Well, my plan to write in Ghana didn’t work out too well… We probably spent numerous hours in internet cafes in Accra, but most of that time was used in TRYING (unsuccessfully) to upload pictures… so much for the idea that that would be easier in Ghana…
Anyway, Ghana was absolutely beautiful- so much water and greenery, almost made me wish I was in Peace Corps, Ghana. After our day and a half wait in Lome, Togo, for our Ghana visa, we left (straight from the Ghanaian Embassy) for a village called Kpalme, Togo, which had bush taxis through the border to Hohoe, Ghana in the Volta region. I think we got to the bush taxi station around 1:30, but we waited there for 6 hours…. for a 32 K drive. Oh, and we had to personally wake up the border guards to get our passports stamped. The Volta region of Ghana, however, was definitely worth the hassle. After what we voted our most rundown-sketchy hotel of the entire trip (that’s saying something considering we averaged about 7 USD a night per person), we got up early and (well, switched hotels first) went to the Wli waterfalls. Absolutely beautiful walk through the tropical rainforest up to the Wli falls, where swimming was an option we of course couldn’t pass up. It was FREEZING, but this is coming from the land of never-under-98-degrees-farenheight. There was also a hotel/restaurant a short walk from the tourist centre with a beautiful view of the falls and delicious food. I think that was the point that started our chain of eating out like queens (or pigs), and that’s probably where a good portion of our trip money went… that and football jerseys (ok, SOCCER) but anyway. So the next morning we set off to Accra, stopping at a monkey sanctuary in a village just outside of Hohoe. For about 5 Ghanaian Cedis we got a bag of bananas and a 15 minute walk through the trees… but we also got to feed the monkeys, so I guess it was worth it. What you did was hold out a banana, as tightly as possible and about 5-7 little monkeys would attack it- it was gone within 5 seconds- once we were out of bananas, they wouldn’t come down from the trees.. the tour was over.
On to Accra, capitol of Ghana. We were a little overwhelmed how much this city is like AMERICA!!! Every kind of food just around the corner, a MALL, even a big movie theatre!!! We watched our first big-screen film in 10 months, The Proposal, and maybe because it had been so long, it might be one of my favorite flicks. Our real reason for going was to see when Harry Potter 6 was playing (a crucial element in our vacation) but it wasn’t out for a week- so we made plans to come back… other than that, Accra was pretty exciting as we happened to be there the same time as President Obama, but we didn’t see him (unless you count seeing his helicopter overhead.. I do. ) To be honest, we didn’t make a huge effort to see him- we weighed out our possibilities; mall and the movies, or waiting outside a building for 7 hours in hopes to glimpse the back of his head… The Obama paraphernalia was astounding though- everywhere you looked were banners, posters, flags, t-shirts; all with Obama on it (even little American Flags with Obama’s face in the stripes). It was really great to see how much support Obama has in Ghana- or really in any West African country I’ve been to- if they hear you speak English, the first thing they say is “Obama!”.
After one night in Accra, we went down to our first on-the-beach reservation spot, a big Rasta-type resort called ‘Big Milly’s Back Yard’ (Milly being this sweet little old British woman). I think it would have been a lot of fun and a couple days of relaxing, but we kinda got of on the wrong foot with this place. When we first showed up, at about 5:15 that evening, they were like, sorry! You were late, we gave your room away! LATE? We had no idea 5:15 was late. Especially for a laidback backpackers resort. Anyway, so they took us down the road to this Black Stone hotel… possibly second or third on our list of not so great places to stay… But we moved to big Milly’s the next day. As we were sitting on the beach, there were a couple of Rasta guys talking about us. Their tactic was to talk about us in Hausa so that none of us ‘white people’ could understand them… but when we turned around and asked in Hausa who they were calling white people and why they speak Hausa, it was fun to see the surprise on their faces..HA.
