So its been about 6 months since I last wrote. I decided to break it up into two entries, bike rides/relaxing and the work that I've been doing. here is the work that ive been doing.......
Oct- Did a couple more grafting trainings in the kédougou region with our grafting guy Demba Samoura, in Fungolimbi and Faraba. Great times, Demba is a rock
star when it comes to
grafting and getting folk interested in mango's and orchard work. Even though he doesnt speak french, hes a badass who speaks all the local languages which is more important id
say. Made some good contacts up in Fungolimbi as well as Faraba.
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We received a new batch of volunteers in Kédougou near the end of the month. 5 new volunteers came down as well as 2 volunteers who had been evacuated from Mauritania. All really cool people and prob destined for bigger and better things than I.
The next event that i was involved in
was a training in permaculture that was held at the end of november in Thies. It was interesting, held by a former PCV from Tanzania or Mozambique. Basically promoting enriched permanent garden beds that utilize swales and berms to control the water. very interesting and be now have a demi permaculture garden here at the regional house that uses the sh
ower water to feed a intensive moringa bed. should be quite successful, and so far is doing quite well! The training itself was a good time, got to see a bunch of my friends that i hadnt really seen in quite some time. I was sick in the car on the way up from kaolack and was kinda feeling that the whole time i was there but the training was very interesting.
So once back in the swing of things, it was kinda just how it was before i left. Checking up on the farmers we had been working with and making sure they were ready for the coming tree nursery season.
Touching base with Sintiou Roudji villagers to check up on our farmers from last year and to organize the pepinere trainings that we were going to put on this tree nursery season. Set the dates for that for after WAIST(Wes
t African International Softball Tournament). We organized two trainings for the end of feb, one for the pulaars of Sintiou Roudji and Ibel and the other for the malinke folk from Syllacounda and around Kédougou.
So before WAIST, Thomas, who has been trying very hard to set up a waist sort in kedougou since hearing about the trash compost system that they have in Joal, decided to hold a waist sort. We did this
to test the amount of waist that households create as well as the percentage of the different categories of waist created. It was fun, i helped because i had attended the waist sort that was held in Thies after WAIST last year, and knew how to recognize the different categories. So Thomas and I got to play with trash for a morning with the guys that have started the trash collection service here in Kédougou. The results were much the same as they were in Thies and Joal. There is lots of organic waist that is being thrown away and that you probe could turn it into good compost.
After the waist sort Kevin and I made our way up to dakar for the All Volunteer C
onference that is held a few days before WAIST. It is an opportunity to for volunteers to showcase the projects that they are working on, as well as a forum to share sector specific information to interested parties from different sectors. For example you could sign up to go see a talk on health post creation, summer camp management, tree extension work, or on how to work with farmer federations. The conference was two days long and the second day was for demonstrations of different technologies that volunteers were implementing at their sites. These ranged from solar driers and bio gas generators, to giant cement water filters and hand pumps for wells. All very interesting stuff. Kevin was sick for most of this and WAIST so i hung out with him during most of the All Vol conference.
After WAIST, i get ready for the next pepinere training that Karumba and I are going to put on for the villagers of Sintiou Roudji and Syllacounda. Karumba and myself put these on at the end of February and i even did a interview with Karumba for the peace Corps radio program, the one that we have every monday, explaining, what Karumba's work is, What the organization that karumba works for, Trees for the Future, aims to accomplish, when the trainings were, and the hard parts of working in promoting tree work in the region of Kédougou.
The trainings were held in the format of a viewing of Karumba's demonstration orchard and all of the agroforestry technologies that were on display there. these range from contour planting with Leucaena and vert de vert to counter erosion, to live fencing with Sisal acacia nilotica and ziziphus mauritania to alley cropping with leucaena. The thought process that Karumba and I had in regard to the point of the trainings was that, with the wonderful demonstration site that Karumba has, people would more clearly understand these technologies by viewing what we explain. We felt that the work we did last year was hindered by relying on verbally conducting our main messages. By going individually to different farmers huts and explaining verbally the benefits, a lot was lost in translation. This type of development
work benefits greatly from a local who has already implemented the said technologies successfully and can show them off as a success. Just talking about it leaves a lot to the imagination for people who might not be able to envision more integrated sustainable technologies.
