It's been a productive week- I started off with a garden meeting in one of my village's quartiers. The womens' group there got together to plant vegetables and trees and gather moringa leaves to cook for dinner.
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| Niangen Ale women's group filling sacks to make a tree nursery |
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| Gathering moringa leaves for dinner |
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| Softening the soil to be planted |
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| Raking... |
Next, I befriended the puppy that my host nephew found outside the village. He's a precocious little guy- and my older brother decided to keep him to guard the sheep, but he's not quite trained yet...
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| Waiting for cookies |
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| Wreaking havoc, looking innocent. |
Next, Mac and I came into Linguere to paint a mural at an elementary school. The teacher who requested the mural has a little sister who came to our girls' camp over the summer, and he's wanted to be a part of a Peace Corps project since. He asked us to paint a mural based on the cover of the book he teaches from- Sidi et Rama. I was a little nervous about it, but when the weekend was through, it looked beautiful.
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| The original |
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| Getting going with the grid |
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| A crew of helpers showed up- Mr. Mar, my counterpart Ndeye, and a high school student who lives nearby |
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| Mr. Mar was pretty excited to be able to help. |
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| Sidi and Rama penciled in |
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| Drinking tea and painting- all in a day's work. |
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| Mac, tree artist extraordinaire |
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Abby came on Sunday to help us out
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| Finished! |
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We also stopped by my aunt's house in Linguere for lunch on Sunday, and in addition to some delicious rice and fish with lots of veggies, we were treated to some fantastic storytelling by my uncle, El Hadji Ndiaye. He's 85 and remembers the days when there were lions in Linguere- no detail spared. After the lion tales, he told us all about WWII and the cold war- a little embellished, I'm sure, but we all went home in stitches. I wish I'd had my camera with me- he belongs in the history books.
Until next weekend- back to Doundodji.
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