True to our form so far, we only stayed one night in this place and moved on to Cape Coast the next morning. (We did 9 hotels in the first 10 days of our trip) Cape Coast is a gorgeous fishing-type town on the coast, with the Cape Coast Castle just a walk down the beach from our hotel (the Oasis) The castle itself was very pretty and a really interesting part of African slave trade history. We took a tour of the castle and got to see the holding chambers for the slave men and women- tiny little dark damp rooms for 200 to 500 people. Even worse were the chambers designed to hold those that rebelled- small, windowless chambers where they were put in for 48 or so hours or until they died; this was also reserved for the women who refused to be raped by the military captains and always ended in death. Because the fort was originally built for trade of goods and then later converted to slaves, the rooms were so small and dim and stuffy that it was hard to be in them for a few minutes with 20 other people on the tour- I can’t even imagine what it must have been like.
Other than touring the castle, we spent our day perusing the shops on the streets of Cape Coast, and then watched some Ghanaian dancing at the hotel- it was a good day… The next morning we were off again for Kukum national rainforest where we got to do a Canopy walk (which I learned is only 1 of 5 public canopy walks in the world..oooh) We got to walk out on these swinging rope bridges 50 Meters above ground- the view was BEAUTIFUL and it was a great experience… It may not have been such a great experience for the guy in our tour group who was terrified of heights and thought there was only one bridge instead of 7… bet that was a nasty shock (he let us know with a few choice words)! After Kukum, we bush taxied on to the Green Turtle Lodge, an eco-friendly backpackers beach resort (full of West African NGO volunteers from all over the world all on a quick vacation before heading home). Here, we finally relaxed and stayed for 5 days- the food was DELICIOUS, and the best part, I only spent 115 Cedis (around 85 dollars?) for everything- food, lodging, boat tour, everything. I’ll definitely be back! There’s not much exciting to write about this portion of the vacation, except that lying on the beach for 5 days does in fact get boring. For Ariana’s birthday, one of our favorite staff members, Naomi, baked her a cake, and we got all dressed up… Liz and I had a dance party at one point with some of the staff, and we spent the evening dancing around a fire with the locals to the drums (I’m serious.) Bet not many people can say they did that for their 25th B-day! We did also take a canoe trip through the mangroves, but it wasn’t much to shout about, and we spent most of the time worrying about crabs falling from the trees (they were EVERYWHERE) but we did meet some fun people, returned Peace Corps volunteers, NGO workers…
Anyway, back to Accra, saw HARRY POTTER 6!!! it was awesome… one of the highlights of my trip. Which is good, because following that was a 24 hour bus ride to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, followed by what was supposed to be only an 8 hour bus ride (but took 13) to Niamey. All in two days (or three? I may have lost a day in there…). Oh, and the 24 hour bus ride? We left 4 hours late… and the one to Niamey? Never went over about 45 miles an hour. It was fun.
Either way, were back home in Niger and it’s actually really good to be back! It’s so nice to speak Hausa again and to be understood, and I really missed the hospitality of the Nigerien people. Nigeriens really are the most welcoming and friendly people I’ve met in West Africa and are genuinely happy you’re here. That’s not to say Ghanaians aren’t nice, just that it’s good to be home!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Some Benin and Togo Time
I am right now sitting in an internet cafe in Lome, the capitol of Togo... I don't know which makes me more excited- the amount of water they have, or the amount of green-ness... Or maybe the food... Anyway, so far its been a pretty sweeet vacation. So I'll give the play-by-play.. We left on the 4th of July from Niamey and got on what was suposed to be only a 16 hour bus ride, but there was a bit of an accedent along the way and our bus swerved off the road to avoid an oncomming semi truck who was passing another semi truck. We were fine, the guy doing the passing was fine, but the semi truck that he passed was forced off the road and flipped. So the bus stopped for a good three hours to get the guy out.. Guess it just goes to show that Benin roads and drivers are about the same as Niger's... (I think Benin has better roads though)
Moving on. So after an increadably long bus trip we finally arrived in Cotonou, Benin, stayed the night, and then headed first to a spot called the 'point of no return', where African slaves were walked down this path to the beach and put on their boat... never to return. It made that whole portion of history that much more real- especially to see the land they were taken out of (BEUTIFUL) only to be shoved on a boat where half would die before reaching a daunting final destination. So that was a really good experience and I'll try to get the pictures up when I get back to niamey.
After that, we went to a fishing village called Grand Popo (I'd live there just for the name) and stayed at this Regge/Rasta place on the beach called Le Lion Bar. It was so awesome and chill of a place, we're still wishing we'd just stayed another night! Basically we just lounged around on the beach listening to Bob Marley and sipping from coconuts.. oh good fish too.