After viewing the orchard, we then set about the demonstration side of the training in getting the farmers to create a nursery with the tree sac's and materials we provided. We showed them the correct mixture of manure sand and soil as well as the importance of neem leaves and ash underneath the tree nursery to combat termites and any other pests that try to hurt the tree nursery. They did this very readily, all the while one of Karumba's friends is sitting near by cooking up tea for everyone to drink while working. No training is complete with out tea and cola nuts to drink and give out. After the tree sac's are full and in nursery, we show how to go about doing a semi direct nursery. This is for jatropha and since we promoted that last year as well, people are very interested in it. This is another type of live fence, just a non thorny one. In the end this method of nursery allows you to outplant a full plant that will have a much better chance of survival then if you direct seeded the fence line.
After we are done with all the learning and the cola nuts have been passed out by the oldest most respected person there, we head back to my house for lunch. Im very lucky in that
my house is very close to my counterparts field and that we can so these types of trainings very easily. My host family cooked up all the food i bought them for the trainings and made some great cheeb a yap which is wollof for meat and rice. The trainings were a big success as everyone puts in their orders for tree sac's and appears very energetic towards this years program. In the end we discussed forming communal pepineres for the 3 sites to simplify the watering and management process. We also talked about the possibility of getting funding from Trees For the Future for tools and materials.
We were actually very lucky in that Ethan, the former Kédougou Peace Corps Volunteer who is currently the coordinator for the West African Trees For the Future program, was very supportive and got us the funding for the trainings, communal pepineres, and materials. We were able to get each site a wheelbarrow, a couple shovels, crentin fencing, and a few water cans, plus close 30 thousand tree sac's for the coming season. It is great to have a viable source of funding that is fairly fast and reliable. Because of this the program for this year will be much larger in scale, with close to 40 thousand sacs out and some very motivated individuals involved.
After the trainings i was lucky enough to go to a training in Thies put on by a former Tanzanian Peace Corps Volunteer on permaculture. It was a very interesting training. It focusing on gardening and making permanent beds that you would never walk on that held very nutrient rich soil. It also incorporated berms and swales in and around the beds to control the flow of water. It encouraged planting of perennials into the berms to reinforce the permanent nature of the project. Very interesting and we put in something loosely based off of this in the regional house with a intensive moringa bed.
After the permaculture workshop and my trip to kolda in February, the region of Kédougou held its kinda annual Regional Retreat in the beginning of March. The Regional Retreat is a forum for everyone in the region to get together and discuss how to better work ensemble and to discuss projects we have ongoing. It also helps to plan out the coming year with projects that volunteers are going to need assistance with in terms of manpower. A good example of this is the mosquito net distribution as lots of volunteers had to help out with it. We also talked about the different technologies and secondary projects we have going on. Basically its anything and everything that you have done, are doing, or want to do. it lasted the weekend and was supposed to be kinda a team bonding event as well. It was held in the far west of the region in Salemata.
Almost immediately after the regional retreat on the second week of March, the hospital in Kédougou was holding another Eye Clinic like the one they held last year. It was for cataract surgery and eye glasses. It was the same team of Dr's who came last year plus a few others. Nice folk and doing good work. I was only there for a day of it or so as i left to go to another training in Thies for the pilot farmer program Peace Corps was starting with funding from USAID.
