I've been working on a baseline survey to get a better idea of what the specific problems are in my village and what people would like to see improve. The survey has helped me to learn a lot more about my village and all the people in it. I've gathered that water accessability is a major problem, along with malaria. Luckily, people are really good about going to the health post and getting it treated. However, in the 50 compounds I've interviewed, every other person said they had 1-2 children die in the last year. Its a tough thing when you move to your village and everyone you see on the road is friendly and happy as ever, then you really start to talk to them on a personal level and realize the statistics you read are about people you now know. All you can hope is that they'll take what you've taught them and use it.
I met with my women's group president and taught her and my counterparts how to make neem lotion, the all natural mosquito repellent. Bed nets are a great concept, but malaria mosquitos are said to bite only at dusk and dawn, which is when people are either cooking dinner or in the fields. I'm planning on doing neem lotion demonstrations for all of the women's groups. Eventually they'll teach or sell it to ten compounds each and if that makes a difference in the number of sick people, then hopefully word of mouth will spread and people will start using it every evening. There used to be a nearby river which dried up and the water tower has been broken down for years so in dealing with their water shortage, I'm looking into writing a grant to build more wells so that 50 people aren't all using the same one each day.We have a new principal at the middle school and he seems really motivated and excited for the upcoming projects I'll be doing with them. School just resumed and now they'll be able to see their brand new garden.
The girls empowerment club and the environmental club should be starting up next month once I figure out logistics and get students on board. They'll be helping me paint murals, clean up trash, tend to the garden, and learning nutritious ways to cook during their lunch breaks. To top it off, I planted some beautiful red and pink flowers that will grow wild on the vines up and around the walls in a few months.The other day Cibyl, Moustapha and I biked out to Kelly's village, Thiewal Lao, for a formation with her master farmer.
Moustapha is an incredible farmer with a magnificant magical garden all around his house. I figured it would be beneficial for him to come and learn about better farming techniques for more efficient and faster crop growth. He was really inspired by it, and hopefully now he'll take what he learned back to Mampatim and share it with his other farming friends.
Spending time with the kids in my compounds has been my greatest happiness. During the hot daytime hours, they've been coming in my hut and listening to my guitar. I'm horrible at it, but they don't realize that. They love it! Here's my host sister, Fatoumata, trying to play it herself.
A couple days ago was the day of the Konkouran. The Konkouran is a crazy scary looking guy dressed in rags and grass who carries a machete around the village in a pretend attempt to circumcise the little boys. Its a tradition every year, kind of like the boogie man, except if the boogie man carried a machete and pretended to cut off your junk. He doesn't actually ever hurt anybody, just a fun game of forewarning that in the following days, it will actually happen... poor fellas.
The other night the kids broke out into an awesome dance party to the music on the radio.
For some reason, it reminded me of a specific childhood memory. One time my extended family was over for a party and Jimmy Buffett's Volcano came on. All of us cousins got out in the middle of my living room and were assigned a different instrument to mime. The adults gathered around and we performed the whole song, miming the instruments when they would sound. Ah, childhood.
The last time I had a hammock was in the backyard of the old house I grew up in. Almost every night we would have a bon fire and lay on that thing. I spent many of hours starring up at the night sky, lying on our hammock and contemplating life in deep conversations with my friends. Come to think of it, we were very much wise beyond our years. Now it all comes back around. I have inherited a hammock of my own and strung it up in my backyard under my mango tree. This is to be the downfall of productivity but the upswing of happiness.
