At Work

Here are some pictures I was able to get of some recent work events. And you even get to see my face in one of them!

Here is me making neem cream, a natural mosquito repellant, with the health group in my village. After making it the first week, they decided they would continue to make it every week and sell it by the spoonful to villagers. Success!

Close up on neem cream: soap, tea made from neem leaves, and oil. My next experiment is trying to make it smell nice by infusing the oil with basil or eucalyptus.

Gmelina stumps that we planted for One Man, One Tree village tree planting day. I think maybe 200 people came out to plant trees, and probably about 4,000 trees were planted that day.

Preparing the gmelina stumps.

Planting the trees.

Who lives in my compound

Here's a run-down of the people who I see every day in my compound. Just in case you were wondering.

1. Nfansu - My host dad, the one who you give the "gifts from the road" to when you come home, which means he's the one in charge. He's featured in some of the pictures down below (sorry, no new pictures for a while while I sort out some camera issues). He grows cashews, has one tooth, and likes teaching me Mandinka proverbs.

2. Satou Dabo - Nfansu's wife. I think 4th down the line. She's quiet, nice, and has a baby that was born on the very first day I moved in to Jatta Kunda, which is supposed to be good luck. She does my laundry, and is probably the best cook in the compound now that Tida, my brother's wife, moved to Banjul.

3. Bubakary - Satou's baby. now about 7 months old and learning to stand. Mysteriously never bothered to learn to crawl.

4. Jere - Nfansu's younger brother. He used to sell used toubab clothes all over the country, but now just hangs out with his donkey and farms. Sometimes he tries to speak to me in Serahuleh, but all I can say is Peace Only, and that doesn't get me so far. He still has all his teeth.

5. Satou Toureh - Jere's wife. Definitely the dominant character in the compound as far as I'm concerned. In the mornings you can hear her berating all the kids for not getting up on time. She also is the buffest, and works in the rice fields from morning to night. That is not pleasant work. Has on occasion overcooked the rice until it is one giant glob... She also thinks that the time I said I liked coos sometimes but not all the time was hilarious and tells people about it all the time.

6. Mama - Nfansu and Jere's "mom." Mother is a loose term in Gambia, so she might just be their mom's sister, which is my guess because she's definitely old, but she doesn't seem old enough to be their real mom. She's pretty blind and just sits around all day outside her house.

7. Suleiman - My host brother, I think he's about 25. He lives in the house next door to me, and once asked me to be his girlfriend but has luckily since dropped that aspiration. He works all day either in the bush or at the big corporate farm in the village. Can always be counted on to bring me a mango or a potato.

8. Yusufa - Another host brother. He's 14 and just finished 9th grade. Now he works all day on the men's farm. Just a nice guy, speaks decent English, brews some good attaya.

There is also a rotating cast of characters, like my host sister and her two cute kids who moved into the compound next door recently, some host brothers who come home on weekends and during school breaks, and other people who's relationships I can never quite figure out. But those are the stable people who are there basically every day. That's a pretty small compound as far as Gambian compounds go, and quiet. I feel pretty lucky.