The pilot farm program is basically my boss's brain child. His idea was to have these farms strategically placed around the country with very motivated farmers demonstrating most of the main Ag and Ag/Fo technologies. The idea is to have these farmers well trained in why they are
doing this so that they can then in turn become a facilitator for that area in these technologies. They would host trainings throughout the year on the various techniques and technologies. Hassana's field in Dindefello was chosen for the project and makes for a great demo site as it fallow at the moment and is prime to be shaped how ever we want.
The program helps with funding for a viable water source(well), fencing, materials, transport, everything to get the farmers set up with the things they need to start. Its a great idea and with Hassana i see lots of possibilities for great work.
In trying to get a well for Hassana's field, another volunteer involved in the pilot farmer program, Aaron, and I talked to a local NGO that specializes in well projects for assistance. Since its the hot dry season i.e. construction season, we wanted to get a leg up on time. They were slightly helpful and have been so in the past, but after talking to the rep here in Kédougou, im very much displeased. We asked for a sample budget so that we could see if it would fit in out budget. We were handed the most outrageous estimate for a well that i think is around. It was for another charity organization that was putting a well into a campement in Dindefello. It was something like 12,000$. i know of wells that have been dug for 140$ that are fine just fine. Upon asking the gentleman about the price he basically told us that thats the price they give to big charity organizations/NGO's that they know they can take advantage of. I was floored. Who takes advantage of people who are trying to help others. its crazy. And the fact he said it so mater of faculty smacked me in the face as if it was normal. That left me very disillusioned with some of these other organizations that work in and around the area. Needless to say, neither of us are using them for our wells.
After this training i went to dakar to meet up with meg and take the direct car to Kolda for the ag/fo summit. The Summit was great as the folk running it did a good job. We had sessions about pruning fruit trees, bee keeping, tree protection, and nursery prep. We were able to go to Kolda's Eaux et Fôrets pepinere to see their nursery and have the tree protection and nursery prep demo there. The pruning demo was held at a volunteer's compound in the city where her host father had a few young fruit trees. The guy who led the session was a mauritania refugee who was now in kaolack. Mike really knew his stuff and evidently is extending for a third year.
The Bee demo was in David Shames's site which was Hans's old site. We got to see the hive and how it was built as well as a discussion on the different merits of different types of hives. We also got to walk out to an actual hive to see it in action. My bright red bandana and sheila's recent attack kinda limited us from going too close so we just hung out a little bit away watching everyone else.
When we got back from Kolda at the end of March, my counterpart, having received significant interest in hosting another training, suggested putting another one on. This was from the same village that some folk had come from at another training. We throw together another training for the end of March with the same format as before and it goes off without a hitch. We got the sac requests that they wanted and closed training programs down and got ready for nursery set up.
I got out to Kevin's village for a seed collection after this last training. I was collecting baby Agave sisilana plants from a field that had 2-3 plants that were flowering. Sisal is a great live fence as you can just plant it and basically leave it alone and it will survive. Sisal reproduces by producing thousands of baby sisal plants where it flowers. This happens every 8-9 years and the plant dies afterwards. Its a really cool plant and if planted well in a fence line, nothing will ever mess with your field.
The next project that i worked on was helping another volunteer with a well project he started while he was in his village and before he extended to Dakar for a third year. I thought this was going to be a really easy give some people money and get transport kinda deal. so wrong. It turned out that the well digger guy actually didn't have everything he said he did and we kinda had to scramble to get some new well diggers and materials. It was a huge pain, but useful in that i now know a bunch of drivers and the folk that own and work at the big hardware stores.
In the end i bought all the materials for the three wells that Andy had given me money for and organized transport, only for the digger and GADEC to say the diggers weren't here yet and that theyd be there the next day. That went on for a week or so. Finally when the big mould and digger show up, instead of three teams for the three wells, it was one guy only. So the digger had changed the plan, instead go three teams working simultaneously, it was one guy who would start when the mould got there and then move on to the next well. The mould was still in tamba so we still had to wait another couple days. This was all very frustrating.
