Finally! A blog about what I'm doing in Mali. Thank goodness.
One of my main projects in my community will be working with our women's association to produce a better quality shea butter and find a buyer interested in offering them a good price. Shea itself is pretty cool-- you can eat the fruit to get the nut, and then your opportunities are endless! Butter to be used as a cooking oil, a lotion, a pommade or even soap! The butter made from the shea found throughout the sahel region of Africa has a high melting point compared to another type of shea in central/east Africa, making it wonderful for the production of chocolate that won't melt... so it's a magical thing, and a lot of fun.
In the mean time, while waiting for next shea collection season to start from the beginning of nut collection with good practices, I'm in the midst of working with the women's association to get their recipice-- or an official document that allows them to sell their products as an association. This has been hard for many reasons, but mostly because of the need of internal organization and structure that has been disrupted by the coming of harvest season (and everyone heads out to the fields to return exhausted later in the evening). Hopefully this will be something we can accomplish by the time I leave to celebrate Christmas!
Here is a picture of some kids shelling shea nuts, which has a tendency to take place at all times of the day and night. It's a great activity for socializing.
Here is a picture of my friend beating her ground (and now semi-liquid) shea paste. It's hard work and more fun when a group of women get together to kolo gosi or beat the nuts. The white part on the top is the emulsifying fats rising. The bowl of dark chocolate looking substance in the back left is the ground shea paste pre-beating. The women in my village usually meet once a week to beat their butter. After it is beaten, the whiter part is skimmed off to be heated and then left to solidify (which can take 2-3 days, depending on the quantity).
Daily Living
Another picture of my house and negen (bathroom- concrete structure to the left of my house)
I'm also working with my women on the selling of sumbala, or a local spice they use when cooking. Many of the women will make a batch (ingredients include datu and nere, two plants/spices not really found in America, at least to my knowledge). This is a picture of the day I helped to roll the sumbala. Honestly, it doesn't smell to good to me, and it looks like a submarine without a periscope, but they do use it when flavoring my food and I can't complain tooooo much.
Thanksgiving in Sikasso
I'm also working with my women on the selling of sumbala, or a local spice they use when cooking. Many of the women will make a batch (ingredients include datu and nere, two plants/spices not really found in America, at least to my knowledge). This is a picture of the day I helped to roll the sumbala. Honestly, it doesn't smell to good to me, and it looks like a submarine without a periscope, but they do use it when flavoring my food and I can't complain tooooo much.
Thanksgiving in SikassoIf I had to give up American football on Thanksgiving for one thing, beautiful waterfalls would be it and that's exactly what I was able to enjoy this Thanksgiving. After stuffing ourselves silly on Thanksgiving (and I did end up getting cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie), a good number of us headed to the waterfalls south of Sikasso. It was marvellous.
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