Finally, some pictures!

It's long overdue, I know, but here are some pictures of one of my recent projects--a tree nursery seminar in a village called Lekraa about an hour from Aleg. The women of this co-operative are especially welcoming and always send me home with bags of their monstrous produce. Sadly the last three volunteers sent to this site terminated their service early for one reason or another, so this deserving community must rely on visiting volunteers for help. To see the rest of the photos from my presentation click here.

Stealing Poop, Trash and Tree Branches

That's what I've been up to lately. The last time Mike was here he pointed out a vacant lot that is a goldmine of cow poop, so I've been taking rice bags I find on the ground and filling them there to bring home as fertilizer for tree planting. I try to go at dusk or early morning because it does look a little weird (even though there's nothing I can do to not look weird in general). A couple days ago I was walking through town to go to the office and I noticed a huge pile of freshly cut Neem branches. Neem is known locally as "Kinin" which derives from the French name, "Quinine" -- you may recognize the name as a Malaria remedy, and this tree is where the medicine is derived. As an EE volunteer, I was taught to boil the leaves to make mosquito repellent cream and soap. I couldn't just let all those useful leaves and wood (it's extremely hard to find good wood here) go to waste... so I did what only a crazy Nasrani would do, and hefted a small tree's worth onto my shoulder and continued down the road. Doing odd things turns out to be a good teaching tool. My walk home took about three times as long as it normally would have because I had to stop at every open doorway to respond to "dhlaak shinhu?" (what is that?), "shi tadel-ik?" (what are you doing?) and some inquisitive stares. Women don't carry heavy or cumbersome things here, they hire donkey carts. Also, only children drag sticks around, what would an adult want with a bunch of them? Each time I explained that I had found these branches on the road and planned to use them to make mosquito repellent, I got choruses of relieved "Ohhhhhs," and tongue clicks of agreement -- yes, it's good to keep mosquitoes away. On the second trip I let a kid talk me into using his donkey cart, but then got ripped off on the price. Oh well. At least I got the branches for free. I plan on cutting up the wood to make frames for window screens to keep bugs out of the house. Trash into treasure, my friends.