The mould did eventually get there and i had to renegotiate for the transport as a big camion wont just take a small amount of materials, it needs to be full up. So i had to get in touch with a big mini car that was willing to be rented out for the day. Luckily the guy who i bought the materials from was cool with the situation and said we could keep the materials for the other wells at the store till we were ready for them. Then it was just running them up to Saraya and faraba to get the well digger started.
So when we put our budget together for the pepinere trainings for Trees for The Future, i told Ethan that Karumba and the program would benefit immensely if a moto was available. It would allow us to check out most of our nursery sites in a day rather then waist multiple days trying to bike out to these sites. I enjoy biking but Karumba doesn't have the nice bike or young legs i do! Anyway, Ethan said he would try his best but said no promises. Well he came through and my counterpart was able to buy a moto from Guinea! Its a very nice Moto and allows karma to be much more mobile in his work.
At the beginning of April Hassana and i go out to Sheila's village to help her with a compost training there. Sheila did a garden project there and one of the gardens has bad soil
and she decided to do a large compost pile to try and help the nutrient level in the soil. The training went well. Hassana was brought in to effectively translate for sheila and i went cause i guess i know stuff about composting.
So most of the tree sac's that Karumba and I had distributed were ones that Peace Corps had purchased for us. The ones that we received funding for from Trees For the Future arrived at the end of April with Pape Djakaby. Hes the liaison for peace corps here in the region as well as in tamba and kolda. We immediately get those out to Ibel which is 30km away, Syllacounda which is about 11km away, and Sintiou Roudji which is 5km away. After this we start making inquires about the cretin we told the demo sites we would need and start putting them up/making sure they are actually coming.
When ever there is straight money involved in Africa, it always a shit show. Originally we thought to let the womens group president take care of getting the crentin fencing, but that just proved to be a mistake. Crentin never comes and the village just builds a stick fence, which is a bunch of branches and sticks jammed in the ground where the fence is. Everyone does that here, but we had paid for crentin, which is more expensive. As soon as money becomes involved, its always contentious no matter how small the amount. I mean for crentin we arrant talking about a lot of money. At least they are doing the work that they said they were going to do.
Karumba and I go out to Ibel as well as Sintiou Roudji to check up on the progress there. Very encouraging there as they had filled most of the tree sac's and the crentin was en route. We had a little meeting there with the folk who were participating and was left with the impression that they were stoked to do some tree work. Next year i think we'll do a training there. One of the guys who is about my age even found one of the main seeds that we use for live fencing in the village of Ibel, Bauhinia rufenscis, and was ready to use them. Very very encouraging from a first attempt at work in a village.
So last year i went out to Dindefello to help Hassana with the orchard he was trying to establish. Well the fencing didn't come in time so most of the trees we planted were eaten and then cooked by the sun. Since we are using Hassana for the pilot farmer program, we should have a bunch of funding for making his field really really cool. The aim of the program is to build demo sites in the region with trainers who are going to actively try and promote the different technologies they have in their fields. They need lots of useful technologies implemented in their fields to successfully do this. Its my job to help get Hassana set up with everything he needs for his field as well as assisting in actually brainstorming what would be best to have there.
I went out there a week ago to check up with Hassana, and as i was walking from his house to the field i saw some Jatropha on the ground that had been broken off one of the millions of trees they have there as live fencing. I picked it up and took it out to his field thinking i would try and get him to start cutting jatropha branches for cuttings and plant them along the fence line. When i got to the field what was i greeted with but a huge line a jatropha cuttings planted along the fence line! I t was great and look amazing! I forgot that we had talked about doing that the last time i had been hanging out with Hassana and he had just remembered and taken the initiative to actually do it! That will make you feel good about your work to see motivated people trying really hard to work well.
So thats most of the work that vie been up to for the last 6months or so. It is really limited to the 3 tree nursery sites for Trees For the Future, kinda helping with Andy's well project, and hassana's pilot farm at the moment but there are plans for bigger and better things yet to come!
