This Week in Kolda

The last few weeks…

From the border to Guinea to Dakar and back to Kolda for Tabaski

This waterfall near the border with Guinea (Conakry) and is a favorite destination for a few days of camping and R&R.

The beach in Mbour on a rare empty moment.

Two wooden thrones from pre-colonial Angola on display at the African Renaissance Monument in Dakar.

A commercial vessel that ran aground next to Ile de Madeleine off the coast of Dakar in 2013.

A piece of woven fabric from 19th century Senegal on display at the IFAN Museum in Dakar.

September 12th was Eid al Adah, known as Tabaski here in West Africa. Muslims families around the world slaughter a goat or a sheep to honor Ibrahims (Abraham) willingness to sacrifice his son to God.

The meat from the slaughtered animal is split three ways, one third for the family, one thrid for neighbors and relatives, and one third for the poor.

Children put on their new clothes in the afternoon and circle the neighborhood asking for “salibo”, a small gift of loose change or a candy.

All parts of the animal are cooked up after being washed, including stomach walls and intestines.

 

After an inexcusably long absence – I’m back

August 12 2016

The sweet peppers have started producing at the Gadapara Master Farm – just in time for good prices at the market.

The intense rains we have received the last two weeks caused the main well to completely collapse. This hole is all that remains. Thankfully we have a second well that is still functional for when the rains stop.

Kalifa Diallo rests the morning after his circumcision. He and four other boys will wear these white sheets for the next month while they heal. For the next month they will spend most of their day in a small room with only men.

Karim and Mustafa watch the Rio Olympics in their decidedly middle class living room. At half time Nigeria was ahead, but Lithuania ended up winning mens basketball by nine points.

It is a month before Tabaski (Eid al Adah) and time to buy up sheep before the market gets scarce. Or at least that is what my host dad Ibou Balde is doing.

Noss – and Back to Work

July 28th – August 3rd

The last week started with Korite, or Eid al Fitr to the rest of the Muslim world. These girls were touring the neighborhood showing off their new threads and asking for salibo (coins and candy). Check out my full photo series here.

There is another side to all the noss (fun) on Korite – a huge amount of garbage.

The day after Korite one of the neighborhood youth associations held a “lutte ” Senegalese homegrown wrestling style.

For the match they hired a DJ with his massive speakers – a must at any Senegalese public event.

Usman Daio’s running laps with the music in preparation for his match served him well – he beat his opponent in less than 5 minutes.

He lost his match, but he kept his girl.

Also did some good agriculture work this week, coppicing neem trees to make a fence. These beasts served us well.

Basiru Daillo carrying branches back while listening to Lil’ Wayne on his knock-off Beats headphones.

I’ve also been preparing two avocado pits which Cheriff and I will put into the ground next week.

Doing some Ag. Work

July 21st – July 28th

This past week I’ve been spending a lot of time with Sherif Daillo, a local farmer who wants to increase agricultural production on his land and is open to new ideas. On Thursday morning we took an early morning bike ride to Sare Bidji to assess the potential of one of his parcels of land.

On the way we passed Sherifs brother, Abdoulaye, who was ploughing the field with his cattle.

A few days before we held a Peace Corps On Demand Agricultural training for new health and Community Economic Development (CED) volunteers.

Meanwhile in Sherifs backyard an Acacia Nilotica tree nursery started by PCV Jenny Cobb and Sherif Daillo germinated. We plan to use these thorny trees to enclose his field, making a living fence.

Pineapple production is surprisingly rare in Senegal, which is why Sherif Daillo wants to give it a shot, and why I am very excited to be working with him.

Unfortunately next to his pineapple a horned caterpillar was (past tense) doing significant damage to a young citrus tree.

And lastly we harvested some palm fruits which Sherif and his family will process and eat.

Fire, Water and Prayer

July 13th – July 20th

On Tuesday a stack of tires and old cloth caught fire at the Kolda garage. Alhamdulillah the firemen came to put out the blaze.

The next day Kolda finally got the rain we had been waiting for so desperately. The kids in my neighborhood taught me the meaning of “timbaade” – the wash/play in the rain.

I worked with the soldering crew outside my house to cut out a metal stencil of the map of Africa to use for painting maps in and around Kolda.

While adults continue to fast, Aliou and Mustafa polished off some of last nights rice.

Papa Daio recites the Quran, and important daily ritual during the holy month of Ramadan.

Youths of Usine Cotton get together to study the Quran and Arabic under Aliou Kande

 

 

 

Advertisement