegal border on our walk. A stone marker is the only indication that something has changed. B. reckons that some of his work sites were actually in Senegal.

Oh, this too? Sure, bring it on.

There are always insect bites and scratches covering my body. Mosquito’s and other bugs enjoy an Ashley snack all the time. I didn’t think much of the small bites on my thumb. I actually thought it was heat rash coming back.
As the week went on the bite became a line.
And the line moved along my thumb to the back of my hand.
Almost like there was a worm in my hand.
ACK!!! That’s gross!
It looked like a Mountain Pine Beetle under my skin. Which is bad.
By the end of the week the worm wiggled to and fro blazing a 4-inch line. Where There Is No Doctor had nothing to say about lines under the skin that itched and progressed.
Brendan’s travel book said I might have a dog or cat hookworm, but no worries, the worm can’t live in people, and would die eventually and fall out of my hand.
You may think I’d be freaking out, that I would be losing it. But when you get to the point where you have a worm in your hand and you’ve just cut your dog’s testicle out with a razorblade and the termites are taking over your house along with the mold, this is just another thing to deal with.
On Tuesday I went to the Med Unit and got formally diagnosed with a hookworm. I have a hookworm killing paste to apply twice a day until the track on my hand is gone.
In the meantime I get to show people my worm. (If you feel sorry for me, send me some lovin' through the mail!)

I hope this isn't the stupidest thing I've ever done

*Warning- This blog post is graphic and contains sensitive information! (But no pictures.) Read at your own risk!
Pondo got fixed last week in Basse.
“But I though there was no vet in Basse.”
Oh, there isn’t.
But there is a man who castrates dogs. He’s done several other PCVs dogs as well. Rachel and I brought our dogs in on a Thursday. We bought our own razor blades (for 50 bututs or about $0.02). Rachel and I were pretty nervous about the whole operation, and gave the dogs Benadryl to sedate them, and Ibuprofen for the pain and bleeding.
Around 5:00 pm Lamin came over with a small boy and a forked stick.
We decided that Pondo would go first. I was really nervous, but because Rachel was freaking out I tried to act calm and volunteered Pondo so Rachel would be sure Zion would be ok.
Out next to the house we turned Pondo onto his back. Lamin used the forked stick to hold Pondo’s neck to the ground. The small boy held his back legs, Alieu had the stick and I held his front legs and body.
Lamin stretched the skin of his testicles taut and made a 1.5 inch incision on the bottom. He quickly pulled out the testicle, cut all connective tissues and tubes, and threw it into the bushes over the fence. Pondo has only one testicle, and we felt around to make sure there wasn’t another one hidden inside him.
As this was going on Pondo wiggled once and tried to escape, but we held him tightly. He cried and whined but didn’t struggle during the actual cutting.
As soon as we let him go he sat up, dazed. He didn’t move immediately, but looked around and inspected his wound. Finally, he got up and started walking around, dripping blood, but otherwise ok.
Zion did not fare so well, and I had to hold him still by almost sitting on him. He yelped and cried and struggled through the whole operation. Pondo was barking furiously at us for hurting another dog. We released Zion and he immediately ran away from us, to Rachel who had been in the house, not watching.
We thanked Lamin and the small boy and he left us with our two sad dogs.
They dripped blood for the next several hours. As soon as a clot formed, Pondo licked it out and started bleeding again. We had to keep them outside so they wouldn’t make a mess. That night Rachel stayed outside and I tried to sleep and check on Pondo every few hours.
Around 11 pm it looked like the bleeding was getting worse, and I decided to apply pressure to the wound.
As I sat there, holding blood soaked bandages on my dog’s wound I laughed at how ridiculous the situation was. This is not something I ever thought I’d be doing in the Peace Corps. The thought never crossed my mind. Yet here I was, filthy, covered in dog blood and dirt, swatting at mosquitos and hopeing my dog wouldn't bleed to death.
This didn’t last too long because Pondo wouldn’t sit still. So I improvised a diaper/bandage with gauze and lots of packing tape. It kept pressure on the wound and Pondo wasn’t bleeding anywhere or licking. He did have some trouble walking! I said to Rachel, “I hope this isn’t the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
We made it through the night with both dogs. I took off the diaper the next day but Pondo continued to bleed for several days.
Over the next 4 days we stayed at the house waiting for the dogs to heal enough to travel back to village. It was nice to be able to keep them out of the dirt and contained in a compound. Pondo spent most of his time sleeping, but took breaks to fight with Zion.
Finally we were able to travel back to Hella Kunda, and Pondo settled back into life with no problems.
He is healing nicely and we expect a full recovery from both dogs.

So this is how it's gonna be huh?

After I got home from Kombo my house was moldy from being closed up all week and raining. While preparing to bleach the heck out of my roof and walls I tapped the wall with my knuckle and put a hole in the wall.
Uh oh. This is not good.

Inside the small hole is a termite nest. The termites came pouring out, and I ran out to find reinforcements.
Jamboye came in and looked at my wall. “I will go get mud to make mortar and we will fill the hole.” Ok. Thanks, but we have to get them out first.
Jamboye came back with a small mound of dirt and crushed shells to make the mud cement. Then he started to excavate the wall to remove the termites.
He just kept removing and I watched in horror as more and more of my wall became dirt on my floor, filled with thousands of termites and their nest!
We filled three buckets with wall and termite.
Jamboye decided the nest was cleared out enough (we didn’t find the queen though) and moved on to the other spot on my wall that I had removed a termite brain from in the morning.
He cleared out another 3 foot section of wall, termites and nest.
The mud from earlier was clearly not enough to fix these holes, and until it got too dark to see Jamboye worked to fill in my wall with bricks and mud cement.
He finished the next morning, and left my house a muddy mess!
We haven’t done anything about the termites since then. I’m pretty sure they are in most parts of my back wall and the roof, but until rainy season is over we can’t do much work on the house.

Also, after every rain the mold grows so thick in some places it looks like snow- until it turns black.
My fences in the backyard blew over while I was gone, and have been destroyed by termites.
The roof leaks when it rains really hard. Good thing rainy season is pretty much over.
It’s been a month… that’s for sure!

Ramadan

The holy month of Ramadan started on Friday, August 21st at sundown. Until the next new moon Muslims will be fasting during the day. We get up every morning at 5 am and eat a quiet breakfast of beans, bread, leftover rice and tea. Breakfast stops when the morning prayer starts. Then everyone goes back to bed for three or four more hours.
The rest of the day passes pretty slowly. People are supposed to continue work as usual, but by 2:00 everyone is pretty tired. Not eating or drinking puts a strain on people. So the afternoon is usually spent napping, chatting and generally not moving. I’ve been reading a lot of books in my hut.
Every day or two the rains come, and I sit with Pondo and watch the rain fall. (My poor beans grew but got beat down by the heavy rain we had!)
Around 5:00pm the cooking starts. Delicious smells waft through the air, and I notice how hungry and thirsty I am.
Finally, at 7:20 it is time to break the fast! After the sundown prayer we break fast with tea, beans, rice, churro, and water.
Everyone will have another meal around 9:00, but I’m full for the rest of the day.
After dinner people stay up late and snack until 1 or 2 am! They’ll be up at 5:00 the next morning to start the again.