Ok.. Moving on, the next morning we took a boat cruise (the hollowed out tree trunk kind) on this river (cant remember the name) and whent to a VooDoo village and got to walk around with our guide. It was REALLY interesting and made me realize there's a lot more to VooDooism than flying white flags and little pin-cushion dolls- Its really fascinating- I really want to do a little more research.
After the Village, we continued up river to a coconut grove and drank coconut milk and ate coconut.. Kinda amazing how that little kid could just shimmi right up the coconut tree..
Anyway, not to cut the story short, it just gets a little dull- we traveled to Lome, this morning we applied for the Gahnian visa, which should be ready tomorrow, and we've spent the day at the peace corps bureau here and down at the market doing a little (or a lot) of shopping.. Tomorrow, off to some hiking and waterfalls!
I'll try to write again in Ghana!
Moving on. So after an increadably long bus trip we finally arrived in Cotonou, Benin, stayed the night, and then headed first to a spot called the 'point of no return', where African slaves were walked down this path to the beach and put on their boat... never to return. It made that whole portion of history that much more real- especially to see the land they were taken out of (BEUTIFUL) only to be shoved on a boat where half would die before reaching a daunting final destination. So that was a really good experience and I'll try to get the pictures up when I get back to niamey.
After that, we went to a fishing village called Grand Popo (I'd live there just for the name) and stayed at this Regge/Rasta place on the beach called Le Lion Bar. It was so awesome and chill of a place, we're still wishing we'd just stayed another night! Basically we just lounged around on the beach listening to Bob Marley and sipping from coconuts.. oh good fish too.
Ok.. Moving on, the next morning we took a boat cruise (the hollowed out tree trunk kind) on this river (cant remember the name) and whent to a VooDoo village and got to walk around with our guide. It was REALLY interesting and made me realize there's a lot more to VooDooism than flying white flags and little pin-cushion dolls- Its really fascinating- I really want to do a little more research.
After the Village, we continued up river to a coconut grove and drank coconut milk and ate coconut.. Kinda amazing how that little kid could just shimmi right up the coconut tree..
Anyway, not to cut the story short, it just gets a little dull- we traveled to Lome, this morning we applied for the Gahnian visa, which should be ready tomorrow, and we've spent the day at the peace corps bureau here and down at the market doing a little (or a lot) of shopping.. Tomorrow, off to some hiking and waterfalls!
I'll try to write again in Ghana!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Chariot Spiders Anyone?
Off to Ghana in less than a week! (I’m pretty excited…) First a little recap on the last two weeks in the bush: Finished planting all our stuff- millet, beans, ground nuts; started the next process, which they call ‘noma’, basically tilling the entire field by hand... You can probably guess I didn’t help out too much with this part. After about one row, I was like, whew, well guys, good work, the sun’s out, I gotta go home… That one row was more than they expected me to do in the first place, so I think it was ok .. Had my first women’s group meeting on our Grain Bank project (I’ll talk about it more when my proposal gets on line to start the funding) but I’m really excited and I think these women are going to do an excellent job- they
So I’m pretty sure I mentioned that I got a cat about a month ago; so there’s a sad story now about that… The day I got back into the bush Musuru (that’s his name.. it’s just the Hausa word for ‘male cat’, but it sounded cool ) was perfectly healthy and really cute and excited to see me, probably because I’m the only one in the concession that doesn’t terrorize him, but anyway. So, that night we had a huge storm (irrelevant…sorry) and the next morning I couldn’t find him anywhere. Then I heard these little whimpers coming from underneath my cika-bed (millet-stock mat propped up on mud bricks) so I look under it and there he his, laying there whimpering. So, he can’t get up or anything, and to be honest, the moment I saw him I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it. So for about three hours I just had to kinda sit and wait, not being able to do anything for him- I tried to keep him hydrated, but by the end he was having muscle spasms and couldn’t breathe. I was so frustrated that I didn’t know what it was or what to do about it- but later on that day I found a dead scorpion that was in a couple chewed pieces. So my theory is that sometime during the big storm he either went in the house or under some dark corner to escape the rain and got stung and then tried to eat it, or, tried to eat it and then got stung, and, because he’s still really little, it killed him. It was sad. Oh, and possibly the worst part is the Nigerien perception of pets- my women’s group leader came in during those three hours and just looked at him and was like, ‘eww, don’t put that thing on the mat, its dying… you can just get a new one… lets go to the fields!’. Most of my neighbors were kinda like, oh its no big deal, you can just get a new one. Frustrating. Proudly I can say I kept my cool and didn’t cry… in front of them.
