Its been a while. What's happened since the last time that i wrote... hmmm thats a good question. Out planting has taken up some of my time since i last wrote as it is the season for such things. Well not so much anymore but was. Karumba and myself have gotten lots of trees in the ground this year, no idea how many will live or die but it'll be interesting to see.
Took a little hike to Guinée at the beginning of October from Kevin's village to the border. That was fun because it was the same border crossing that we crossed when we were coming back from Guinée. We stayed with Kevin's host Aunt or something. Really nice and since it was ramadan and we were fasting it was an interesting time as we didn't eat or drink on the couple hour hike there. But when we broke the fast that night we ate extremely well. We stayed there for the morning and then hiked back in the afternoon. On the way back we stopped at a waterfall that is nearby Kevin's village. Since it was the rainy season it was really full and very spectacular. We got to swim in it and then headed back to Kafori.
After this trip i went out to Dindefello to help a farmer there set up a mango orchard there. That went really well. Great ride out there in the rain. We actually didn't get anything done the first day I was there because of the rain. So we watched Indiana Jones in french instead. Good flick even when in french. The next day we did actually get around to planting trees. Hassana had a line of Jatropha already planted on his soon to be fence line. We ended up planting about 50 trees total i think. A line cashews along the line of Jatropha and the actual Mangos in the field. It was really rewarding seeing these guys going into the ground. They had been left in the nursery a bit long and were huge because of it but should go really well.
So after that was done i headed back to Kédougou to sort out the end of my SPA grant which still hadn't been taken care of. Pain in the ass but needed to be taken care of. A couple of things were going on when i got back that were of note. Michelle, a 3rd year from Mali was getting married to her host brother on our year anniversary of being in country. All the volunteers got done up and went down to the mayors office to witness the ceremony. we did up a charet so it said just married and had cans running off the back. It was a nice touch. We all hang out at the PC house after that. Huge thunderstorm kicks in while we are sitting there eating a bunch of american food that the guys from netlife left us after the mosquito net distribution. I leave in the middle of the thunderstorm to go home. It was fun walking in the torrential down pour. Manage to kill my phone in the process though so it wasn't all that good.
That brings me up to my Dakar trip as i leave the day after that at 5 in the morning on the Nikolo Transport. Kinda leave a few days early for whatever reason. Make good time id say on the road there. i think we got there by 5 or 6. I missed getting to see the newbies though which doesn't really matter as they'll be here soon enough. So dakar. had a good time. Got to hang out with Ian, Phulbright Phil, Oliver, Meg, and even a de-misters. It was a good time. Got mid service out of the way, got two cavities filled, talked to Manning again about anything and everything, and went drinking every night i was there. And i wonder how I'm broke. Kevin was there for all of this as well as his mother was coming to Senegal during all this as well. nice lady, seemed to be not fazed at all by the sights and sounds of africa.
So when we get back to kédougou, its back to life as usual i guess. The summer camp that i put 500 thousand CFA towards was getting ready to kick off. Wait a min thats where all my money went! and the regional house was overflowing with people, volunteers, counselor, and organizers. Not really my kind of place. Heads not in the right place for a shit ton of people all running around like they're ubber important. Well they all take off for Dindefello finally and I start fixing bikes. There's a bunch of people coming down to Kédougou in the following weeks that want bikes so we need working ones. The fact that peoples real bikes are in shitty condition means that most of the house bikes we have been commandeered. So basically I'm fixing peoples bikes that have been sitting around for weeks on end in the rain.
During all this i have to run Counterpart workshop money out to two sites in the Fungolimbi area for the newbies counterparts. Basically the newbies counterparts go to Thiés, meet their volunteers, and get a rundown of what all is expected of them. To do this they need some travel allowance. so i ran out to Koboye and Tougé to do this. had to go twice as the first time the Tougé folk weren't there and i had to come back. The Koboye folk were and i got to deliver that and then hike down a Mt. with my bike on my back. Not fun but fun at the same time. Absolutely gorgeous site Koboye. Sitting on the edge of cliffs that look down into senegal while backing into the Mts. of Guinée. So like i said i had to come back another day for the Tougé folk as they weren't there. Tried the next day but the ferry that runs you across the bridge was broken and i had to wait. The day after that i was able to go but quite late as a rainstorm rolled in and delayed my departure. Because of this i was on a time limit for how long my trip could take. The ferry stops running at 6 or 7. I cant remember exactly but what ever time it was i rolled up to the ferry exactly on time. I ended up waiting a while for it to cross and come and get me. While waiting a talked to a bunch of the others who were waiting with me. A few others rolled up while we were waiting and were very impressed by a. how fast i was moving and b. my bike. Everyone here loves my bike. its kinda funny but its just something that they are completely blown away by.
So that kinda brings us up to now. American Football has started again. Amazing that a year has rolled by again. Camp is over and a bunch of people are out at another waterfall as a kinda b-day celebration/camp over kinda thing. Newbies get here the 18/19th, bike trip the 28th,
hmm what else... thats about all i got for now.
