Ramadan

En jarama! Hono Sumayo?

Ramadan started at the beginning of August, which means my village is now a ghost town due to the lack of energy from their fast. Most of the days are spent lying on bamboo beds underneath various shade structures and mango trees. The first day I arrived back to my village after much too long of time away (IST…Dakar trip…birthday party…) my host family came running at me with hugs of joy and laughter, I’d missed them! It’s somewhat difficult to get any work done or to get people motivated this month, so besides working on the school garden with my counterpart early in the morning, I’ve been enjoying reading books in my favorite tree out by the school yard and taking pictures of random people.

 Here's my host siblings lounging around the compound being awesome.

At night, I usually lay out on the bamboo beds with the others, my old host dad lying in his hammock next to me. The stars are beaming here like a million crystals in a blanket of black. One cool thing about not having electricity, it’s impossible to miss the beauty of the night sky. We wait until it’s time to break the fast with baguettes and coffee, then an elaborate meal follows a couple hours later. 

The first two nights I tagged along with my host sisters to the Mosque in order to get a better idea of their prayer time. They wrapped me in a long skirt, draped a veil over my head and off we went.  I stood alongside my sister and shadowed her as she went through the motions bowing to Allah. It was fantastic! They were silently laughing hysterically at the thought of me praying like them. Secretly I think they appreciated it.

I’ve had some great visitors lately! Cibyl came over twice this week. We completely intended on doing work at my health post, but with the doctor gone, we were unable to access the information we needed. No complaints! We ended up lying on the floor of my hut watching movies on my laptop, snacking on goodies from the boutique and laughing for hours. So glad she’s my neighbor!

My favorite girl in village is Khaditu. She stopped by for a surprise visit hearing I was back in town. We sat in my bed for a while and I could tell she was feeling down.  We talked awhile about her life and the difficulties of it all. She asked me if I had a washing machine in America and I couldn’t help but be honest. I was relieved when she stopped at that. To continue with all the questions of luxuries I have would only make it more clear to her the unfortunate disposition she was born into. She told me about her 17 year old sister who is exceptionally good at English, but is married with two children and is no longer in school. Luckily, Khaditu turned out to be one of the scholarship winners! I told her the great news, that she now has money to stay in school and buy supplies. It lifted her spirits! Hopefully spending the next two years encouraging her and telling her how smart she is will do some good.

So I must tell you about my friend Wallie. Wallie is a brick maker from the Kolda city who also happens to speak some English and about nine other languages. He has nine children and one wife, something that’s quite uncommon here. We had a great conversation a couple days ago about how he believes one wife is the way it should be and how eating only rice for every meal is incredibly unhealthy. This guy gets it! He’s also one of the nicest people in the world, always saying things to me in broken English as I walk by like, “You very kind.” “The people nice to you yes?” “Okay tank you very well.” “I very happy for you here.” Wallie has been a delight to get to know, I’m sad he had to leave to go back to the city. Maybe someday he’ll be back in Mampatim making bricks again.

The school garden is growing beautifully!! We now have tomatoes, okra, hugeeeeeee cucumber plants (taking over all the other innocent small carrot and turnip plants) and last but not least, melons!!!!

Moustapha is an awesome gardener, with a huge plot of land in his own compound covered in all kinds of greens.

A couple days ago, we took my host dad’s donkey cart and ventured off into the woods one day in search of rich manure. Sounds dumb, but it was a really fun adventure. Guess I can now say I’ve ridden on a donkey cart. I’m really grateful I have him helping me. When I get back to village in a couple weeks, God only knows what kinds of delicious organic fruits and veggies we’ll have growing!

This is my last post before coming home to America. My flight leaves on Wednesday morning. I cannot wait to see you all! Love love lovee!