Sorry, but one more not-so-up-beat story: So that same night, I was going through the routine, getting ready for bed- it’s about 8:30 and it’s dark outside, so I have my headlamp on. I take a step out of my house and I see a large spider-like figure shoot across the ground at high speed… TWO of them. Oh- and they’re about as big as the palm of my hand. My cat just having been stung and killed by a creature, I freak out a bit and run back inside cowering.. They’re Chariot spiders, and they run around at top speed and they have these huge arms. They’re totally harmless, but the worse part about them is if they see light they kinda go crazy and charge it; so for about an hour and a half every time I got the courage to leave my house and set my bed and bug-net up, they would come flying out at me and ‘chase’ me back into the house. ( I finally put on some hiking boots, a rain coat, and gloves and set my bed up in several short increments) Needless to say it wasn’t one of my favorite days in Niger (I watched “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” on my Ipod, it helped the situation) So the next morning I tell one of the men in my family concession that there is a large chariot spider in my concession and that he needed to kill it… Actually, the exact translation was, ‘there is a too-big spider in my shade hanger, you need to give it death”… Anyway. He got the point, I went to market, came back and he was like, uh, Balkissa, I looked everywhere, I couldn’t find the chariot-spider.. So then I felt like the girl with a monster under the bed (literally) and was like, no! I SAW it. Well, a few days went by with no sign of them, and it wasn’t until the past couple of days that I saw them again. Don’t worry- the initial fear of the things kinda left, now when I see one, I just jump about a foot, turn off the light and leap into bed (which I have learned to set up BEFORE it gets dark). Ok. Moving on.
We're heading to Niamey for a few days before heading down to Ghana, so I'll try to take advantage of the fast 'city' internet and put up some pictures!
So I’m pretty sure I mentioned that I got a cat about a month ago; so there’s a sad story now about that… The day I got back into the bush Musuru (that’s his name.. it’s just the Hausa word for ‘male cat’, but it sounded cool ) was perfectly healthy and really cute and excited to see me, probably because I’m the only one in the concession that doesn’t terrorize him, but anyway. So, that night we had a huge storm (irrelevant…sorry) and the next morning I couldn’t find him anywhere. Then I heard these little whimpers coming from underneath my cika-bed (millet-stock mat propped up on mud bricks) so I look under it and there he his, laying there whimpering. So, he can’t get up or anything, and to be honest, the moment I saw him I was pretty sure he wasn’t going to make it. So for about three hours I just had to kinda sit and wait, not being able to do anything for him- I tried to keep him hydrated, but by the end he was having muscle spasms and couldn’t breathe. I was so frustrated that I didn’t know what it was or what to do about it- but later on that day I found a dead scorpion that was in a couple chewed pieces. So my theory is that sometime during the big storm he either went in the house or under some dark corner to escape the rain and got stung and then tried to eat it, or, tried to eat it and then got stung, and, because he’s still really little, it killed him. It was sad. Oh, and possibly the worst part is the Nigerien perception of pets- my women’s group leader came in during those three hours and just looked at him and was like, ‘eww, don’t put that thing on the mat, its dying… you can just get a new one… lets go to the fields!’. Most of my neighbors were kinda like, oh its no big deal, you can just get a new one. Frustrating. Proudly I can say I kept my cool and didn’t cry… in front of them.
