Photojournal Entry

Okay. For lack of a desire to write a lot, here are some of my favorite photos from village outlining the past few weeks.

Mango season has arrived!
Below, a girl tries to reach the mangoes ripe from the top of the tree, it's probably difficult to see, but the pole (bamboo, I think) goes all the way to where you can't see in my picture. Personally, I like the mangoes that eat like an apple- ones that you can bite right into without it being too mushy. Some of the more ripe mangoes go for dorome dorome, or a penny a piece.

My homestay brother at site enjoying a mango.

Konyon (wedding)

So, the wedding happened and was a lot of fun. Here we all are on the first day, dancing to the djembe, or special celebration drum. There were two fabrics that most of the town bought and had sewn for the wedding... both this beautiful lime green. I refer to the pattern in the foreground as the "dead stump" fabric and don't like it one bit, so I'm glad there was another option. We danced to the djembe for the first day and night and then the second day was the celebration, followed by a late night of dancing to dj-ed music. A lot of fun.

Here I am trying to take a group photo with the bride and her friends (see our "uniform"?). Everyone was so riled up-- everyone just wanted their picture taken with the bride and no one wanted to listen. So in general, not necessarily the best picture, but some of the best memories of the chaos that ensued from taking it.

A video of some of the live action from our djembe dance circle.

A picture of the 12 braids I had for the wedding. They refused to braid my hair into corn-row type braids because they insisted that I would scream and tell them to stop halfway through. Although this might have been true, we'll never know until it actually happens.

Shea Butter and Association Formation

The formation to teach the improved method of good shea butter production happened at the end of April. With 30 participants from my village and 11 friends from surrounding villages, it was quite an event for our small town. Over the next few weeks, I hope to visit the villages who sent participants to follow-up on their experience. The women definitely understand the techniques, so we'll have to see how this shea season works out.

My homestay sister from my original training village came with her mother and was more than patient during the two day formation.

Here the women are washing the nuts to remove dirt and other impurities.

Work and Chores

My homestay mother is amazing at making dagas or their mud pottery. The small pot I made is sitting, drying a little before I finished it (right in the front of the picture.) I've tried to make bigger ones, but they usually collapse. Unfortunately, these dagas are extremely heavy and therefore difficult for the women to get to market.

Sunday morning is dirty laundry day for everyone... including my little brother! I thought this was so cute... and could definitely picture American kids playing in piles of clothes as well.