Sorry, but one more not-so-up-beat story: So that same night, I was going through the routine, getting ready for bed- it’s about 8:30 and it’s dark outside, so I have my headlamp on. I take a step out of my house and I see a large spider-like figure shoot across the ground at high speed… TWO of them. Oh- and they’re about as big as the palm of my hand. My cat just having been stung and killed by a creature, I freak out a bit and run back inside cowering.. They’re Chariot spiders, and they run around at top speed and they have these huge arms. They’re totally harmless, but the worse part about them is if they see light they kinda go crazy and charge it; so for about an hour and a half every time I got the courage to leave my house and set my bed and bug-net up, they would come flying out at me and ‘chase’ me back into the house. ( I finally put on some hiking boots, a rain coat, and gloves and set my bed up in several short increments) Needless to say it wasn’t one of my favorite days in Niger (I watched “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” on my Ipod, it helped the situation) So the next morning I tell one of the men in my family concession that there is a large chariot spider in my concession and that he needed to kill it… Actually, the exact translation was, ‘there is a too-big spider in my shade hanger, you need to give it death”… Anyway. He got the point, I went to market, came back and he was like, uh, Balkissa, I looked everywhere, I couldn’t find the chariot-spider.. So then I felt like the girl with a monster under the bed (literally) and was like, no! I SAW it. Well, a few days went by with no sign of them, and it wasn’t until the past couple of days that I saw them again. Don’t worry- the initial fear of the things kinda left, now when I see one, I just jump about a foot, turn off the light and leap into bed (which I have learned to set up BEFORE it gets dark). Ok. Moving on.
We're heading to Niamey for a few days before heading down to Ghana, so I'll try to take advantage of the fast 'city' internet and put up some pictures!
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Countdown to Ghana and Planting time!
A little less than three weeks til Ghana and counting!!! Actually I thought I woundn't be heading there until August, but as of today, the official plans moved up... about a month, which I think will actually work out better as I think August was going to be a little busy with Grain Bank preperations in my village. (which will hopefully work out funding-wise... there's a bit of 'wahala' in the funding department as most of our usual funding sources seem to be 'out of money until further notice'.)
But planting season has finally come and these past few weeks I've enjoyed heading out the the fields with villagers and planting millet. This is how it goes: First someone (usually the man of the family) creates lines with the 'Kwasa', a really heavy version of a hoe, and creates holes about a meter apart in rows about a meter apart. Then, behind him comes the children, women, (and me...) putting seads in the holes and covering it up with sand by foot. It really does go quickly, but most families have 3 or so fields that are huge pieces of land and work several days straight to plant them all. I wanted to take pictures and post them of planting, and I still plan on it, but, as of right now my camera is "out of batteries"... AKA, I have been completely worn out with my villagers on the picture front.
I can no longer walk down the paths of my village without someone demanding a picture, or asking me "when I'm going to give them that one picture I took 4 weeks and 3 days ago with the donkey or the little kid drinking hura"... that type of thing. I understand the excitement and fascination with my camera and pictures, but I've decided its high time for a rest until the excitement dies down- then I'll slowly bring it back out. But back to planting. So. We've planted our millet. As soon as I return to my village, we're going to intercrop beans and peanuts/ground nuts in the same fields, so fun's not over yet!
So today Leah (Fellow region volunteer) we're walking down to one of the 'ElHadji' shops as we call them, side note, an 'ElHadji' shop is I guess a really REALLY small version of a grocery store.. well, it's usually one room and they sell an asortment of 'western' stuff, toiletry items, juice, milk, canned goods, sometimes exciting stuff, like today, PRINGLES... Wow, back on topic.
So, today Leah and I we're walking to this shop and we had a really entertaining converstaion that all started with someone offering us a mango.
This was the converstation: Mango guy: Bisimillah (holding out the mango) Leah and I: Allahumdulillahi! (as we continue walking). Ok, what it means in my head: mango guy: want a mango? Leah and I: Oh, no thanks! But, literal translation: Mango guy: 'In the name of God!' Leah and I: Thanks be to God! Which, doesnt really make sense. But we that it was hillarious when we broke it down to the literal translation. Theres a lot of that in Hausa I feel like- even in the everyday greetings, literally when you ask greet someone in the morining with "ina kwana?" literally it's saying where's sleep? or Kun Tashi Lahiya? (how did you sleep) literally means You rose in health? And then there's these "all-purpose" words like, 'Sannu' that means, hi, thank you, sorry, and slowly, all depending on the context... Anyway, thats about it for now, I'm planning on doing a full two weeks in my village before comming back in in prep for vacation, so I'll try to write again then!!!!
But planting season has finally come and these past few weeks I've enjoyed heading out the the fields with villagers and planting millet. This is how it goes: First someone (usually the man of the family) creates lines with the 'Kwasa', a really heavy version of a hoe, and creates holes about a meter apart in rows about a meter apart. Then, behind him comes the children, women, (and me...) putting seads in the holes and covering it up with sand by foot. It really does go quickly, but most families have 3 or so fields that are huge pieces of land and work several days straight to plant them all. I wanted to take pictures and post them of planting, and I still plan on it, but, as of right now my camera is "out of batteries"... AKA, I have been completely worn out with my villagers on the picture front.
I can no longer walk down the paths of my village without someone demanding a picture, or asking me "when I'm going to give them that one picture I took 4 weeks and 3 days ago with the donkey or the little kid drinking hura"... that type of thing. I understand the excitement and fascination with my camera and pictures, but I've decided its high time for a rest until the excitement dies down- then I'll slowly bring it back out. But back to planting. So. We've planted our millet. As soon as I return to my village, we're going to intercrop beans and peanuts/ground nuts in the same fields, so fun's not over yet!
So today Leah (Fellow region volunteer) we're walking down to one of the 'ElHadji' shops as we call them, side note, an 'ElHadji' shop is I guess a really REALLY small version of a grocery store.. well, it's usually one room and they sell an asortment of 'western' stuff, toiletry items, juice, milk, canned goods, sometimes exciting stuff, like today, PRINGLES... Wow, back on topic.
So, today Leah and I we're walking to this shop and we had a really entertaining converstaion that all started with someone offering us a mango.
This was the converstation: Mango guy: Bisimillah (holding out the mango) Leah and I: Allahumdulillahi! (as we continue walking). Ok, what it means in my head: mango guy: want a mango? Leah and I: Oh, no thanks! But, literal translation: Mango guy: 'In the name of God!' Leah and I: Thanks be to God! Which, doesnt really make sense. But we that it was hillarious when we broke it down to the literal translation. Theres a lot of that in Hausa I feel like- even in the everyday greetings, literally when you ask greet someone in the morining with "ina kwana?" literally it's saying where's sleep? or Kun Tashi Lahiya? (how did you sleep) literally means You rose in health? And then there's these "all-purpose" words like, 'Sannu' that means, hi, thank you, sorry, and slowly, all depending on the context... Anyway, thats about it for now, I'm planning on doing a full two weeks in my village before comming back in in prep for vacation, so I'll try to write again then!!!!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
To Buy or Not to Buy.. No longer a question
Well its been a long couple of weeks in the bush, but not much to report on... It seems my villagers are just twittling their thumbs til the rain comes- I'm pretty sure I'm just as anxious, but more for it to be a cooler temeperature than in excitement to plant my fields.
I have bee seriously concidering buying the horse now, mostly after I took a trip up to the big animal market in Badagishiri and took a look at the horses.. I have to let you know about this one, I was pretty sure I was going to get (I even told the guy I might come back in a few weeks if he's still there) He was all black with three white socks and a stipe, super sweet, and only four years old, and, compared to many of the other horses in the market, reletively nutritioned. When I asked the man how much, he told me 150,000 CFA, which is about 300 USD, but I didnt haggle, and if I were to buy him for real, I think I may have gotten him down to 100,000. ANYWAY. So I thought I had found my horse. So I get home, start making plans for my big purchase. I talked to my neighbors and they were all for letting my put him in the large 'family' concession as theres no room in my personal concession. Things were looking good. Then I went on the search for Hay... After this question my villagers shattered my little dream with "HA HA, you cant buy hay til harvest! You'll have to wait til October!" I was very sad. So, then I was like, can I buy it in the market town? they said yeah, but it would cost 1,000 CFA a bundle. INSANE price. 1,000 CFA is about 2 USD, and that would mean I would be paying 30 Mille a month on hay alone, plus a big bag of grain, another 15 Mille, with a grand total of 45 mille a month just to feed the horse! Wich, anyone who's owned the horse and did the math (90 USD) would be like, 'uh, thats insanely cheap..' but, when you live off of two USD a day, it's not looking to feasable. So the end of my sad story, is I'm back to my original-reviesed plan, to wait and get the horse during harvest. I'm sure I'll find one that I like just as much as that one, but I still cant help being like, "I want THAT one!!". SIGH.
So other than horse drama, I haven't had much to do.. With my Chemical Fertalizer project, I wrote my proposal, and we're just waiting for the forms to go through so we can start funding, so nothing to do but wait. I did, however, start a little Moranga tree pepiniere- I planted about 45, but still have a ton of seeds, so I might plant another 30. In theory, after about 3 months (moranga grow really fast) they'll be pretty close to ready and I want to do a big sensibilization and then give them away (nothing makes people more interested in a project than free stuff) after they've listened to me ramble about the nutritional value of Moranga (look it up- it's really good stuff, seriously.). So I guess, actually, I'm kinda going to be like one of those 'knife-infomerchals" things in the mall where you have to sit through their boring demonstration to get the free knife set, but hey, maybe someone will retain something :)
I have been really lucky lately with produce- For the past couple months it's been mainly onions and mangos, with an occasional eggplant, but just the other day I found CUCUMBERS in the Tahoua market (which I always disliked, but now theyre delicious..) and, today, I found bananas and pineapple in the Konni market. I was very excited. The End.. I just read that and realized how boring my life must be if thats what I fill my blog with. Oh well, it's exciting stuff here.
Well! All for now, my hour's bout up, let me know any questions or if I've left any gaping holes in my experience-writings!
I have bee seriously concidering buying the horse now, mostly after I took a trip up to the big animal market in Badagishiri and took a look at the horses.. I have to let you know about this one, I was pretty sure I was going to get (I even told the guy I might come back in a few weeks if he's still there) He was all black with three white socks and a stipe, super sweet, and only four years old, and, compared to many of the other horses in the market, reletively nutritioned. When I asked the man how much, he told me 150,000 CFA, which is about 300 USD, but I didnt haggle, and if I were to buy him for real, I think I may have gotten him down to 100,000. ANYWAY. So I thought I had found my horse. So I get home, start making plans for my big purchase. I talked to my neighbors and they were all for letting my put him in the large 'family' concession as theres no room in my personal concession. Things were looking good. Then I went on the search for Hay... After this question my villagers shattered my little dream with "HA HA, you cant buy hay til harvest! You'll have to wait til October!" I was very sad. So, then I was like, can I buy it in the market town? they said yeah, but it would cost 1,000 CFA a bundle. INSANE price. 1,000 CFA is about 2 USD, and that would mean I would be paying 30 Mille a month on hay alone, plus a big bag of grain, another 15 Mille, with a grand total of 45 mille a month just to feed the horse! Wich, anyone who's owned the horse and did the math (90 USD) would be like, 'uh, thats insanely cheap..' but, when you live off of two USD a day, it's not looking to feasable. So the end of my sad story, is I'm back to my original-reviesed plan, to wait and get the horse during harvest. I'm sure I'll find one that I like just as much as that one, but I still cant help being like, "I want THAT one!!". SIGH.
So other than horse drama, I haven't had much to do.. With my Chemical Fertalizer project, I wrote my proposal, and we're just waiting for the forms to go through so we can start funding, so nothing to do but wait. I did, however, start a little Moranga tree pepiniere- I planted about 45, but still have a ton of seeds, so I might plant another 30. In theory, after about 3 months (moranga grow really fast) they'll be pretty close to ready and I want to do a big sensibilization and then give them away (nothing makes people more interested in a project than free stuff) after they've listened to me ramble about the nutritional value of Moranga (look it up- it's really good stuff, seriously.). So I guess, actually, I'm kinda going to be like one of those 'knife-infomerchals" things in the mall where you have to sit through their boring demonstration to get the free knife set, but hey, maybe someone will retain something :)
I have been really lucky lately with produce- For the past couple months it's been mainly onions and mangos, with an occasional eggplant, but just the other day I found CUCUMBERS in the Tahoua market (which I always disliked, but now theyre delicious..) and, today, I found bananas and pineapple in the Konni market. I was very excited. The End.. I just read that and realized how boring my life must be if thats what I fill my blog with. Oh well, it's exciting stuff here.
Well! All for now, my hour's bout up, let me know any questions or if I've left any gaping holes in my experience-writings!
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